In today's economic climate, mergers and consolidations of financial institutions are fairly common. Anyone who has been involved in one knows it is a time of opportunity and critical decisions. So many considerations go into such transactions, most of which legal teams oversee. There are benefits of working with companies offering proprietary benchmarks and experience that goes well beyond the scope of work offered by traditional advisors – bringing an innovative and proven approach that mitigates expenses and maximizes revenue.

When a credit union goes through a merger or an acquisition, there are often conflicting vendor contracts, many with time constraints or financial penalties. The easy solution is for the acquiring institution to force the consolidated organization out of their existing vendor contracts. But this doesn't always make the most financial sense, as it often involves penalties and a potential lapse in customer access to certain programs.

How can you minimize liability and even increase your institution's buying power during this transition? An objective third party can play a vital role in contract outcomes. There is a need to research and present options before an acquisition or merger. Negotiating after the fact is harder, and the credit union might get stuck with what was purchased, so there is a need to have all of the information before signing on that dotted line.