LIVONIA, Mich. — After nearly two years of planning, two Detroit area credit unions–the $191 million Community Choice of Livonia and the $225 million Research Federal of Warren–are merging with a computer conversion slated to be completed last weekend.
The merger is one of the largest in Michigan in several years, said a spokeswoman for the Michigan Credit Union League.
"We are bringing two healthy credit unions, both with strikingly similar values, together to produce what we envision as a credit union that will greatly improve service to all of our members," said Catherine Roberts, president/CEO of Research FCU.
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Research FCU, which serves a membership base of General Motors Corp. employees at its tech center and Proving Ground facilities in the Warren area, was chartered in 1936 and has 24,000 members in three locations in Wayne and Oakland Counties.
Community Choice was chartered one year earlier in 1935 and has 40,000 members in Wayne County.
Under the merged entity, Roberts will continue as CEO with Robert Bava, president/CEO of Community Choice as president.
The merger, said officials, will permit the combined CU to expand in seven southeast Michigan counties under the Community Choice brand.
Roberts praised the boards of both CUs for "acting unselfishly in forging a partnership that can only benefit the members."
Her own board, she said, decided in 2005 that it needed to pursue "a strategic move to give us more flexibility as a state charter" and thus it sought out a merger partner as one of its options.
In February 2006 Research approached Community Choice with the deal finally struck last year.
"We both are in great shape, 10% capital and both with a loyal member base and so we saw a merger as a way to expand bringing with it economies of scale," said Roberts.
Both CUs come from very similar "cultures" and with one chairman remarking, "It's like looking in the mirror."
She said both CUs have worked closely together over the last four years through four separate CUSOs and "so we understand each other."
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