A Direct Line Blog

By Donya Parrish

If you have seen any of the national trade publications in recent months, you probably know that credit unions are doing well financially across the country. Loan growth has taken off and membership growth has been strong. In addition, net worth continues to improve.

That is great news for all of you, especially since you participate in the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) and want it to be as healthy as possible. But, what about our state and the credit unions in your neighborhood? This week, we take a look at the trends in Montana credit unions for growth, based on September 30, 2016 Call Report data.

Here are a few trends of interest from the numbers:

• Our 52 credit unions held $4.7M in assets and $2.6M in total loans
• Asset growth was 5.9%, compared to 8.2% nationally
• 385,000 total memberships were the slowest area of growth, with only a 1% positive rate. Montana does rank high in terms of members to potential members (13% to 4% for the U.S.) however
• Loan growth was 6.5% in our state, with much of that growth in unsecured, new autos, and first mortgages. Credit cards and used autos slowed from the previous year, but still had positive growth rates
• Loan growth had been negative in 2010, 2011, and 2012 in Montana, so a growth rate of 6.5% is great news. Much of that growth is concentrated in our larger credit unions.
• Member business loan growth was slow compared to the national level (only 40% of Montana credit unions offer them), and net worth/assets is a strong 11.4%, higher than the national 10.9% average
• Bankruptcies per credit union were much lower in Montana, with a rate of 5.7, compared to 28 nationally
• Loan/savings (63.4%) and loans/assets (55.4%) lag to national levels (78.9% and 66.7%) but both are trending upward
• 86.5% of Montana credit unions have a positive ROA

You are doing a great job promoting positive growth trends in the state’s credit unions from your director’s seat. We are thankful for your vigilance and know it can be challenging with some of the local markets you are competing in. Keep your trade association in mind if you are looking for resources or information for your next board meeting.