Two of the top three best preforming credit unions of 2020 serve first responders!

PHILADELPHIA–Police and Fire FCU has been named the “top-performing” credit union in the U.S. in a ranking by S&P Global Market Intelligence that ranked the top 100 CUs with assets of more than $100 million.

Eastman Credit Union in Tennessee and Long Beach Firemen’s CU in California were ranked number two and three, respectively.

According to S&P Global, the $6.7-billion Police & Fire not only outperformed the industry median in all five of the ranking metrics in 202,  but also outpaced the top-100 median in all but one metric. Its average loans per member of $11,260, although an improvement of 18.2% year over year, was lower than the top-100 median of $12,015, S&P Global said.

The rankings noted Police and Fire FCU's total loans and leases jumped almost 38% last year to $4.88 billion, helped by a $1.04 billion increase in fixed-rate first mortgages. Meanwhile, its loan delinquency ratio fell 13 basis points from 2019, helped by strong declines in delinquent unsecured credit card loans, new vehicle loans and fixed-rate first mortgages, S&P Global said.

Silver & Gold Winners

Kingsport, Tenn.-based Eastman CU  took the No. 2 spot in 2020 by beating the top-100 median in four of the five ranking metrics. The credit union was also the only one among the top three to report any Paycheck Protection Program loans at the end of 2020.

Long Beach Firemen’s was ranked third after reporting the second-highest ratio of average loans per member at $42,003 and the sixth-highest net worth ratio at 19.76% among the top 100 credit unions. The credit union also did not report any delinquent loans 60-plus days past due at year-end 2020.

The five metrics used by S&P Global Market Intelligence included member growth; average loans, net of PPP loans, per member; net worth as a percentage of total assets; delinquent loans as a percentage of total loans, net of PPP loans, and return on average assets.

To determine its rankings, S&P Global looked only at CUs of more than $100-million in assets with a net worth ratio of at least of 7%, or a pool of 1727 eligible CUs. 

 A Look at the Very Largest

In the S&P Global rankings, the nation's largest credit unions by assets, Vienna, Va.-based Navy FCU  and Raleigh, N.C.-based State Employees CU came in at No. 499 and No. 1,438 in 2020, respectively. Navy Federal's profitability in 2020 fell, with the credit union recording a return on average assets of 0.64%, compared to 1.58% in 2019. The credit union's net worth ratio also deteriorated to 10.78% from 12.34% a year earlier. However, credit quality improved, with delinquent loans as a proportion of total loans, excluding PPP loans, falling to 0.96%, S&P Global said.

“A similar trend played out at State Employees' as ROAA dropped four basis points to 0.56%, and its net worth ratio fell from 8.50% to 7.95%. Meanwhile, its delinquency ratio excluding PPP loans declined by 42 basis points to 1.50%,” the analysis stated.

California and Texas lead the nation with 11 credit unions in the top 100, followed by Wisconsin at eight.

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