The liberalization of product and price competition among depository intermediaries in the United States has tended to make them more similar since enactment of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act in 1980 (DIDMCA). Credit unions have developed into highly efficient organizations for meeting the basic financial needs of their members. Credit unions, although only one-twelfth their size, are at least as profitable as commercial banks and savings banks. The savings banking industry has maintained its competitive profitability as the industry has shrunk in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Credit union loan portfolios have grown more rapidly than either commercial banks' or savings institutions‘. Their net interest margins have been above the banks' in recent years. Growth in the equity capital accounts of credit unions has been consistently more than double that of commercial banks since 1985, giving them a substantial advantage with regard to overall “safety and soundness” compared with commercial and savings banks.
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