Callahan & Associates on Tuesday estimated that credit unions' third-quarter earnings matched their second-quarter record as originations slowed to a crawl.

Analysts for the Washington, D.C.-based credit union company said the challenge for credit unions will be finding ways to invest their bounty not only to keep up with the rising minimum requirements to remain viable, but also to take risks calculated to widen their benefit to members and their communities.

Key findings from its quarterly Trendwatch report included:

• Net income was $22.4 billion for the three months ending Sept. 30, or an annualized 1.11% of average assets. The ROA was unchanged from the second quarter, which was the highest in at least this century.
• The net interest margin was 2.59%, up from 2.57% in the first and second quarters. Margins had been declining since hitting a peak of 3.19% in 2019's fourth quarter.
• Loan loss provisions were $1.2 billion, or an expense that was an annualized 0.06% of average assets, compared with a historic $48.7 million gain in this year's second quarter and a second quarter 2020 peak expense of $2.7 billion, or 0.64% of average assets.
• In loan originations, Callahan's data showed the surge from the first quarter to the second was followed by a drop in first mortgages and much weaker gains in other major areas. Total originations grew a scant 0.2% in the third quarter.
• Consumer loan production grew 10.2% from 2020's fourth quarter to this year's first quarter and grew 14.8% in the second quarter, but rose only 1.5% in the third quarter. First mortgages fell 3% in the third quarter after an 8.3% gain in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, as CUNA has reported, savings are still high, but the quarter-to-quarter increases are falling closer to the six-year median of 1.6%. And loan balance growth is rising, although at a slower pace than before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020.