Interest income accounted for 72.4%, or $12.8 billion, of total income at credit unions in the first quarter of 2018. Of this, $11.2 billion came from loan income and $1.6 billion came from investment income.
On the other side of the coin, non-interest income accounted for 27.6%, or $5.0 billion, of total income at credit unions.
Non-interest income increased 18.0% year-over-year. The bulk of this growth came from other operating income, which jumped 27.9% year-over-year as the NCUA distributed equity related to the Corporate System Resolution Program. Credit unions reported that equity distribution as other operating income.
As of March 31, other operating income totaled $2.8 billion and accounted for 55.9% of all non-interest income. Fee income grew 5.6% year-over-year to $2.1 billion, which accounted for 41.8% of non-interest income in the first quarter. The other 2.3% came from other non-interest income, including non-operating income, gain on investments, and gain on non-trading derivatives.
Although interest income continues to be the industry's primary driver of total revenue, fee income and other operating income contribute to credit unions' flexible income opportunities and improve their bottom lines.
Nearly two-thirds, 63.1%, of income at credit unions came from loans in the first quarter of 2018. Other operating income contributed the next-highest amount, 15.8%, to total income. Fee income and investment income rounded out the portfolio at 11.8% and 9.3%, respectively.
Non-interest income comprised 27.6% of the loan portfolio. That’s up from 26.7% in the first quarter of 2014.
Distributions from the NCUA corporate resolution program underpinned the 27.9% year-over-year growth in other operating income.
Revenue growth in the first quarter of 2018 was 14.2%. That’s 5.9 percentage points stronger than in the first quarter of 2018.
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