BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – It's official. In what would be one of the largest mergers in credit union history, State Farm Credit Union has received the green light to merge 12 of its credit unions. NCUA gave the preliminary approval June 6, said Tom DeWitt, president/CEO, State Farm-Great Lakes Federal Credit Union. The final approval is conditional on a member vote, which is expected to take place sometime in the third quarter, he added. DeWitt said he doesn't anticipate members, who are State Farm Insurance employees, will vote against the merger. Member meetings will be held soon to answer any questions about the merger and Q&A sections will be added to the CUs' Web sites. "We're very pleased and very excited," DeWitt said. "This is an exciting moment for the industry and for State Farm. It's the start of a new era." Combined, the credit unions, which are located in 20 states, have nearly $3 billion in assets and serve 136,000 members. The new CU will be called State Farm Federal Credit Union. A State Farm CU in Canada will remain independent. Since submitting its merger application March 1, the CUs have been working behind the scenes to form one unified policy and combine systems. DeWitt will be the CEO and the other 11 CEOs will remain on as managers. The decision to merge was to allow for enhanced operating efficiency and improve the CUs' ability to serve members in line with how State Farm Insurance's 12 zones or regions in the United States and one in Canada are structured. Over the years, the previous State Farm FCUs had to merge to keep pace with any zone restructures coming from the insurance provider. The credit unions involved are State Farm California FCU, Bakersfield, Calif.; State Farm Central FCU, Columbia, Mo.; State Farm Florida FCU, Winter Haven, Fla.; State Farm Great Lakes FCU, Bloomington, Ill.; State Farm Great Western, Tempe, Ariz.; State Farm Heartland FCU, Lincoln, Neb.; State Farm Mid-America FCU, Newark, Ohio; State Farm Mid-Atlantic, Frederick, Md.; State Farm Northeast, Ballston Spa, NY; State Farm Pacific Northwest FCU, Dupont, Wash.; State Farm Southern FCU, Duluth, Ga.; and State Farm Texas FCU, Austin, Texas. Founded in 1922, the $50.2 billion insurance giant has more than 70,000 employees and 16,000 agents throughout the U.S. and parts of Canada. [email protected]