Credit union merger moves to membership vote

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This article was published 24/12/2021 (1218 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Certain credit union members may soon have wider access to their banking across the province after a proposed amalgamation agreement was signed between Access Credit Union, Noventis Credit Union and Sunova Credit Union, leaving members to make the final decision on the merger.

Nearly 160,000 stakeholders will head to the polls at the end of January to have their say on whether Noventis and Sunova locations will take the Access name in 2023.

Access CEO Larry Davey said the credit unions approached Access after the Federal Government announced changes in legislation to banking standards which includes drastically reducing payment processing times and open banking, but the changes came at a price.

“A lot of new technology required a lot of costs, and we felt the three credit unions coming together will reduce the price per member which will allow us to continue to do the things we’re doing now,” he said in an interview.

Davey said the decision to merge with smaller branches is in the name of remaining cost-effective to members; not only will it be beneficial to members of the smaller credit unions to have wider access to their banking, Davey noted, but it will put member assets to nearly $10 billion.

If accepted by members, Access, Sunova and Noventis will see 52 branches operating in Winnipeg and across southern Manitoba and the Interlake-Eastern region.

This is not the first merger Access has been part of in recent years; in January of this year members voted to amalgamate with Crosstown Credit Union and with it came the integration of a new banking system and digital platform. Access Credit Union itself is the product of seven small credit unions banding together since 2009 to form a singular branch.

Davey said the merge would keep Access competitive with larger credit unions such as Steinbach Credit Union; SCU is the largest credit union in the province.

“I’m really happy our board is looking at long-term sustainability of the credit union,” he said.

With this proposed merger, members of Access will see no disruption of services and Sunova/Noventis customers will see a slow amalgamation as to not disrupt services.

“All we want is members to vote. Sometimes they’re comfortable with it, sometimes they’re not, but at the same time it’s our job to get the message out and then let them make an educated decision,” Davey said.

Voting for the proposed amalgamation is open to credit union members from Jan. 25-27, 2022.