While the credit union industry still has almost 10,000 institutions, the top
100 are viewed as the driving force of the movement’s performance. Even
though they represent only 1% of the number of credit unions, their nearly $200
billion in assets represents almost one-third of total industry assets and carries
a lot of weight with overall performance ratios. ROA for the credit union industry,
for instance, averages 1.01%. The top 100 credit unions, however, have an average
ROA of 1.15%. If you remove their earnings and assets from the equation, the
industry average drops 9 basis points to 0.92%.
Among the top 100 credit unions, 83 have at least $1 billion in assets, compared
with only 72 at the end of 2002. Three credit unions, Keesler Federal, Lake
Michigan and Western, joined the top 100 this year. Among those credit unions
that were already in the top 100, Northwest FCU made the largest jump from 77th
to 64th with 22.1% growth. Five other credit unions, Space Coast, Merck Employees,
Teachers, GTE and Macdill, made double-digit jumps in the ranking as well.
The table below compares the average size and performance results of the top
100 with industry averages and the industry averages with the top 100 removed
from consideration. Not only does the top 100 clearly outperform the industry,
there are significant differences in performance when this group is left out
of consideration. For instance, the industry as a whole grew loans faster than
shares, but without the top 100, share growth actually outpaced loan growth
in 2003.
For the most up-to-date data on the industry turn to Callahan's
Quarterly Research & Data Report.