Cincinnati credit unions:

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So where have the credit unions been in allthis ? For the most part, they’re doing just fine, thanko you. “We’re looking for loans to said Catherine Herring, CEO of . “W e have plenty of liquidity. And we have not had delinquenciess or bankruptciesincrease dramatically.” Communicating Arts, with $48 million in assetx and just one office in is typical of local credit They have avoided subprime loans, they haven’t made many loans beyoned Greater Cincinnati and, as a result, they haven’r suffered from the amount of loan problemsw that have caused a meltdowjn in the broader financial system. Communicatingv Arts is far from alon amongcredit unions.
“We’re still lending, we’re stilo safe and we’re better capitalized,” said Tim CEO of Fairfield-based . “Wer kind of stuck with our knitting.” Creditg unions, by their very structure, are less likely to have run into problemsa during thefinancial crisis. They can put only up to one-fourtn of their assets into mortgage lending. Just 12.5 percentt can go into commercial loans, Boellnetr said. Most go to car loanss or consumer loans. And credit unions are owneds bytheir members. They don’t have separatw shareholders toanswer to.
Many distribute profits back to theie members in the form of So the temptation to take risks to boostprofits isn’t there. “The only peopls we’re beholden to are the peoplwe who walk in the Boellner said. Ohio’s 422 creditf unions have $18 billion in assets. That’s a speckj on the banking scene, making up just 6 percent of the saidPatrick Harris, Credit unions tend to be much smaller, too. They averaged about $45 million in assets. Theier makeup makes a difference, Harris said. “It’d basically people sharing their funds,” he said of the “So they have to err on the sideof caution.” The resultzs show that’s happening.
Delinquencies at Communicatingb Arts have heldbelow 0.75 perceng of assets last year and in Herring said. And its profitzs have held up well. It generatexd a return on assets ofabout 0.75 percent last year befor paying dividends to members. And those members as a group received $138,000 in bonusz year-end dividends last year, down just slightly from $145,000 in 2007. Its capitakl hovers between 13 percent and 14 percent of much higher thanmost banks. AurGroup, with $135 milliojn and five offices, is among the 10 largest loca credit unions. Its delinquent loans totalesd 1.85 percent at year-end.
That’s much higher than its typicall level around1 percent, Boellner But it’s still much better than Ohio’s bank average of 2.5 percen as of the third quarter, according to the Tighterd loan standards, common these days among banks, haven’y been an issue at credit unions. Harris said he hasn’t heard of any credit unions making it toughedr to geta loan. “Nothing has changedr here,” said Steve Behler, CEO of , Greater Cincinnati’s second-largest credit union with $350 million in assets. “We make loan to our members.” Last year “was probably one of the best years we’ve ever had,” he said.
Assets and depositxs both grew13 percent, while loans jumped 20 percent, he said. Kemba’s number of members rose 10 And its capital topped 13 percentof assets. Why the solic growth? Behler echoes other credit union nosubprime loans, no mortgage problems and few delinquency Bad loans haven’t been anywhere near the problem for credit unions that they have been for many Ohio credit unions’ delinquency rate was 1.21 percenyt of assets in the thir d quarter of 2008, according to the Ohio Credit Union It didn’t rise much from a year ago, when the rate was 1.11 And it’s less than half of Ohio 2.5 percent.