United Federal Credit Union Closes Second Bank Purchase Deal

Edgewater Bank branches opened as United Federal Credit Union branches on May 3 after the St. Joseph, Mich.-based financial cooperative said its deal to acquire the bank for approximately $30 million received regulatory and shareholders’ approvals.

This deal, initially announced in October 2020, is UFCU’s second bank purchase and was one of only six credit union bank acquisitions announced in 2020 compared to 14 deals in 2019. So far this year, there have been two credit union bank purchase agreements announced.

In January 2012, UFCU became the first federally-chartered credit union to buy the assets of a state-chartered, FDIC-insured mutual savings institution, Griffith Savings Bank in Indiana. That acquisition began an industry trend of credit union bank acquisitions.

The FDIC and NCUA approved the UFCU-Edgewater Bank proposal on April 15 and April 29, respectively. Shareholders for the St. Joseph-based bank approved the credit union purchase on April 20.

In addition to the bank branches in St. Joseph, Royalton Township, Coloma and Bridgman opening as UFCU branches, two commercial loan offices — one in Greenville and one in Freemont — also opened as UFCU locations on May 3.

However, because of its proximity to UFCU’s Buchanan branch, Edgewater’s Buchanan branch and its employees will be consolidated into the UFCU branch, according to a prepared statement released April 30.

Edgewater Bank employees will be onboarded as UFCU employees, including former Edgewater CEO Rick Dyer, who will serve as community president, leading the commercial lending teams in Michigan and Indiana.

With the addition of Edgewater’s $221 million in assets, UFCU said its total assets are expected to exceed $3.6 billion, ranking it as the fifth largest credit union in Michigan.

Approximately 5,600 Edgewater customers are eligible to join the credit union, which is expected to expand its membership to more than 180,000.