Merger bids sought for New Mexico CU by NCUA

<p>SANTA FE, N.M. – The $13 million Roosevelt County Credit Union in Portales is undergoing a “supervisory merger” with potential bidders being sought, it was disclosed recently by NCUA and the State Division of Financial Institutions. “The credit union continues to operate business as usual, but the NCUA has been entertaining potential bidders and we are hopeful the matter can be settled by the end of June,” said William J. Verant, director of the state division which regulates CUs, banks and mortgage firms. It was learned the CU, located in a community of 11,000 near the Texas state line, suffered “substantial loan losses” last year. The CU’s former president, Patty Barnes, departed last October and Char Rector is acting manager. Verant said the CU “did not meet capital standards” and was being placed under NCUA control for “a merger or a purchase and assumption.” He said a “supervisory merger” was the first for his office in eight years. Rector with Roosevelt County declined to discuss the CU’s financial condition, referring calls to a “problem case officer” for the NCUA, James Seurer, who works out of the NCUA’s Region Five offices in Austin, Texas. A spokesman for the NCUA in Washington said the agency “was helping the board” of Roosevelt County “find a merger partner.”</p>