SYDNEY, Nova Scotia–Members of Sydney Credit Union here have rejected a merger with two other CUs. Among those that had urged the merger be voted down was the Catholic Deanery of Sydney.
The CBC quoted Greg MacLeod, a priest, activist and professor emeritus at Cape Breton University as saying, "They're centralizing because they say it could be more efficient and more closely managed by becoming bigger. Credit unions in Nova Scotia, in my view, seem to have forgotten their philosophy and their social rationale, where they came from. They seem to be becoming more like conventional banks."
Sydney Credit Union members voted against the merger with Bergengren Credit Union in Antigonish and the East Coast Credit Union in Dartmouth. If approved, it would have created a credit union with23 branches, 33 ATM locations, 56,000 members, 280 employees and approximately $800 million in assets. The new merged entity would have been the biggest credit union in Nova Scotia.
MacLeod was quoted as saying clergy members have expressed concern that a bigger, merged credit union will mean a weakened tie to the local community. He further suggested credit unions are forgetting their mission.
"For me, the credit union movement in Nova Scotia began in Reserved Mines in Cape Breton and it was a movement initiated by church groups to help solve unemployment and poverty. It was really a movement for social justice and social reform," he said.
Bob Coffin, CEO of Sydney CU, said the driving force behind the merger was a desire to keep up with technology, and he expressed concerns members may not understand the benefits of such a combination.
Coffin told local media the main concerns he heard from members were that the merger would move the power in the organization off-island, and that the credit union would stray from its community roots, becoming more like the big banks.