Earnings Down 17% among Largest Credit Unions

An early look at the largest credit unions participating in Callahan’s First Look program reinforces the earnings pressure felt throughout the industry. Over half of the largest 20 participants earned less in the first quarter of 2004 than 2003. These credit unions, on average, were over $4 billion in assets and had almost $11 million in net income in the first quarter – enough to generate a healthy 1.06% return on average assets. Still, their net income was 17.1% lower than the first three months of 2003 where they had generated a collective ROA of 1.42%.

By Casey Connelly

An early look at the largest credit unions participating in Callahan’s First Look program reinforces the earnings pressure felt throughout the industry. Over half of the largest 20 participants earned less in the first quarter of 2004 than 2003. These credit unions, on average, were over $4 billion in assets and had almost $11 million in net income in the first quarter – enough to generate a healthy 1.06% return on average assets. Still, their net income was 17.1% lower than the first three months of 2003 where they had generated a collective ROA of 1.42%.