The agreement provides for FSCC CEO Sarah Canepa Bang to become chief operating officer at FSCC and chief strategy officer at CO-OP Shared Branching, a division of CO-OP Financial Services in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

“I am excited for the credit union movement as this combination will advance the vision of FSCC to have every branch of every credit union an outlet,” Bang said.

“There's no denying that FSCC and CO-OP have been terrific competitors – imagine what we can do together. CO-OP and Stan Hollen personally played an historic role in the creation of FSCC, and now with the combining of the two companies, it is very much a case of our business coming to a logical full circle,” she said.

Hollen, the CO-OP CEO, added, “The combination of CO-OP and FSCC will blend the strengths and value of both companies, creating a more tightly integrated and efficient shared branching network for our movement.

“With more than 4,300 branch locations, credit unions have at their disposal the fourth largest network in the country, behind the three largest national banks. This truly enables credit unions to compete and win against banks in terms of the access and convenience they can offer their members.”

Bang has been CEO of FSCC since 1999. The San Dimas, Calif., company was founded in 1990.

Hollen said, “We are looking forward to Sarah Canepa Bang and her team joining CO-OP and to the critical role she will play in working with all shared branching leadership to develop and move a unified strategy into the future.”

The move follows the retirement earlier this year of Carroll Beach as COO of CO-OP Shared Branching. Beach had been CEO of CUSC Shared Branching when it merged with CO-OP in 2007.