06 February 2003 12:00am

Credit unions maintained a return on assets last year at 0.6 per cent, broadly consistent with the last three years but well down on returns of about one per cent recorded in the mid 1990s but then credit unions paid no income tax back then, and now they do.

Profits look fine for big credit unions, with a return on assets for the credit union at the 75th percentile at 0.7 per cent, while the return for the credit union at the 90th percentile was 1.0 per cent (or about double the return of Adelaide Bank, for example).

The trends are more worrying for small credit...