Press

Federation introduces first comprehensive benchmark of CDFI credit union performance

NEW YORK, NY (May 31, 2018) — Today, the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (Federation) announced a multi-year research effort designed to inform the credit union and community finance industries of the social and business opportunities related to financial inclusion.

Federation members, also known as Community Development Credit Unions (CDCUs), including the majority of CDFI credit unions, are mission-driven financial institutions whose success is measured by fiscal performance and positive social impact. Since 2015, the Federation has been helping its members understand this double bottom line with customized Community Development Profiles that have become the industry’s leading peer comparison benchmark reports. Despite serving economically distressed communities, CDFI credit unions typically outperform their non-CDFI peers in earnings, lending, growth and impact. See 2017 Median Return on Average Assets by Credit Union Peer Group graph above.

New this year are Community Development Profiles that include the first-ever analysis of consumer loan data for a large segment of CDFI credit unions. This reporting, unparalleled in its depth and scope, provides the first industry-wide key financial and social impact performance indicators for CDFI credit unions.

Nearly 100 CDFI credit unions submitted 2017 loan data to the Federation for help with their CDFI Annual Certification Reports in early 2018. The analysis of this data has led to key performance indicators in this year’s Community Development Profiles, benchmarking credit union performance in earnings, growth, target market deployment and the proportion of dollars deployed in sub-prime credit tiers. For example, in 2017, the leading CDFI credit unions with more than $500 million in assets deployed an average of 78% of loan dollars in CDFI Target Market and 33% in subprime credit tiers while growing faster than their peers in membership, assets and total loans.

Also included in the Profiles are Target Market Opportunity and Response indices that use public data to compare the relative concentration of credit union branches in economically distressed markets and the relative number of responsive products and services offered by each credit union.

Community Development Profiles provide credit unions with performance and market insights to inform strategic planning, earnings management, capacity assessment and resource allocation. Profiles are exclusively available through the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions. National findings will be released at the Federation’s Annual Conference in Clearwater, FL on October 24, 2018. For more information about the Profiles, contact Pablo DeFilippi, SVP of Membership and Network Engagement, at pablo@cdcu.coop, or attend a preview of this year’s new Profiles on Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at 2:00 pm ET. Register online at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8179697298967791875.


About The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions

The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions is a certified CDFI intermediary representing community development credit unions (CDCUs). The Federation's member CDCUs provide credit, savings, transaction services and financial education to more than 6 million residents of low- and moderate-income urban, rural and reservation-based communities across the US, and hold over $60 billion in community-controlled assets. Founded in 1974, the Federation is headquartered in Lower Manhattan with offices in Madison, WI. The Federation offers a wide range of advocacy, educational, training, investment, marketing, and outreach programs to support and assist CDCUs. For more information about the Federation and its programs, visit www.cdcu.coop.

Contacts

Clarissa Ritter
Director of Marketing and Communictions
212-809-1850, ext. 210
critter@cdcu.coop

More News