Credit Union-Bank Mergers

Across the country, financial institutions are consolidating and leaving communities with fewer banking options. When community banks go up for sale, credit unions are increasingly providing the strongest purchase proposals and represent the best option for communities to retain access to financial services.

These mergers are voluntary, market-based transactions that require a community bank’s board of directors to vote on merging with a credit union. Unlike what bankers suggest, these are not ‘hostile’ takeovers; the bank is the one that ultimately makes the decision to sell to, and merge with, a credit union. In many instances, a bank must choose between merging with a credit union to sustain a trusted local financial institution for their community or closing their doors completely and leaving a gap in banking services. A merger means that the branch remains open, retaining property taxes, payroll taxes, and economic income generated by keeping jobs in the community.

Since 2012, $1.77 trillion in bank assets have been merged. Credit unions account for less than $6.5 billion of those mergers—just 0.3 percent of the merged assets. Furthermore, banks have sold to other banks more than 2,000 times since 2012, but fewer than 40 times to credit unions.