Only approval by the FDIC awaits final approval of the sale of the $190 million Hartford Savings Bank to the $2.1 billion Landmark Credit Union in New Berlin, Wis.

The Wisconsin's Department of Financial Institutions approved the plan last month in a letter from Michael J. Mach, administrator for the division of banking in Wisconsin.

“A certificate of authorization of the sale will be issued when the division is notified that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the National Credit Union Administration have approved the sale,” wrote Mach in a Feb. 21 letter.

The letter revealed the board of directors of the Hartford, Wis. bank adopted a resolution to sell its assets to Landmark CU in July, but the deal was not publicly announced until September.

In January, Landmark CU received a letter of approval for the acquisition from Wisconsin's Office of Credit Unions.

During a closed meeting last week, the NCUA Board unanimously approved Landmark Credit Union's acquisition of Hartford Savings Bank, subject to approval from the FDIC, according to a Board Action Bulletin posted on NCUA's website.

Although the state and NCUA hurdles have been cleared, Landmark CU and Hartford Savings Bank will need to wait for word from the FDIC before the acquisition can be finalized.

David Barr, a spokesperson for the FDIC in Washington, said this week that Landmark's application is pending. He also said the agency has not yet acted and would not estimate on when the FDIC is expected to act on whether to approve or reject the credit union's application.

Landmark has completed 10 credit union mergers in the past three years. This is its first acquisition of a bank.

Hartford Savings Bank has approximately 10,000 customers with branch locations in Hartford, Juneau and Hubertus. Landmark CU has 209,011 members.

Terms of the purchase agreement were not disclosed.

Landmark CU is the third credit union to purchase a bank in the past 14 months. In January 2012, the $1.5 billion United Federal Credit Union in St. Joseph, Mich., completed its takeover of Griffith Savings Bank of Griffith, Ind. In June, the buyout of a New Hampshire savings bank, Monadnock Community Bank, by the $352 million GFA Federal Credit Union of Gardner, Mass., was approved by regulators.

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Wisconsin DFI Approves Landmark Credit Union Acquisition of Hartford Savings Bank

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