“Our financial performance is a testament to our strength,” says CEO Michael Lussier

Updated March 22, 2024  |   Published October 10, 2023

Categories:  
• Webster First

Webster First has positioned itself as one of the most well capitalized credit unions in the state of Massachusetts. Within our 95 year lifespan, we’ve grown to over $1.4 billion in assets. New financial performance report data available from NCUA (National Credit Union Administration) shows our net worth (17.14%) being significantly higher than the average of our peers*, with a ROA (return on assets) of 1.06%.

President/CEO Michael Lussier reveals how Webster First has remained in this position even throughout a difficult past few years for financial institutions:

“Planning, risk management, asset liability meetings, education, team building, enhanced budgetary process, and unified goal setting from board level to staff level is how we’ve been able to stay in this position. All these things put in place, monitored, and followed by the talented minds that work at Webster First have helped us remain one of the strongest credit unions in the state.”

 

 

What is Net Worth and why is it important?

Net worth is the value of assets a corporation, or in our case a not-for-profit organization, owns minus the liabilities that they owe. It’s a metric that’s important when looking at a company’s overall financial health. The greater the net worth, the better the credit union can survive and thrive through fluctuations in earnings, support growth, and provide protection against insolvency.

Webster First’s net worth ratio of 17.14% exceeds our peer average by 58.56%, putting us as the #1 credit union in our peer group* through the second quarter of 2023. We asked our CEO Michael Lussier for his comments to help us better understand financial position:

“The net worth of a credit union shows the strength and integrity of its balance sheet. Our net worth…is over double that required by the NCUA to be considered adequately capitalized.”

 

 

What is Return on Assets (ROA) and why is it important?

Return on Assets measures the net income in relation to average assets. A positive value shows that earnings covered a credit union’s operating expenses and cost of funds. Webster First’s ROA exceeds the peer average by 47.22%.

“Return on Assets is looking at your annual income and dividing it by your total assets. Our ROA right now is 1.06%. Meaning whatever our assets are, we are making a 1.06% return this year. The larger the ROA, the stronger your earnings. And this adds to your reserves reflecting additional strength.”

 

 

We’re a 5-star credit union

Bauer Financial has awarded us 5-star ratings for over 7 consecutive years. Bauer ratings come out every quarter based on financial performance reporting. We recently received our rating for Q3 2023. Bauer says, “no institution pays for its rating, nor can they avoid a rating.” 5-stars means superior and highly recommended. We also have over two hundred 5-star reviews on Google, Yelp, and other online business listing platforms – making us highly recommended by our own members.

 

 

 

We’re still fully insured

Only a handful of active credit unions in Massachusetts are fully insured by the Massachusetts Credit Union Share Insurance Corporation (MSIC). Webster First is one of them. As a result, all deposits greater than the $250,000 NCUA insurance limit are covered. You can rest easy knowing your money is in the hands of a strong, secure credit union. For more information, see How does deposit insurance work?

 

*The NCUA computes the peer group averages by calculating the average of individual ratio values for all federally insured credit unions in Massachusetts within each defined range. The calculation adjusts for credit unions with very extraordinary ratio values. This is so that the peer average isn’t skewed by extreme outliers.

Data sourced from FPR (ncua.gov).