Credit Union Quarterly Statistics – Q3 2022

The Bank of England collates the data from credit unions’ quarterly returns to produce a statistical release on the UK credit union sector for each quarter. Due to the time taken to submit and process the returns data, it takes around 6 months for the data to be published.

Based on the data collected by the Bank of England, this briefing presents a range of statistics for the third quarter of 2022 for credit unions in Great Britain (which excludes Northern Ireland). Provided below are the headline statistics for the British credit union sector, followed by charts showing the trends for the sector over the last 5 years.

Please note that this data represents an aggregate of all credit unions that submitted their regulatory returns for the financial quarter, and that there will be significant variation between the financial trends seen by individual credit unions that are not reflected in this data. It should also be noted that the latest quarterly data available is often slightly inaccurate, due to a small number of credit unions submitting their regulatory returns late.

Key Statistics for the British Credit Union Sector for the Third Quarter of 2022

Credit unions (returns submitted): 249

Total Members (including juniors): 1,425,177

Total Assets: £2.46 billion

Total Shares: £2.13 billion

Total Capital: £283 million

Total Loans: £1.28 billion

Quarterly Income: £44.9 million

Quarterly Expenditure: £41.7 million

Quarterly Profit/Loss: +£3.2 million

Trends in the British Credit Union Sector over the Last Five Years

Number of Credit Unions: There were 249 credit unions that submitted a return to the PRA in the third quarter of 2022 – two credit unions less than the previous quarter. This slight reduction is in keeping with the ongoing decrease in the total number of credit unions in Great Britain.

A decrease in the number of submitted returns can be due to three separate reasons: credit unions merging, credit unions winding down/up, or credit unions submitting their returns late. It must be noted that the total number of credit unions may not be reflected by this figure, as the actual number of credit unions may be higher due to late submission of returns. Once any late quarterly returns are received, the data for previous quarters will be corrected by the Bank of England in future statistical releases.

Total Number of Credit Union Members: The total membership of British credit unions decreased by 0.2% between the second and third quarters of 2022, from 1,427,704 to 1,425,177. This total count of membership includes both adult members and junior depositors, with the decrease in the total number of members attributed to a fall in junior depositors. When looking at adult members alone, there was a marginal increase in membership of 0.06% between the second and third quarters of 2022.

As shown in the graph, growth credit union membership has stagnated and fluctuated since the end of 2019. The fluctuation in overall credit union membership could be due to many factors, including credit unions winding down/up.

Average Number of Members per Credit Union: The average number of members per credit union has increased to 5724 in the third quarter of 2022 from 5688 in the second quarter of 2022, representing a quarterly rise of 0.6%. However, from this data it is not clear what percentage of growth in average credit union membership size is due to merger of credit unions, and how much is due to organic member acquisition.

Total Value of Loans: The total value of credit union loans increased by 4.1% (£50.0m) between the second and third quarters of 2022. This increase is likely due to a broad increase in demand for credit from individuals driven by the cost of living crisis.

Total Shares: Total credit union shares for Great Britain have continued to grow steadily, recording £2.13 billion for the third quarter of 2022. Between the second and third quarters of 2022, the total value of shares increased by 3.0%.

Total Assets: Credit unions’ asset value continued to grow in this period, with the value of total assets in the British sector increasing between the second and third quarters of 2022 by 3.0% to £2.46 billion.

Loans to Assets Ratio: The total loans to assets ratio for credit unions increased to 52.1% in the third quarter of 2022, from 51.5% in the second quarter. The steady increase in the loans to assets ration for credit unions in recent quarters provides an encouraging indication that the financial resilience of the credit union sector is increasing following a the difficult economic period of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Total Income, Expenditure and Profit: British credit unions’ total surplus in the third quarter of 2022 was £3.2m.

The following changes were seen across the sector in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the previous quarter:

Change in Total Income: 8.0%

Change in Total Expenditure: 15.7%

Change in Total Profit: -42.3%

Total Value of Arrears: The total value of net liabilities in arrears from the returns submitted in the third quarter of 2022 was £91.7m, an increase of £2.6m (2.9%) from the previous quarter.

Arrears to Loans Ratio: The arrears to loans ratio (the percentage of the total loans value in arrears) across the sector experienced a slight reduction from 7.24% in the second quarter of 2022, to 7.16% in the third quarter. Nevertheless, the proportion of loan value in arrears remains significant compared to the level seen in the credit union sector in previous years.

Total Capital: The total value of capital across the sector increased by 4.2% to £283m between the second and third quarters of 2022. This represents the largest rate of quarterly growth in capital since 2017.

Capital to Assets Ratio: The capital to assets ratio showed an increase to 11.51%  in the third quarter of 2022 from 11.38% in the second quarter of 2022. The growth in capital compared to assets in recent quarters is a promising indicator for the financial wellbeing of the credit union sector, and indicates recovery in the financial resilience of credit unions following the difficult economic circumstances faced during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Liquidity:  The percentage of total credit union assets that were liquid for the British sector was 27.0% in the third quarter of 2022, the same level as the previous quarter.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions based on this briefing please contact policy@abcul.org.