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March 2, 2012 – NAFCU President and CEO Fred Becker said Thursday that last year's immense growth in credit union membership shows the extent to which "consumer frustration with Wall Street motivated people to explore the value of Main Street credit unions."

According tofourth-quarter 2011 datareleased Thursday by NCUA,credit union membershipgrew by 1.35 million members in 2011, more than double the growth in 2010.

In the year that saw banks raising fees and consumers pushing back, creditunions drew 398,000 new members in the fourth quarter alone. It was the first time credit unions logged netgrowth in membership during the fourth quarter since 2003. Membershipgrowth for all of 2011 was also 17.6 percent above average for the past five years, the data show.

"Credit unions ended 2011 in a safer and stronger position than at the start of the year," said NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz. "Demonstrating the industry's resilience, 2011 saw annual net income jump 41.2 percent to $6.4 billion. As a result, net worth grew 6.9 percent, reaching $98.4 billion, and the net worth ratio climbed from 10.06 percent to 10.23 percent."

Through the year, the data show growth in share drafts and regular shares of 12.2 percent and 10.95 percent, respectively. Total shares in credit unions rose $827.4 billion, up 5.2 percent from 2010. Loan growth rose 1.2 percent last year to $571.5 billion; member business lending alone was up 5.2 percent from 2010.

NCUA said the savings growth pushed credit unions' loan-to-share ratio down 2.7 percentage pointsduring the year to 69.07 percent.

Assets grew 5.2 percent to $961.8 billion, and net worth was up 6.9 percent to $98.4 billion.