KPMG yesterday released its 2008 survey of building societies and credit unions, which revealed they had modest earnings growth and fell behind system in deposits and assets.Among the 10 building societies surveyed, average earnings for 2007/08 were down 2.9 per cent on the previous year, while among the 65 credit unions surveyed earnings were up an average of 6.2 per cent.Asset growth for both building societies and credit unions lagged system - 11.1 per cent for credit unions and 5.9 per cent for building societies. CUBS do very little business lending, which grew at twice the rate of home lending in 2007/08.On the liability side, building societies grew their deposits 9.8 per cent, while credit union deposits were up 11.4 per cent. System growth in deposits was 17.9 per cent. The market was dominated by banks, which made a strong pitch for retail savings.