Are Credit Unions Dynamite on the Czech Financial Market?[Kampeličky jako dynamit na českém finančním trhu?]

In this paper we focus on often forgotten subjects of economic analyses: Czech credit unions. In specific, we centre our analysis on capital adequacy of the largest four credit unions which report lower capital adequacy compared to the rest of the credit union segment or to Czech banks. Recent credit growth of the four largest unions seems unsustainable and risky; what leads to their decreasing capital adequacy. Lower adequacy then leads to lower resiliency to increased risks of current economic crisis. Our analysis estimates that unless credit unions slow down their recent rapid credit growth, they would need to increase their capital by CZK 2.2 billion until the end of 2013. Put differently, the TOP 4 credit unions would almost double their existing capital. The need to significantly increase capital in short term may affect clients of these unions since their loans may become more expensive or their deposits may yield less. In the worst case scenario, the need may lead the credit unions to activities which significantly and adversely affect their stability, e.g. investments into high risk projects, insufficient credit risk cover and overestimated capital adequacy, or breaking the regulatory rules for exposures. To conclude, credit unions are dynamite on Czech financial market and should be supervised carefully by the Czech National Bank.