The $171 million Pelican State Credit Union said last week it expects to merge July 1 with the $1.9 million Lake Charles Telco CU, providing the Baton Rouge CU greater entry into the Lake Charles market.
The consolidation has been under consideration by the Telco board for more than a year and is part of the ongoing merger trend as small CUs "simply find the economics too difficult to compete and still provide members a broad range of services," said Jeffrey K. Conrad, Pelican president/CEO. The two-employee Lake Charles Telco, which had been healthy with satisfactory capital, had long sought to offer debit cards and online banking to its 3,500 members.
--jrubenstein@cutimes.com
