Enhancing its Boston footprint, the $920 million Metro Credit Union of Chelsea, Mass., said it has now completed a merger of the $30 million Secure CU of Melrose, Mass.
Addition of the 1,750-member Melrose CU is the second consolidation for 135,000-member Metro in 2011 and underscores “the desire of small credit unions to broaden product and service menus,” said Robert Cashman, Metro president/CEO.
Cashman said there are no current plans to pursue further mergers but the CU is on the lookout for opportunities where there is a membership fit. Last April Metro merged the $58 million University CU.
“These are not easy decisions for boards to make but I do commend Secure for making that decision considering the added regulatory pressures in today’s economic environment,” Cashman said.
He added that his CU like others in Massachusetts has reaped big member gains as a result of Bank Transfer Day and the Bank of America runup on debit fees.
“I’d say in some areas we were up 75% from a year ago in new account activity,” Cashman said, adding that he thought BofA erred badly in its policy of pursuing the fees.
“The damage has been done,” he said and predicted that credit unions will continue to take advantage of the fallout.
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