CUA in solid financial shape
16 September 2009
CUA, Australia’s largest credit union, has shown its strength in tough times reporting an increased consolidated underlying* net profit after tax of $43 million for the year to 30 June 2009.
Total assets under management grew by 3.0 per cent to $7.7 billion and total deposits increased by 17.1 per cent to $5.0 billion.
Chris Whitehead, Chief Executive Officer of CUA, said the results reflected that the company was well positioned.
“Despite challenging global economic conditions with pressure on interest margins and lower returns on retained capital, CUA has performed well with a 17.2 per cent increase in underlying net profit after tax over the previous year,” he said.
“We saw an increase in bad debts of a mere $200,000, excluding collective provisions, for the entire year regardless of the doom and gloom reported.
“With past-due loans of $6.5 million representing just 0.1 per cent of gross loans, we have a high quality loan book and we are in a strong position.”
Mr Whitehead said access and services for members had been enhanced by both the incorporation of Victoria’s Latrobe Country Credit Co-operative into CUA operations and the recent expansion of the rediATM network into one of the largest in the nation with 3,100 machines.
The credit union also continued to prove its position in the marketplace, winning a number of key awards.
“The past year has seen CUA win Credit Union of the Year at the 2009 Australian Banking & Finance Awards and an Australian Business Award for Community Contribution in the finance sector.
“CUA has continued to drive its community partnership with Relationships Australia, providing support to families during a difficult year economically, with some facing financial hardship and the devastating effect that can have on relationships.”
Mr Whitehead said CUA expected to enhance and expand its suite of products and services again in 2010.
“I am proud of CUA’s performance across the board in 2009. Despite the obvious difficulties presented by the market, we have remained focused on serving our members, retaining and even growing our staff and producing some very sound and promising financial results,” he said.
* As in previous years, CUA has focused on its underlying after tax profit excluding one-off specific items and unrealised ‘mark to market’ movements in derivatives required under accounting standards. This is because CUA holds the derivatives to maturity and hence gains and losses ultimately unwind to a net zero position. Unrealised gains in mark to market valuations in the past two years have been followed by an unrealised loss in 2008/09, reflecting the movement in interest rates over the past financial year.
