Mississippi Credit Unions

Member engagement momentum strengthened in 2026-Q1, with member growth accelerating to 1.68% from 1.47% in Q4 2025 — a gain of 0.21 pp quarter-over-quarter. Year-over-year, however, the pace has decelerated sharply from 5.55% in Q1 2025, a 3.87 pp pullback that signals the post-pandemic membership surge is normalizing. Crucially, MS credit unions still outpace the national member growth rate of -0.65% by 2.33 percentage points, indicating the cohort continues to attract members even as the broader industry contracts.

Profitability delivered a mixed picture in 2026-Q1. ROA decreased to 0.75% from 0.85% in Q4 2025, though year-over-year it is effectively stable, edging up just 1 basis point from 0.74% in Q1 2025 — remaining 7 bps above the national 0.67%. NIM decreased to 4.30% from 4.40% last quarter but is flat year-over-year, holding 60 bps above the national 3.70%. The critical concern is the efficiency ratio, which increased to 81.05% from 79.48% QoQ and has surged 16.89 pp from 64.16% a year ago, now 1.97 pp above the national benchmark — signaling rising cost pressure that demands immediate attention.

Growth momentum decelerated across the board in 2026-Q1. Asset growth slowed to 2.44% from 3.75% in Q4 2025 and has decelerated sharply from 8.21% in Q1 2025 — now 20 basis points below the national 2.64%. Loan growth also decelerated to 1.52% from 3.25% last quarter, though it remains a healthy 1.21 pp above the national 0.31%, suggesting MS credit unions are still capturing loan demand more effectively than peers. The broad deceleration in both assets and loans reflects a transition from the high-growth environment of 2025 toward a more measured expansion pace.

The risk profile improved meaningfully in 2026-Q1. Delinquency decreased to 0.87% from 1.51% in Q4 2025 and also fell from 1.17% in Q1 2025 — a 0.30 pp year-over-year improvement — though it remains 10 basis points above the national 0.78%. Charge-offs decreased to 0.66% from 0.87% last quarter and are essentially stable year-over-year at -2 basis points from 0.68%, still 31 bps above the national 0.35%. Net worth strengthened to 18.02%, up 0.13 pp from Q4 2025 and up 1.42 pp from 16.60% a year ago, sitting 4.40 pp above the national 13.61% — providing a substantial capital buffer.

MS credit unions maintain a distinctly different portfolio composition than the national average. First mortgage concentration stands at 8.40% — just 13.76 pp below the national 22.15% — and grew only 0.18 pp year-over-year, suggesting limited appetite for long-duration real estate exposure. Indirect auto lending at 2.41% remains well below the national 7.73%, rising a modest 0.11 pp YoY. Certificates as a share of deposits reached 19.62%, up 1.53 pp year-over-year and now nearly matching the national 19.80%, reflecting members' increased preference for rate-bearing instruments as the rate environment remains elevated.