Credit unions made more money than ever in 2012, according to SNL Financial.

The Charlottesville, Va., data analysis firm said the industry recorded aggregate net income of $8.6 billion in 2012, a 33.54% jump from the previous year and the most ever in one year.

The numbers showed a sharp increase since 2008, when they hit a net aggregate income loss of 0.15%, SNL Financial said. In 2000, the earliest year the firm reported, the figure was 4.38%.

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Meanwhile, the nation's largest credit union, the $52 billion Navy Federal recorded asset growth of 11.74% in 2012 and loan and lease growth of 9.84%, SNL Financial said, helped along by its move into participation loans as other credit unions neared their business lending camp.

At the nation's second largest credit union, the $25 billion State Employees' Credit Union in North Carolina, assets grew 7.51% in 2012, despite growth in loans and leases of only 0.44% in 2012. Deposits jumped 7.51% in that same period, SNL said, and securities portfolio investments and mortgages helped drive the asset increase, SNL said.