Canada’s credit unions reported continued growth in total assets, loans and deposits, in year-end 2001 figures released Thursday at the annual general meeting of Credit Union Central of Canada.

Total assets of local credit unions grew by 9% to almost $62 billion, up from $56.9 billion in 2000.

Total loans increased by 8.9% to $48.5 billion from $44.6 billion the previous year. Total deposits rose to $56.4 billion, more than 9% over the 2000 total of $51.5 billion.

The credit union system, which does not include Quebec-based caisses populaires, continued to consolidate. At year-end 2001, there were 669 local credit unions, compared to 721 local credit unions at year-end 2000. However, the total locations increased to 1,851 at year-end 2001, compared to 1,770 at year-end 2000.

The number of members grew to almost 4.6 million, up from the 4.5 million mark of the previous year.