MADISON, Wis. — The industry's membership count was an estimated 90.2 million at the end of August, well above near-term trends and slightly above the 10-year average annual rate of increase.
That's according to the latest CUNA Mutual Group's Credit Union Trends Report.
Membership rose by an estimated 288,000 in August bringing the year-to-date gain up to 1.9 million. Given that annual gains have averaged 1.1 million over the past three years, results through the first eight months of 2007 are "exceptional," according to the report.
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Still, while the depth of relationship measures, which are tied mainly to growth in savings and loans per member, have caused a "membership surge," they are only contributing modestly to overall credit union growth results.
"We caution–expect gains to slow," said Dave Colby, chief economist with CUNA Mutual. "Over the past three years, 92% of all membership gains occurred in the first eight months of the year."
Meanwhile, CUNA's semi-annual benchmark revisions surprisingly added 34 credit unions back into the count for data through July 2007. The net result was sharply lower year-over-year and YTD market contraction. Post-benchmark results through August
now show 8,512 credit unions.
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