MMAs Continues to Bolster Savings

Ahead of regular shares and certificates of deposits, money market accounts continue to make gains, amassing 40% of the credit union industry’s savings increase year-to-date.Members are keeping liquid with 59% of deposits in share drafts, regular shares and MMAs, according to CUNA Mutual Group’s November “Credit Union Trends Report,” which tracked data up to September. MMAs had an average yield of 1.25%. The second largest contributor to growth was regular shares. This account class is up 10.9% year to date and contributed 35% of total growth, despite yields averaging just 0.63%, the data showed. CDs were down in September and are up only 1.3% year to date with a still “generous” yield of 2.0%.Despite an expected fractional decline in September, total savings at CUs are up 10.8% over the past year and 8.6% year to date. Compared to 2008, year to date growth has outpaced the same period’s results and annual growth every year since 2003, noted CUNA Mutual Chief Economist Dave Colby in the report. The $59.8 billion year to date increase in savings tops all annual marks and is almost 100% above the five-year average annual gain. Colby pointed out that savings increased just 0.7% in the third quarter of 2009.–[email protected]