GRANITE CITY, Ill.—GCS Credit Union and Bell Community CU have agreed to merge.
Members of the $1.7-million BCCU, based in Alton, Ill., voted in favor of the consolidation.
Acquiring the one-office BCCU gives GCS eight locations. The $314-million GCS said all employees of the Bell Community will keep their jobs.
GCS Credit Union President Keith Burton told the Big Z the merger benefits members of both credit unions, but acknowledged the fate of many small CUs.
“We don’t like to see the small credit unions merge. But with compliance and regulatory issues, and the cost of that, it is hard (for small credit unions) to keep up,” Burton said.
Bell Community Credit Union was established in 1940 originally to serve Illinois Bell Telephone Employees from Alton to Cairo, while GCS was founded in 1941 out of a single Granite City branch.