How Credit Unions Can Turn Bank Data Into Strategy
Why Compare Credit Unions and Banks?
Credit unions and banks may differ in their missions and corporate structures, but they share the same competitive space. In most U.S. counties, banks dominate the deposit and lending markets, making it essential for credit unions to look beyond their own industry when evaluating performance.
By comparing your credit union’s metrics with those of banks, you can uncover valuable insights into market trends, competitive positioning, and opportunities for growth. Expanding your analysis to include banks allows you to break out of the credit union silo, identify areas to differentiate your offerings, and make more informed strategic decisions.
This guide provides practical steps and expert tips for leveraging bank data within Peer Suite, helping you turn comparisons into actionable insights.
Bank data is available at the Premium and Plus levels of Peer Suite. Want to learn how to add it to your subscription? Reach out to us here.
Where to Begin
Step 1: Determine Your Focus
Start by identifying the banks or bank peer groups most relevant to your analysis. Focus on competitors, regional players, or institutions excelling in specific areas that align with your strategic goals. This approach helps ensure your comparisons are targeted and meaningful.
For more tips, see the upcoming section: Who Should Be in Your Analysis?
Step 2: Ensure Data Compatibility
To make the most of your analysis, it's important to use data that aligns with credit union metrics. Credit unions and banks report data differently. It doesn't always line up apples to apples for easy comparison!
We recommend using the Bank Comparisons folder in Peer Suite, where Callahan Analysts have already done the legwork of sifting through what can and can't be compared between the two institutions—making it the best place to begin your comparison.
Looking to isolate bank data? Check out the the Bank Data Only folder for this use case.
Need an Overview?
Check out our Bank Data Overview, which explains:
- The landscape of bank data in Peer Suite.
- Key differences between bank and credit union metrics.
- How these metrics can (and cannot) work together effectively.
Peer Pointer!
This guide focuses on using displays already built into Peer Suite to kickstart your comparative analysis with this data set.
If you're ready to deepen your analysis or have experience working with bank data, take your skills to the next level by exploring our Bank Smart Codes & Common Formulas Dictionary Guide. This resource provides essential background and tools to help you create customized displays using both bank and credit union data for more tailored insights.
Who Should Be in Your Analysis?
When benchmarking against banks, selecting relevant comparisons is critical. Here are some strategies to consider:
1. Hand-Picked Competitors
Use the comparison search to add specific banks that directly compete with your credit union to your comparison set.
2. Built-In Peer Groups
Peer Suite offers asset-banded bank peer groups for quick, pre-defined benchmarking.
- All Banks That Ever Existed
- All Banks in U.S.
- Banks over $10B
- Banks $1B-$10B
- Banks $500M-$1B
- Banks $250M-$500M
- Banks $100M-$250M
- Banks $50M-$100M
- Banks $20M-$50M
- Banks $10M-$20M
- Banks $5M-$10M
- Banks $2M-$5M
3. Custom Bank Peer Groups
Design tailored groups that align with your credit union’s strategic objectives. For example:
- Regional Peer Groups: Compare banks in your state or neighboring regions to analyze geographic market trends.
- Size-Based Peer Groups: Benchmark against banks with similar assets, ROA, or deposit bases.
- Product-Specific Peer Groups: Focus on banks excelling in specific areas, such as growth rates in certain loan or deposit products.
- As you create custom peer groups, the Bank Smart Codes Guide remains an essential resource for navigating account codes and crafting tailored comparisons.
Learn More: Peer Suite's Custom Peer Group Options
Before creating your bank peer group, make sure to select "Banks" at the top of the Peer Group Builder screen. Keep in mind that credit unions and banks cannot be combined in the same peer group.
Use Cases
Loan and Deposit Growth
How to Use Bank Data:
- Compare your loan and deposit growth rates with those of banks in your market.
- Focus on high-demand products like auto loans, mortgages, or savings/share accounts.
- Use Peer Suite’s growth displays to identify outliers and trends
Metrics to start your analysis:
- Loan Growth Rate: Annual growth in total loans.
- Deposit Growth Rate: Annual growth in total deposits.
- Product-Specific Metrics: Growth in specific loan products like mortgages or auto loans, and deposit categories like savings/share accounts.
Why It Matters: Banks often dominate in specific product categories, such as small business loans or specialized deposit products. Understanding their growth strategies can guide credit unions in refining their product offerings, setting competitive rates, or tailoring marketing campaigns to capture market share. This analysis also reveals whether your credit union is gaining or losing market share to banks, providing valuable insight into how well you're competing. Banks may not be performing as well—or as badly—as they think when viewed in the context of the full market, and this perspective can help credit unions make data-driven decisions to stay ahead..
Balance Sheet Diversification
How to Use Bank Data:
- Benchmark your balance sheet composition, including loan and investment portfolios, against local or regional banks.
- Analyze loan portfolio composition (e.g., auto loans, mortgages, commercial loans) and investment portfolio composition to see how balanced or specialized your institution is.
- Assess loan growth trends in banks to identify emerging areas of demand.
Metrics to start your analysis:
- Asset Composition: How "loan" or "investment" dominant a bank’s portfolio is.
- Loan Composition: Share of different loan types within a bank’s portfolio.
- Lending Metrics: (Commercial, RE, Auto, Credit Card, etc.) Loan growth rates.
Why It Matters: Banks often have larger investment portfolios, which impact earnings performance significantly. Understanding how your balance sheet stacks up to theirs can help you judge your institution fairly. Additionally, banks may invest early in high-growth loan categories, such as renewable energy financing or technology-based business loans. Credit unions can stay competitive by diversifying their portfolios to align with these trends.
Peer Pointer!
While data on niche categories like renewable energy and tech-based loans may not appear in the FFIEC or 5300 Call Reports, acknowledging these gaps can help you prioritize product innovation.
Efficiency Ratio Comparisons
How to Use Bank Data:
- Compare your efficiency ratios with banks in your chosen peer group.
- Use this data to set internal efficiency goals or identify areas where your credit union may be over- or under-spending.
Metrics to start your analysis:
- Efficiency Ratio: Operating expense divided by total revenue (net of interest expense)
- Operating Expense/total assets & Operating Expense/total income
Why It Matters: Banks often achieve operational efficiencies through technological investments. By studying their strategies, credit unions can identify areas to streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve financial performance without compromising member service.
Geographic Expansion Strategies
How to Use Bank Data:
- Use Peer Suite’s Market Share Reporting Tool to analyze bank branch density, mortgage market share (HMDA), and deposit share in specific regions.
- Identify underserved markets where your credit union can expand or deepen its presence.
Metrics to start your analysis:
Start by exploring the maps and displays available in Peer Suite Market Share Reporting. Learn more in the resources below.
Why It Matters: Banks may have extensive networks but often prioritize profitability over accessibility. Credit unions can leverage this gap to provide services in underserved areas, aligning with their mission while growing membership.
Conclusion & Key Takeaways
Effectively utilizing bank data empowers credit unions to:
- Refine competitive strategies.
- Stay ahead of market trends.
- Streamline operations.
- Elevate member experiences.
Analyzing credit unions is essential—our industry is unique. However, don't ignore the whole market! The best analysis comes from seeing the complete picture first, asking questions, and then diving in to find answers. By comparing credit unions with banks, you gain a broader view of the competitive landscape, revealing insights often overlooked when focusing solely on credit union data.
This expanded perspective helps you identify new opportunities for strategic growth, refine your competitive positioning, and make more data-driven decisions. With the tools and strategies outlined in this guide, you’re equipped to turn challenges into opportunities, navigate a competitive environment, and achieve sustainable growth—all while staying true to your mission and enhancing the value you provide to your members.
Check out some of our other helpful guides on bank data below:
Have questions about how to make the most of bank data? Schedule a strategic discussion with your Callahan advisor to explore tailored solutions.