A Direct Line Blog

By Donya Parrish, MCU VP- Risk Management

Somehow I missed doing a “state of the [credit] union” update in 2021. Maybe it was the fatigue of COVID dragging on into last year, or possibly my memory is not what it was on the “other” side of the hill. Either way, it’s time to get back to providing the current status of credit unions in Big Sky Country. My apologies if you have been waiting anxiously for it!

Credit unions continue to outperform expectations in a pandemic era, and while there are challenges with drastic and long-term increases in assets and supply challenges in the housing and auto markets, credit unions in Montana and across the country continue to see some success and very low delinquencies.

Strength in the whole industry is great news for your credit union since most of you participate in the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) and want it to be as healthy as possible. These trends in Montana credit unions are based on NCUA Call Report data from September 30, 2021.

Here are a few notes of interest regarding Montana-based credit unions:

• Our 46 credit unions held almost $7.25B in assets and $4.03B in total loans.
• Asset growth was 16.8%, compared to 12.9% nationally.
• With only a 2.0% increase, our membership rate of growth has increased over prior years, but at a slower rate than asset and loan growth. With more than 421,000 total memberships, Montana ranks high in the rate of members to potential members (9% compared to 3% for the U.S.).
• Loan growth came in at a strong 8.2% in our state, with much of that growth in commercial loans, first mortgages, and new auto loans. In fact, first mortgages now account for over half the loans in portfolio in our state, and credit cards make up less than 2%. Loan growth in unsecured loans, used autos, and HELOC/second mortgages dropped off considerably from 2020 and prior years.
• Net worth/assets are a strong 10.4% for our state. Not only is that higher than the national 10.2% average, but almost 83% of Montana credit unions also have a net worth greater than 7%, making them well-capitalized.
• 66% of Montana credit unions have a positive ROA, compared to a national rate of 83.5% and a drop from 95.7% the year prior.
• Bankruptcies per credit union continued to be lower in Montana, with a rate of 3.2, compared to the national rate of 20.2 with a 60+ day delinquency rate of .27% in state and .46% nationally.
• While our Loans/Savings (62.7%) and Loans/Assets (55.6%) ratios lag behind the national levels (70.4% and 61.0% respectively), both are not far behind the year prior for our state.

You are doing a great job promoting positive growth trends and keeping up with all the many challenges 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 us in mind here at MCU if you are looking for resources or information for your next board meeting.