WINNIPEG, Manitoba–A proposed merger between two large credit unions has once again been nixed, after more than 60% of one of the CU’s members voted against the amalgamation.
Access Credit Union and Assiniboine Credit Union were attempting to merge for a second time after a vote earlier this year lost by a very narrow margin.
In a membership vote this week, 61.8% of members of Access Credit Union cast votes against the combination. Access CU said that 4,496 of its 42,000 members cast votes. That result comes after 63.2% of 700 voting members voted in favor of the merger in early 2015, but ACU’s bylaws require that 66.67% of votes cast must support a merger in order for it to be approved. At that time the credit union noted that if just 25 more members had voted in favor, the deal would have been approved.
“While as a board we firmly believed the merger would make two strong credit unions stronger in the face of a rapidly changing financial sector, our members felt otherwise,” said Access Board Chair Darryl Loewen, who told local media he was disappointed by the outcome.
Assiniboine Credit Union had scheduled its merger vote for Monday, Sept. 21, which will now be cancelled.
Had the merger been approved it would have created the biggest credit union in the province and sixth largest in Canada, with 155,000 total members.