Although the number of credit unions has diminished, collective membership at all credit unions continued to grow. Larger institutions are doing better than their smaller counterparts.
There were a total of 6,429 federally insured credit unions in operation as of June 30. Most had less than $100 million in assets.
Credit union count lightened from 6,491 as of the end of the first quarter and has declined by 252 compared to the same point in 2013.
The figures were discussed in a report from the National Credit Union Administration.
“The decline is consistent with recent consolidation trends within the credit union system,” the NCUA stated.
The report showed that the fewer remaining institutions are servicing more members.
Membership was up by 909,452 in the second quarter, leaving total credit union membership at an all-time high of 98 million.
Second-quarter net income at federally insured credit unions was $2.3 billion, 2.9 percent more than in the same three-month period last year.
Total assets at federally insured credit unions climbed past $1.1 trillion for the first time. Assets stood at $1.0979 trillion as of March 31.
“Federally insured credit unions with more than $500 million in assets still led in most performance measures,” the report stated. “These 448 credit unions held $760 billion in combined assets, 69 percent of the system’s total assets during the quarter.
“They also reported faster growth and higher returns on average assets than the credit union system as a whole.”
First mortgage holdings climbed to $0.2792 trillion as of June 30 from $0.2726 trillion three months earlier.
Compared to a year earlier, first mortgage real estate loans rose 9.9 percent.
Fixed-rate loans accounted for 61 percent of the first mortgage total.
For all types of credit union loans, outstandings were up 9.8 percent from a year earlier, It was the highest year-over-year growth rate since the first-quarter 2006.
The head of NCUA cautioned about credit unions’ interest rate risk.
“The slight decrease in long-term investments as a share of assets over the past quarter is not enough to alleviate interest-rate risk,” NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz said in the report. “Long-term fixed-rate assets remain elevated, and interest-rate risk continues to be a key concern and a supervisory priority for NCUA.”
