NELSON, B.C.–Seven credit unions in British Columbia’s Southern Interior region are moving forward with plans for a regional merger to create one credit union.
The seven credit unions — Columbia Valley Credit Union, Creston & District Credit Union, East Kootenay Community Credit Union, Grand Forks Credit Union, Heritage Credit Union, Kootenay Savings Credit Union and Nelson & District Credit Union — issued a statement saying they have spent the winter in discussions related to the design and potential of a new, united credit union.
“The project is a massive undertaking and has involved more than 60 people including a 21-person steering committee and various management and staff working groups,” the credit unions said in a statement. “An amalgamation between seven credit unions has never before taken place in Canada.”
The seven credit unions said they are now working together to complete the business case for the combination. “Once the business case is finalized, it will be reviewed for approval by the boards of directors for each of the seven credit unions,” the statement said, and if approved, will then be put before the regulator, the Financial Institutions Commission of BC (FICOM), for its approval.
According to the statement, each partnering credit union will begin a formal consultation process with their members to provide an opportunity to learn more about the proposed new credit union. That, in turn, will then go to a vote of the members. Two-thirds of the members of each credit union will need to approve the deal for it to proceed. The process is expected to take the rest of 2018 to complete.
The credit unions cited the changes in financial services for the need to consider a merger in order to become larger.
The final stage of approval will be a vote by members of each participating credit union to approve a resolution recommended to them by their board of directors. It is expected that this entire process will continue through 2018.
The reason for the amalgamation is partly due to the rapid evolution of the financial services industry.