Less than two weeks ago, Gary Easterling, president/CEO of the $1.9 billion United Federal Credit Union in St. Joseph, Mich., said he resigned from the NAFCU board of directors to focus on the cooperative's proposed merger with the $3.9 billion Lake Michigan Credit Union in Grand Rapids.
However, on Friday, both credit unions called off the pending consolidation, which would have made LMCU the largest cooperative in the Great Lakes state and one of the top 20 credit unions by assets and members in the nation.
“This was the case of two strong organizations coming together, and in the end we both believed our best path forward was to be independent,” Easterling said in a prepared statement. “We gained valuable insight and have great takeaways from the process, and we look forward to continuing to put our members first as we always have.”
“We greatly appreciate the opportunity to get to know the team at UFCU and believe our healthy partnership discussions led us to realize we each have unique attributes, members and communities that should remain distinct,” Sandy Jelinski, president/CEO of LMCU, said in a prepared statement. “We are both based in the great state of Michigan, and we look forward to continuing to share best practices between our two strong financial organizations.”
According to the credit unions, the merger was not approved by state and federal regulators because the regulatory process was not completed when the cooperatives decided to cancel the consolidation.
The credit unions would not say whether they would consider a merger in the future.
“Both LMCU and UFCU intend to seek the right external opportunities for growth and expansion that will provide greater value to their respective members,” the credit unions said in their joint statement.
LMCU said it will open two branches early this year and plans to open several more throughout 2016.
UFCU also said it plans to open a number of new branches during the year, but it didn't say how many.
Easterling said he intended to retire after the merger.
He is expected to continue as president/CEO at the request of the board of directors until his replacement is found, Marta Elliott, UFCU public relations coordinator, said.
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