An increase in assets and return on average equity helpedCentral 1 Credit Union have a banner 2012 thanks to a strong returnon its investment portfolio.

That's according to the cooperative, which is the centralfinancial facility and trade association for the 44 BritishColumbia and 97 Ontario credit unions in Canada. Central 1 serves the systems' 3.2 million members andholds $86.2 billion in assets.

“The gains over last year were due largely to improvedinvestment results and the reversal of unrealized losses from lastyear,” said Don Rolfe, president/CEO of Central 1, who announced onMarch 21 that he will step down on July 31.

“Overall, Central 1's risk profile was reduced and we did anexcellent job of generating a strong return on our investmentportfolio even though markets remained in turmoil throughout theyear.”

Central 1 said it continues to invest primarily in Governmentof Canada bonds, provincial government debt and senior Canadianbank debt.

Some of Central 1's results for 2012 were $13.7 million comparedto a profit of $15.4 million in 2011. Total assets at year-end were$14.2 billion, compared to $14.6 billion in 2011. Return on averageequity was 9.6%, compared to 2.7% in 2011.

As a result, Central 1 said it declared dividends of $11.9million to member shareholders in 2012, compared to $10.0 millionin 2011.

Among British Columbia's credit unions, assets totaled $57.2billion in 2012 driven largely by commercial mortgages, which were up 13.7% to $11.7 billion andpersonal mortgages, up 6.7% to $33.1 billion, according to Central1.

Asset growth for the Ontario system was $30.8 billion atyear-end, up 14.9% year-over-year. The addition of two new creditunions – DUCAFinancial Services Credit Union Ltd. and St. Stanislaus-St.Casimir's Polish Parishes Credit Union Ltd. – boosted system assetsby approximately $1.7 billion, Central 1 said.

The strong financials come as Rolfe prepares to leave Central1's top post. He has served at the helm since 2008 and oversaw thecombination of the credit union centrals of B.C. and Ontario,which resulted in the creation of Central 1 that same year. In2010, in partnership with Co-operators Life Insurance Company,Central 1 also acquired The CUMIS Group Ltd.