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A deep dive into non-interest income shows COVID takes toll on interchange income in May

WASHINGTON, DC (July 10, 2020) — One of the first impacts from the COVID-19 crisis to the industry’s bottom line was a sudden and dramatic decline in Non-Interest Income (NII.)

To help credit unions understand this change and make strategic and well-informed decisions moving forward, the analyst and technology teams at Callahan & Associates have developed a tool that allows credit unions to upload their NII general ledger into Peer-to-Peer and conduct detailed analysis comparing their general ledger to those from other credit unions across the industry.

“As we’ve been speaking to hundreds of credit union executives during the past few months one area that got significant attention was the current and impending impact on non-interest income,” said Alix Patterson, chief experience officer at Callahan & Associates. “Even more troubling was the lack of data. We’re able to share anecdotal, but not comprehensive, experiences; CFOs told us they were looking for confirmation that others were seeing similar trends or if they were in some way unique.”

Credit unions report two categories of non-interest income data on their quarterly 5300 call report: fee income and other operating income. These categories are broad and consist of many separate and important subcategories that are not detailed on the 5300 call report.

“Tracking these individual sub-streams is, in many ways, more enlightening than the totals provided by the 5300 call report,” said Patterson. “Compared to interest income, credit unions have more strategic control over their non-interest income streams. By tracking these streams, credit unions can see exactly where their non-interest income is coming from, how their peers are managing these streams, and what can be done to improve overall revenue channels.”

By uploading their NII general ledger into Peer-to-Peer, credit unions can look at historical and current data that breaks NII into 22 separate categories including NSF/Overdraft fees, Mortgage Origination Fees, ATM/Debit Card Fees, Wire Fees, CUSO Earnings, Interchange Income, among others.

“We’ve just started this data collection effort and are already seeing different business models emerging. We are excited to get mid-year (June) data from our hundreds of clients to identify more areas of opportunity for credit unions as they start to shift strategies and plan for 2021” said Patterson.

Access to this data, and the ability to breakdown and analyze versus other credit unions, will give insight into business models, fee strategies, income streams, and more. To see this data, credit unions must be subscribed to Callahan’s Peer-to-Peer and contribute their data. For more information about how to get access or how to upload your data contact us at support@callahan.com.


About Callahan & Associates

For nearly 40 years, Callahan & Associates has been instrumental in guiding credit union leaders to make informed strategic decisions to ensure their long-term relevance. They accomplish this by helping credit unions measure performance, identify strategic opportunities, and  build collaborative networks, all through a mission-focused lens. Learn more at www.callahan.com

Contacts

Alexandra Gekas
Callahan & Associates
agekas@callahan.com

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