CLOQUET, Minn.—Members Cooperative Credit Union here and Lake State CU, Moose Lake, Minn., have agreed to merge.
Both boards confirmed the move, and the new entity at least initially, will carry the $430-million MCCU’s name, Ryanne Battaglia, Members Cooperative’s VP vice president of business development, told the Duluth News Tribune.
“We’ve both gone through our due diligence and gone through the federal regulation process,” she said. “We wanted to make it a good fit for us and each other.”
Thursday, Lake State membership votes on the merger.
Lake State CEO Timothy Smith told the newspaper his CU is optimistic for approval.
If successful, the resulting credit union will have 12 locations, 48,000 members and assets of $615 million.
No locations will be shuttered and no employees will lose their jobs, the CUs told the Tribune. “The plan is not to have it affect employees or members adversely,” Smith said.
Members Cooperative and Lake State’s existing credit union boards have a total of 13 members. With a merger, they will be reduced to one board with seven members. That new board will decide whether the Members Cooperative CU name will continue, Battaglia told the Tribune, adding that branding from both will likely be incorporated in their marketing.
She said Members Cooperative’s CEO and President Tammy Heikkinen will serve as CEO of the merged credit union.
“Smith is going to assist with the transition and be retiring at the end of the year,” Battaglia told the publication.