AssetExchange Analyzes Credit Union Credit Card Portfolio Trends for 4th Quarter 2006

PORTLAND, Ore., February 21, 2007 – AssetExchange, the credit union community’s leading credit card portfolio advisory and brokerage firm, has analyzed 4th quarter 2006 credit union credit card portfolio trends.

For the roughly 2,100 credit unions with credit card portfolios of $1 million and larger:

•      The number of credit card accounts has risen slightly from 11.4 million in December 2005 to 11.5 million in December 2006.  Credit union members have remained relatively flat.  Thus, penetration has increased less than a 1% over the same time period.

•      Total card assets increased from $23.4 billion in December 2005 to $26.1 billion in December 2006, an 8.9% increase in inflation-adjusted dollars.

•      Total card assets rose slightly as a percentage of total credit union assets, increasing from 4.31% in December 2005 to 4.63% in December 2006.

•      The percentage of portfolios that grew faster than inflation during the past year was 68%, which is an improvement over the previous year, when 50% achieved real growth.

•      A preliminary assessment of the data indicates that approximately 23 credit unions with credit card portfolios larger than $1 million sold their portfolios during the fourth quarter of 2006, with a combined dollar volume of roughly $125 million. This brings the total for 2006 to about 65 portfolios sold at a total volume of roughly $454 million. Compared to 2005, this represents a 7% decrease in the number of portfolio sales (70 in 2005) and a 3% decrease in dollar volume ($470 million in 2005).

Data provided in this press release is for credit card portfolios larger than $1 million in each time period and is based on NCUA call report data.  Inflation values are from the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (2.54% between December 2005 and December 2006).

About AssetExchange
AssetExchange is the credit union community’s leading credit card advisory and brokerage firm. Services include full scale credit card portfolio financial and performance assessments, market valuation, and portfolio brokerage.  We help our clients evaluate the implications of keeping or selling their portfolios while representing their interests in portfolio sales.  Our services enable our clients to achieve optimal pricing and favorable partnership terms when outsourcing credit card issuance.  For additional information, please visit www.AssetExchange.com or call (877) 220-0001.