Bank, credit union improvement a bellwether for economic health

Banks and credit unions in Idaho showed improvement in fiscal year 2013, according to a Department of Finance [content-variable]report[/content-variable]. They reflect an increasingly healthy economy at large.

“We’re seeing improvement pretty much across the board,” said Gavin Gee, director of the [content-variable]Idaho Department of Finance[/content-variable]. “Loan demand throughout this recession has been quite weak … but we’re starting to see some pickup there, and that’s a good sign.”

“New loans are coming into the portfolios that are doing well,” said Chris Johnson, president and CEO of the [content-variable]Idaho Credit Union League[/content-variable]. “The economy is improving, and therefore the problems that did exist are being cured. … All the performance metrics have to improve when those conditions exist.”

Idaho Central Credit Union saw the result of such improved metrics at the beginning of 2013, when SNL Financial, a financial information firm in Charlottesville, Va., ranked it the [content-variable]best-performing credit union[/content-variable] in the United States in 2012.

“I don’t think there’s any magic formula to it,” [content-variable]ICCU[/content-variable] CEO Kent Oram said. “Idaho is a good place to be. … The folks in Idaho are just good, solid folks.”

Johnson said the economic and business climate in Idaho provides a fertile environment for credit unions.

“When I look at the performance of credit unions in Idaho, I’m just exceedingly optimistic about the future of credit unions here,” he said.

Johnson cited the Idaho Legislature and Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, who he says have done a good job of addressing the state’s fiscal situation by balancing the budget and keeping state bonds lucrative.

“It’s really doing a great job of protecting the future of the state,” Johnson said. He said many factors affect economic health, and “Idaho has positioned itself so those factors are the right ones for the future here.”