Nation's CUs Reach $2 Trillion in Assets, 128.6 Million Memberships

According to the National Credit Union Administration’s (NCUA) latest call report data, federally insured credit unions saw shares and deposits increase by $219.9 billion, or 14.4 %, to $1.75 trillion over the year ending in the third quarter of 2021.

• Total assets in federally insured credit unions rose by $231 billion, or 12.9 percent, over the year ending in the third quarter of 2021, to $2.02 trillion.
• Total loans outstanding increased $67 billion, or 5.8 percent, over the year to $1.22 trillion. The average outstanding loan balance in the third quarter of 2021 was $16,187, down $105, or 0.6 percent, from one year earlier.
• The delinquency rate at federally insured credit unions was 46 basis points in the third quarter of 2021, down 8 basis points from one year earlier. The net charge-off ratio was 26 basis points, down from 48 basis points in the third quarter of 2020.
• Insured shares and deposits rose $189 billion, or 13.4 percent, over the year ending in the third quarter of 2021, to $1.60 trillion.
• The loan-to-share ratio stood at 69.9 percent in the third quarter of 2021, down from 75.6 percent in the third quarter of 2020.
• The credit union system’s net worth ratio was 10.23 percent in the third quarter of 2021, compared with 10.44 percent one year earlier.
• Net income totaled $21.5 billion at an annual rate in the third quarter of 2021, up $10.6 billion, or 96.2 percent, from the same period a year ago.
• The net interest margin for federally insured credit unions was $50.0 billion in the third quarter of 2021, or 2.59 percent of average assets. That compares with $48.1 billion, or 2.87 percent of average assets, in the third quarter of 2020.
• The return on average assets for federally insured credit unions was 112 basis points in the third quarter of 2021, up from 65 basis points in the third quarter of 2020. The median return on average assets across all federally insured credit unions was 56 basis points, up 14 basis points from the third quarter of 2020.
• The number of federally insured credit unions declined to 4,990 in the third quarter of 2021, from 5,133 in the third quarter of 2020. In the third quarter of 2021, there were 3,122 federal credit unions and 1,868 federally insured, state-chartered credit unions. The year-over-year decline is consistent with long-running industry consolidation trends.
• The number of credit unions with a low-income designation rose to 2,643 in the third quarter of 2021 from 2,640 one year earlier.
• Federally insured credit unions added 4.9 million members over the year, and credit union membership in these institutions reached 128.6 million in the third quarter of 2021.