The fifth annual Analysis of Canada’s Largest Credit Unions – 2007 Audited Financial Statements provides extensive financial comparisons between credit unions, chartered banks and financial institutions includes asset growth and profitability, deposit and loan portfolio, operating results, capital ratios. The Analysis provides a overview of the Credit Unions’ participation in the mutual fund and on-line brokerage industries. The Analysis also highlights some of the future challenges and trends facing the credit union system. The 2007 Analysis included 98 of the largest credit unions in Canada, outside of Quebec. The total assets of these credit unions grew by 12.3% from the previous year to $89 billion. In comparison, the chartered banks saw their assets grow by only 10.1% to $2.3 trillion. More than 3.7 million Canadians were members of these 98 largest credit unions. The largest Canadian Credit Unions returned about $148 million in dividends and patronage payments to their members or 27% of their net income before taxes. The profitability of the largest credit unions in 2007 was weaker than their competitors. The return on equity (ROE) was 10.5%. This was lower than the chartered banks ROE of 20.2%. The return on assets (ROA) was 0.64% compared to 0.88% for the banks. The lower profitability was primarily due to the higher cost structure of the credit unions. Productivity ratio, which is a measure of costs to revenues, was 76.1% for the largest credit unions compared to 61.0% for the banks.
