State Charters Gain on Federals Posted by Association of Vermont Credit Unions on 9:37 AM

According to a report by CU Jounal, state chartered credit unions in the United States now hold nearly 50% of all credit union assets. That's a 6.7% increase since the beginning of 2016, compared to 5.4% growth for federal credit unions.

There are over 2,300 state-chartered credit unions in existence, with assets totaling $631 billion. Memberships at state charters have hit 51.2 million (47% of total membership nationally, according to the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors, a 3.2% rise from the end of 2015.

Return on assets, net worth ratios and loan-to-share ratios differences between state and federal charters are mostly non-existent, as are delinquency, net charge offs, net interest margins and membership growth.  Lending at state-charters, however, grew slightly faster at 8.2% as compared to 7.1% for federals.

According to CU Journal, a number of federally chartered CUs have converted to state charters in recent years.  Some CUs convert to charters in a belief that laws under the other charter are more nimble and allow them to serve their members.