As of Dec. 31, 2014, credit union industry assets totaled $1.14 trillion, a 5.8% increase during calendar year 2014, which compares favorably for the 3.9% growth during 2013, according to Callahan statistics. Loans totaled $721.6 billion for 2014, reflecting a whopping 10.5% growth rate for 2014 that beat the 7.9% growth posted for the previous year.

Shares also increased 4.6% to $964.3 billion, beating 3.7% growth for the previous year. Capital increased 8.3% to $130 billion, up from 3.2% in 2013, and aggregate membership jumped to 100.7 million, a 3.3% increase that compares favorably to a 2.5% membership increase in 2013.

Only investments took a hit, declining 3.2% to $357.2 billion, a further slide when added to the 2.1% decrease in 2013, Johnson said.

Credit unions also hold more than 10% of the deposit market share in 27 states across the U.S., Johnson said. Alaska tops the list with an impressive 40.3% deposit market share, followed by New Mexico (21.4%), Washington (21.1%), Vermont (20.7%) and Idaho (19.5%) to round out the top-five list.

The 4.6% share growth rate proved to be a mixed bag of gains and losses. IRA/Keogh accounts and share certificates declined slightly in 2014, offsetting a more impressive 8.5% growth in regular shares, compared to 7.8% in 2013. Share draft accounts grew 10.3% in 2014, compared to 6.8% for the previous year.

However, loan growth remained the true credit union success story, Johnson said. Every loan category posted faster year-over-year growth compared to the previous year, but new auto loans sped to the front with 21% growth in 2014 compared to 12.7% in 2013. MBL's grew 14.1%, last year, compared to 11.3% during the previous year, and used auto followed with 13% growth in 2014, compared to 10.5% in 2013.

Despite a downturn in first mortgages, credit union mortgage market share topped 30% in 11 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. Binghamton, N.Y., ranked highest in the group with 36.06% market share, with Utica-Rome, N.Y., brought up 11^th place with 30.45%. In terms of total dollar amounts, 4^th place entry Burlington-South Burlington, Vt., ranked highest with almost $1.7 billion in mortgage originations.

"First mortgage originations fell 20% compared to the previous year, but credit unions still performed better the overall market, which dropped 40% during the same period," Johnson said. "A decade ago we talked about credit unions moving from 2% of the mortgage market to 10%, and we're almost there."

Strong financial performance puts credit unions as institutions and as an industry in a good position to address interest rate risk and risk-based capital concerns, Johnson said. He encouraged credit unions to stay involved in any and all risk-based capital discussions with the NCUA.

"Credit unions maintained stable capital during the recession, and any failures were largely due to fraud, making this a supervisory issue rather than a capital-based issue," Johnson said. "Risk-weighting has been a big focus of RBC discussions, but RBC should be used as an exam tool. Making it a hard rule in the books doesn't make any sense."