Wisconsin's state-chartered credit unions grew assets by 5.7% in the nine months ending Sept. 30, according to data released this week by the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.

Assets totaled $24.4 billion, up from $23.1 billion in the first three quarters of 2012.

Compared this year's nine-month period to figures from one year prior, Wisconsin's 174 state-chartered credit unions:

• Improved net worth from 10.09% to 10.43%,
• Increased loans by 5.8% to $17.9 billion,
• Reduced loan delinquency rate from 1.50% to 1.17%, the lowest figure since 2007, and
• Posted cumulative net income of $164.5 million, down 0.1% from 2012.

DFI reported that nearly half of the increase in loans came from mortgages.

“State-chartered credit unions had another very solid quarter,” DFI Secretary Peter Bildsten said in a prepared statement. “Even though net income was flat, it was still strong. What's more important is that net worth rose and loan delinquency rates continued to decline.”

Kim Santos, director of the Office of Credit Unions, noted that Wisconsin's credit unions also cut their cost of funds by 20.2%—or nearly $22 million—in the first three quarters of 2013.

“It's encouraging to see that credit unions are making progress on managing their cost of funds,” Santos said. “That's especially critical in this low-interest rate environment.”

A full report on the third-quarter 2013 performance of Wisconsin credit unions will be available on the DFI website, www.wdfi.org, by the end of November.