What’s Driving Your Peer’s High ROA?
Curious how credit unions with similar business models are achieving stronger ROAs?
This guide walks you through how to use Peer Suite’s Smart Peer Group Builder and built-in displays to find high-performing peers and explore what sets them apart.
Use those insights to shape a strategy that reflects your members’ needs and supports your credit union’s long-term success.
Step 1: Build Your Aspirational Peer Group
Use Peer Suite’s Smart Builder to find peer credit unions aligned with your goals.
- Filter by geography: Select the region most relevant to your strategy.
- Use account code filters: To match by metric(e.g., assets, membership) to find similar credit unions.
Rank by performance: Use the Rankings Bar to identify those in the top 25% for ROA.
The Smart Peer Group Builder is available exclusively at the Premium and Plus levels of Peer Suite. Want to explore adding it to your subscription? Contact us to learn more.
Step 2: Investigate Your High-ROA Peers
Now that you’ve built your peer group, use Peer Suite’s built-in dashboards and folders to explore metrics that may be driving performance differences.
For ROA analysis, start with the Earnings & Operating Efficiency Dashboard and the Income & Expense folder, especially the Comparison Charts subfolder.
Focus on key metrics, such as:
- Interest income
- Interest expense
- Net interest margin
Operating expense
These areas can help determine where top performing peers are gaining an edge.
Peer Pointer!
Head to the Key Performance Ratios folder to see how your peers compare on ROA and other metrics across different percentiles. It’s a quick way to spot where your credit union is leading or lagging.
Step 3: Analyze And Reflect
Use what you’ve uncovered to explore some important questions:
- What’s the margin story? Why does margin spread matter for sustainable profitability?
- How do expenses factor in? If operating expenses exceed net interest income, how are top-performing peers staying profitable? Are they managing costs more efficiently or generating other sources of income?
What about provisions? How do loan loss provisions impact ROA, and what can they tell you about risk and credit management?
Final Thoughts
What patterns do you see that could apply to your credit union?
While this guide focused on ROA, you can use the same approach to explore other important areas, like loan growth, share composition, or efficiency. By finding peers who are excelling in the areas you care about and taking a closer look at what they’re doing differently, you can uncover ideas and insights to help shape thoughtful, targeted strategies that support your credit union’s goals.
Explore More Learning Pathways