A Direct Line Blog

By Donya Parrish, MCU VP- Risk Management

We have a full year of COVID behind us. It’s hard to believe, but there are positive signs our lives may normalize some by this summer or fall. You have heard a lot of stories of financial difficulty, job layoffs, business closures, parents trying to manage young children learning at home, and more. Credit unions have done an amazing job of stepping up, being innovative, and helping where they can.

What does all this news mean in terms of the numbers? Fourth-quarter 2020 NCUA data for federally insured credit unions came out last week. Below is some of what we see in the Montana MSIC report:

• Our 46 federally insured credit unions (domiciled in the state) held $6.5 B in assets and serve 413,904 members
• Share growth over the previous year was at 20.57%, compared to 20.91% nationally.
• With a 2.41% increase, our membership rate was a slow area of growth. The same was true nationally with a 3.9% increase in 2020.
• Loan growth came in at a strong 8.73% in our state and 5.47% nationally. Montana growth was higher than in 2019. Much of that growth was in first mortgages (49.4%) with auto loans (29%) coming in behind.
• Net worth/assets are a strong 10.85% for our state. That is higher than the national 8.91% average, but the influx of deposits continues to erode capital levels.

There continues to be concern about slow loan and membership growth, especially in smaller credit unions. What does that mean for the future? How much did stimulus payments and loan programs help with keeping consumers and businesses afloat? Was the fast and furious mortgage market our one bright light? We don’t know all the answers yet, but the Call Report will continue to offer a peek into a portion of the story.

If you are interested in seeing your credit union’s individualized report, let me know. Your CEO also has access to it on a quarterly basis as a dues service from your association!