SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. — Credit union mergers may be a source of ongoing industry concern, but in Vermont the situation is even worse for banks, noted the Association of Vermont Credit Unions this week.
That's because the state's largest and oldest, the $3 billion Chittenden Bank of Burlington, is succumbing to a merger by a Connecticut bank, Peoples United Financial Inc., forming a $22 billion institution. With that consolidation, it brings a 67% decline in Vermont banks in 30 years.
That compares to CUs whose decline during the same period is 56%, and "not one of them has been merged into an out-of-state entity with all 31 credit unions in the Green Mountain State remaining Vermont-owned and controlled," said the trade group.
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Since 1977, 33 Vermont banks have sold to out of state firms including one to a Toronto bank. An executive of the Vermont Bankers Association told a Burlington paper that when he started 30 years ago, "there were 49 banks and now we're under 20."
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