State-chartered credit unions in Wisconsin are showing signs of growth despite the pandemic, according to a new report from the state’s Department of Financial Institutions examining the credit unions' performance in the first half of 2020.
Total assets grew $46.9 billion, a 28% increase, compared with growth of more than 14% in the first half of 2019. Deposits grew by more than 31% compared with the first half of 2019 on “the combination of consumer restraint, government stimulus payments and expanded unemployment benefits,” the department said in a press release.
Net income remained level — $208 million, the same as at the end last year's second quarter — but declined as a percentage of average assets from 1.09% to 0.94%.
Lending remained strong and balances increased by about $3 billion, or an annualized growth rate of almost 6.7%, versuse 5.7% a year earlier. Recent data from Callahan & Associates showed that roughly 94% of all credit union lending nationwide in the first half was concentrated in mortgages.
Delinquencies dropped from 0.62% — the figure at the halfway mark in 2018 and 2019 — to 0.56% and net worth was 10.4%, down from 11.27% in June 2019.
“Despite these unprecedented times, Wisconsin’s state-chartered credit unions continued to perform relatively well during the first two quarters of 2020,” DFI Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld said in the release. “Their continued solid performance is a result of sound management practices and actions taken during the early stages of the pandemic.”
