GRAND RAPIDS/ST. JOSEPH, Mich.–As CUToday.info reported Thursday, Lake Michigan Credit Union and United Federal Credit Union have called off their merger plans.
The proposed combination between the $2-billion United FCU, based in St. Joseph, and $4-billion LMCU, based in Grand Rapids, would have created “largest merger in credit union history,” the CUs previously stated.
“After careful consideration, both organizations have come to the mutual conclusion that they are better served by remaining independent in order to deliver the utmost value to their members,” the credit unions stated in a joint release. “Lake Michigan Credit Union and United Federal Credit Union are both very strong organizations on their own, and, after careful consideration, we mutually agreed that remaining separate at this time was the best course of action to deliver the best possible value to our respective members.”
“We greatly appreciate the opportunity to get to know the team at UFCU and believe our healthy partnership discussions led us to realize we each have unique attributes, members and communities that should remain distinct,” said Sandy Jelinski, president/CEO of Lake Michigan CU. “We are both based in the great state of Michigan, and we look forward to continuing to share best practices between our two strong financial organizations.”
“This was the case of two strong organizations coming together, and in the end we both believed our best path forward was to be independent,” said Gary Easterling, president and CEO of UFCU. “We gained valuable insight and have great takeaways from the process, and we look forward to continuing to put our members first as we always have.”
The CUs noted that the regulatory approval process was never completed because both LMCU and UFCU jointly decided to call off the merger.
“Together, we made the determination that it was best to remain separate and so the merger was never put to a vote,” the CUs stated.