A credit union on the west side of Prince Albert wants to join the Diamond North Credit Union.
Merger discussions between the two-branch Debden Credit Union and the eight-branch Diamond North began in the spring of 2017.
“They’re culturally a very good fit to us,” said John Shenher, Diamond North’s CEO. “Our credit union is in the northern part of the province along the forest fringe, we’re into things like agriculture, apiaries, lumber, those types of things. They are into the same thing, only on the west side of P.A.”
A business case had been completed that concludes both credit unions would benefit as one organization. The combined credit union would have assets in excess of $600 million.
For the Diamond North Credit Union, the benefit would come from being more efficient and having high volumes of bank users.
“How that is a good thing for our members is that a more efficient credit union is probably able to advance their patronage program,” Shenher said, adding his credit union has paid patronage last year and plans to do so this year.
Debden members would get access to better technologies like mobile apps and deposit a cheque using a cell phone photo. They would also see improvements in wealth management and high lending limits.
There’s still lots of work to be done before the credit unions can merge.
“The members have to approve the merger for both credit unions,” Shenher said. “We’re looking at having those votes take place in the spring. Should both credit unions’ memberships approve that, then the timeline would be that the two credit unions would come together on Jan. 1, 2019.”
A joint steering committee has been formed to find consensus on operational differences. Shenher said the two credit unions use the same banking system, which would make a merger easier.
As for jobs, Shenher said some in administration will be affected, but there will be a need for new positions to provide new services.
“We do expect that all employees that want to continue to work for the new credit union will be able to,” he said, adding later that Diamond North, as a union of six credit unions, has gone through merger processes before.
