Arizona Credit Unions

Member growth for AZ credit unions accelerated to 0.55% in 2026-Q1, up from 0.41% in 2025-Q4 — a positive sequential signal. However, on a year-over-year basis, momentum has decelerated from 1.07% in 2025-Q1, a decline of 0.52 pp. The brighter note is the cohort's standing relative to the industry: at 0.55%, Arizona credit unions sit 1.19 percentage points above the national member growth rate of -0.65%, meaning the cohort is growing membership while the broader industry contracts. The QoQ reacceleration suggests stabilization, but the YoY slowdown warrants monitoring.

Profitability for AZ credit unions remains solid and above national benchmarks, though the picture is mixed across timeframes. ROA held essentially stable at 0.81% in 2026-Q1, versus 0.82% in 2025-Q4 — a negligible 1 basis point dip — while improving meaningfully from 0.70% in 2025-Q1, a gain of 0.11 pp year-over-year. NIM of 3.94% was similarly stable, edging down just 4 bps from 3.98% last quarter and up only 2 bps from 3.92% a year ago. Both ROA and NIM exceed national benchmarks of 0.67% and 3.70%, respectively, by 14 and 24 basis points.

Asset growth decelerated modestly to 5.89% in 2026-Q1 from 6.77% in 2025-Q4, a decline of 0.88 pp quarter-over-quarter. Yet the year-over-year story is compelling: growth accelerated sharply from 2.83% in 2025-Q1, a gain of 3.06 pp, and the cohort outpaces the national benchmark of 2.64% by 3.25 percentage points. Loan growth decelerated slightly to 2.14% from 2.32% in 2025-Q4, a 0.18 pp pullback, and remains substantially above the national loan growth rate of 0.31% by 1.83 percentage points. Year-over-year loan growth comparison is unavailable, limiting full context on that trajectory.

The risk profile for AZ credit unions is divergent in 2026-Q1. Delinquency improved on both timeframes, decreasing to 0.68% from 0.87% in 2025-Q4 — a 0.18 pp improvement — and down 0.06 pp from 0.74% in 2025-Q1, placing the cohort 9 basis points below the national 0.78%. However, charge-offs increased 5 bps quarter-over-quarter to 0.79% from 0.73%, and are stable versus 0.74% a year ago, sitting a concerning 43 basis points above the national rate of 0.35%. Net worth decreased 7 bps to 11.51% from 11.58% last quarter, though it increased 0.22 pp year-over-year; the 2.10 pp gap below the national 13.61% remains a structural vulnerability.

Arizona credit unions continued reshaping their portfolio in 2026-Q1. Indirect auto concentration decreased to 21.86% from 22.51% in 2025-Q4 (down 0.64 pp QoQ) and from 24.32% in 2025-Q1 (down 2.46 pp YoY), though it remains nearly three times the national rate of 7.73%. First mortgage concentration increased to 14.51% from 14.31% last quarter and from 14.03% a year ago, but trails the national 22.15% by a wide margin. Share certificate concentration edged up 0.15 pp to 17.34% from 2025-Q4 and rose 1.77 pp year-over-year from 15.57%, approaching but still below the national 19.80%.