The $1.8 billion UW Credit Union of Madison, Wis. said it is buying another bank branch building and converting it into a CU facility next year.
Earlier this year, UW bought a branch in Wauwatosa, a Milwaukee suburb, from the now-merged Amcore Bank of Rockford, Ill. opening it as a CU branch April 12. In the latest deal, UW said it purchased the Waukesha branch property from the Milwaukee-based Equitable Bank.
CU officials declined to spell out terms of either deal but said the full-service Waukesha facility will open in the summer of 2011.The Waukesha branch will become UW's fourth site in Milwaukee and its 18th branch in the state.
In a statement, UW noted that the purchase of the Equitable bank site "does not include customer deposits, loans or investment center which remain at Equitable bank."
Brad McClain, chief operating officer at UW, said for more than a year he has been getting broker calls once every two weeks about bank branches for sale, a number from failed institutions.
"Two years ago, that was rare I would get such calls," said McClain.
McClain noted that the Equitable deal is indeed distinctive from a headlined purchase transaction last November by the $1 billion Royal CU of Eau Claire to buy 11 branches, including its loan portfolio, from the ailing AnchorBank of Madison.
