Sneak Peek into the Credit Union Universe

Publishing the top news for this week !

Thanks to Credit Union Times , CUtoday , American Banker , CUInsight.com , Callahan & Associates, Inc. for the fresh brew.

• Annual Share Growth at CUs Slows for 7th Straight Quarter

Annual share growth at credit unions has slowed for seven straight quarters now, mirroring the decline in the personal savings rate, according to new analysis by Callahan & Associates. In releasing its analysis, Callahan’s noted Americans saved just 4.0% of their disposable income in the fourth quarter, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Federal Reserve.

• What is Happening in Savings Market? Here’s One View From CUNA Mutual Economist

“Credit unions are not immune to this trend,” wrote Rick. “During the first two months of 2023, credit union checking balances declined 2.4%, regular share balances fell 1.1% and money market deposit account balances fell 3.8%. But offsetting this decline has been a surge in certificates of deposits, which rose 12.5%. This shift in the mix of credit union deposits from low cost to high-cost deposit accounts has tripled credit union cost of funds, from 0.35% in the first quarter?of 2022, to1.1% in the first quarter of 2023.”

• ??NCUA Approves 33 Mergers in the First Quarter of 2023, Trending Downward

The number of Q1 consolidations declined from 41 mergers during the first quarter of 2022 and 35 consolidations at the end of last year’s fourth quarter.

• Patterns of Loan Growth Fraying : Consumer loan growth is slowing down while delinquencies are back to pre-pandemic levels.

TransUnion’s measures of delinquency rates by the number of accounts showed, at credit unions, 1.6% of credit card accounts were 60 days or more delinquent on March 31, up from 1.1% a year earlier and down from 1.7% on Dec. 31.

• Credit unions, banks battle over poverty bill in North Carolina

The North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill on April 27 that would allow state-chartered credit unions to accept people below the poverty line as members regardless of the credit union's field of membership. Banks complain that the bill has weak vetting criteria and could be exploited to add more affluent members.

• Fifth Largest Credit Union in Texas with New Name Appoints New CEO

Dana Sisk has been appointed the new president/CEO for Rally Credit Union in Corpus Christi, Texas, succeeding Gerry Morrow, who retired at the end of April following 18 years of service.

After Morrow was appointed CEO in March 2017, the credit union increased assets from $2.5 billion to its current assets of $4.2 billion, while loans grew from $2.1 billion to $3.6 billion, and membership expanded from 152,271 to 220,467, according to NCUA Call Reports.