Community Credit Unions

Member engagement improved sequentially but softened on an annual basis. Member growth accelerated to 0.70% in 2026-Q1 from 0.57% in 2025-Q4 (QoQ), yet decelerated from 0.78% in 2025-Q1 (YoY) by 8 basis points. Critically, Community CUs remain far ahead of the national average of -0.65%, a gap of 1.35 percentage points. Within the cohort, 60.6% of Community CUs are growing membership while 39.4% are declining — a meaningful divergence suggesting the aggregate figure masks competitive stratification among institutions.

Profitability is effectively stable quarter-over-quarter but shows meaningful year-over-year improvement. ROA held at 0.70% in 2026-Q1, essentially flat from 0.69% in 2025-Q4 (a negligible +0.004 pp QoQ), yet up 0.19 pp from 0.50% in 2025-Q1 — a strong YoY recovery. Community CUs now sit 2 basis points above the national ROA of 0.67%. NIM expanded to 3.46% from 3.29% a year ago (+0.17 pp YoY), though it trails the national benchmark of 3.70% by 24 basis points. Notably, 94.0% of Community CUs are generating positive ROA.

Asset growth decelerated modestly from 5.02% in 2025-Q4 to 4.80% in 2026-Q1 (QoQ, -0.21 pp), but accelerated sharply versus 2.70% in 2025-Q1 (YoY, +2.10 pp) — and stands 2.17 percentage points above the national average of 2.64%. Loan growth remained stable at 4.59%, essentially unchanged from 4.63% in 2025-Q4 (-0.03 pp QoQ), and towers 4.28 percentage points above the national benchmark of 0.31%. Breadth is strong: 84.4% of Community CUs are growing assets and 76.6% are growing loans, confirming the aggregate gains are widely distributed.

The risk profile improved meaningfully on a quarterly basis and held steady year-over-year. Delinquency decreased from 0.83% in 2025-Q4 to 0.68% in 2026-Q1 (QoQ, -0.15 pp), while remaining stable versus 0.68% in 2025-Q1 (YoY, essentially flat at +0.004 pp). Community CUs sit 10 basis points below the national delinquency rate of 0.78%. Within the cohort, delinquency ranges from 0.03% to 2.85%, signaling meaningful dispersion. Net worth decreased slightly from 11.01% in 2025-Q4 to 10.93% (QoQ, -0.09 pp), though it increased from 10.72% a year ago (+0.21 pp YoY), remaining 2.69 percentage points below the national average of 13.61%.

Portfolio composition continued shifting toward long-duration assets. First mortgage concentration rose to 34.22% in 2026-Q1 from 33.90% in 2025-Q4 (+0.31 pp QoQ) and from 32.85% in 2025-Q1 (+1.37 pp YoY) — already 12.07 percentage points above the national average of 22.15%. Indirect auto exposure declined from 16.12% in 2025-Q4 to 15.61% (-0.51 pp QoQ) and from 17.02% in 2025-Q1 (-1.41 pp YoY), still nearly double the national 7.73%. Share certificate concentration eased from 27.27% in 2025-Q4 to 26.69% (-0.58 pp QoQ) but is up 0.33 pp year-over-year, running 6.89 percentage points above the national 19.80%.