When the planned merger was publicly announced in February 2015, the credit unions said in a joint statement that Visterra CU President/CEO Robert Cameron will be retiring on Sept. 30, 2015.

All seven members of Visterra's Board of Directors have joined Altura's board of directors.

"By merging Altura and Visterra, we can more effectively meet our members' financial services needs now and in the future," Hawkins said. "We have created a much stronger regional entity for our members. As such, Altura is ideally situated to deliver on the credit union promise of 'people before profits,' which is the driving force of all cooperative financial institutions."

The conversion of the credit union's core operating system is expected to be completed on March 1, 2016. Until then, the branches of the two institutions will continue to operate separately, though members can conduct financial transactions using CO-OP's Shared Branching Network.

With the completion of the core conversion, all marketing elements including signage, websites, branches, ATMs and mobile banking will reflect the Altura CU brand name starting on March 2, 2016.

"I am confident that all our [Visterra CU] members will readily see the benefits of this merger as we combine the strengths of two local financial institutions with complementary philosophies and a strong community commitment," Cameron said.