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Smart Peer Group Builder Guide

Imagine being able to answer key questions like these in minutes:

    • Who are the top 20 credit unions in the Midwest with the highest loan growth?
    • What are the 30 credit unions closest to mine in membership size?
    • Which 15 credit unions, with $500M–$1B in assets, are the most efficient?

With Peer Suite's Smart Peer Group Builder, answering these types of questions has never been easier. This intuitive tool helps you create customized peer groups that directly align with your credit union's goals. Whether you're benchmarking performance or seeking strategic insights, the Smart Builder allows you to filter and fine-tune data, giving you the flexibility to compare the credit unions most relevant to your needs.

Here's a look at the key filters you’ll use to craft your peer group:

You can stack these filters to narrow down your selection, or use just a few to keep things simple.


You can access Smart Builder from the top navigation bar in Peer Suite.

Before you begin choose your Cycle:

Choose how you’d like your peer group’s data to be calculated:

  • Recalculate Historically: Your peer group data will be calculated historically for each quarter.
  • Always Current Cycle: Updates each quarter with the latest data. This is Peer Suite's default.
  • Fixed as of XQXX: Uses data from a selected quarter, without future updates.
  • Update for First Look: Updates automatically as the First Look data is released each quarter

Apply a Geography Filter

Your first presented with a state level geography filter so you can select the region most important to your analysis.

  • Click a state to select or deselect all institutions headquartered in that state.
  • Reset your selection or choose all U.S. institutions at any time.

Peer Pointer!

Selected states will be highlighted in bright orange on your map.

If you need more specific geographic filtering, such as narrowing by county or branch presence, use the Criteria Builder, which offers greater flexibility.

Define Metrics on the Account Codes Filter

The Metrics Table at the top of Smart Builder lets you define metrics that align with your institution's goals.

Examples of Useful Metrics:

  • Asset Size: Compare institutions of similar scale.
  • Loan-to-Share Ratios: Evaluate lending and member deposit utilization.
  • Efficiency Ratios: Assess expense management relative to revenue.
  • Membership Growth Rates: Benchmark engagement efforts.

You can input any metrics available within Peer Suite's data sources to refine your analysis.

Tips for Using Metrics:

  • Simplify Values: Use abbreviations like K (thousands), M (millions), and B (billions).
  • Set Thresholds: Add values in the Min or Max column to include institutions above or below specific criteria.
      • Example: Enter $100M in the Max column for “Assets” to include institutions with assets at or below $100M.
  • Remove Rows: Click the “X” on the right side of any row to delete it.


Refine Your Results with the Ranking Bar

The Ranking Bar, located at the bottom of the Account Codes page, allows you to fine-tune your analysis by filtering institutions to address your strategic questions.

How to Use the Ranking Bar:

  1. Select a Ranking Option:
    • Top: Includes the highest-ranking institutions.
    • Bottom: Includes the lowest-ranking institutions.
    • Closest: Includes institutions near your value (above or below). Your primary institution in the comparison set serves as the anchor for this ranking.

  1. Choose a Quantity Type: Decide between a percentage or a number.
    • Example: Select the top 15 credit unions for credit card penetration or the bottom 10% for delinquency.

Peer Pointer!

  • For percentages, add the "%" symbol after your number (e.g., 10%).
  • For specific numbers, simply input the value without symbols.
  1. Define Metric Criteria: Use the search bar to find the metric that best fits your strategy.

Use these metric inputs options as resource for both the Metric Table and the Ranking Bar:

Metric Input Options:

  • Smart Codes: Smart Codes are easy to use, prebuilt shortcuts to call report codes and formulas, designed by Callahan to streamline reporting. They eliminate the need to manually search for codes or create formulas, ensuring your reports stay accurate and up to date—even when codes change.
  • Account Codes: If a Smart Code doesn’t exist for your desired metric, you can manually enter the raw 5300 account code. To ensure Peer Suite can "read" the code add an "A" to the front.
    • Ex: 5300 code 730a (Total Cash on Hand) becomes A730a for use in Peer Suite.
  • Formulas: Explore our Operators and Functions manual to learn how to incorporate more complicated functions into your equations. This is the same resource you would reference as you start to explore custom display building.

Answering Strategic Questions with the Ranking Bar

Use Case 1: Membership Size Comparisons

Question: Who are the 10 closest credit unions in my region (Midwest) in terms of membership size?

Filters Used:

  • Geography: Midwest States
  • Ranking Filter Selections: Closest/10/Members

How It Works: Quickly identify peer credit unions in your region to evaluate membership trends or identify benchmarks.


Use Case 2: Loan Growth Leaders

Question: Who are the top 15% of credit unions in loan growth within my custom asset band ($650M-$950M)?

Filters Used:

  • Account Codes:
    • Assets: $650M-$950M
  • Ranking Filter Selections: Top/15%/Loan Growth

How It Works: Focus on high-performing institutions within a specific asset range to inform strategies for scaling loan growth.

Include or Exclude Institutions Filter

The Include/Exclude List Filter allows you to manually add or upload institutions to include or exclude from your peer group.

Why use this filter?

This filter allows you to override the criteria set in other Smart Builder filters. For example, if you’ve filtered for the top 10% of credit unions in your region based on efficiency but notice a key competitor is excluded, you can use this filter to manually include that institution in your peer group.

How It Works:

  • Use the blue toggle to indicate whether you're including or excluding institutions.
  • Review selected institutions in the table to the right.
    • Excluded institutions are marked with a red exclusion symbol.
    • Included institutions are marked with a green plus symbol.
  • Remove institutions by clicking the “X” next to their name or clear all selections with the “X” in the top-right corner of the table.

Peer Pointer!

If you accidently upload the same institution(s) to both the include and exclude options, Peer Suite will retain your first selection.

Editing Peer Groups

Once you’ve created a peer group, it’s automatically added to your comparison set, allowing you to start your analysis immediately. If you need to make adjustments, you can:

  1. Double-click the peer group’s “pill” in your comparison set.
  2. Open the Manage Peer Groups module.

When saving your edits, you have two options:

  • Save: Overrides the current peer group.
  • Save As: Creates a new copy, preserving the original group.

Peer Pointer!

As you apply the techniques outlined in this guide, remember to revisit and refine your peer group criteria periodically to ensure your comparisons remain accurate and aligned with your credit union’s evolving priorities.

Ready to Start?

Use the Smart Builder to create peer groups that align with your institution’s strategy, gain actionable insights, and support strategic decision-making.

Explore custom peer group resources:

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