Puerto Rico credit unions close ’21 with $10.7B in assets and deposits
For Puerto Rico’s credit unions, 2021 was a banner year with $10.7 billion in assets and deposits, representing a 10.2% growth when compared to 2020, the Public Corporation for the Supervision and Insurance of Puerto Rico Cooperatives (COSSEC, in Spanish) announced.
Furthermore, data for the years 2017 to 2021 showed that the cooperative movement managed to increase its assets and indivisible capital reserve by 32.28% and 4.37%, respectively. For the year 2021, total assets showed an increase of 11.17% compared to the previous year, COSSEC stated.
“As of Dec. 31, 2021, the credit union’s total loan portfolio amounted to $5.6 billion, an increase of $419 million (8.02%) compared to 2020,” said Mabel Jiménez-Miranda, executive president of COSSEC.
“Personal loans represent 39.4%, mortgage loans 25.5%, auto loans 23.6%, commercial loans 6.68% and the bad loan reserve amounted to $146 million,” she said.
Statistics released by COSSEC confirm that as of Dec. 31, 2021, a total of 109 insured and regulated credit unions increased their membership by 11.79% compared to 2017. This increase translates to 116,524 new members.
Furthermore, the regulatory body’s reports show that the areas with the highest proportion in the distribution of credit union deposits continue to be deposit accounts, with 70.07%, followed by savings certificates, with 14.7%, Jiménez-Miranda said.
