On the heels of its weekend merger deal with the $72 million Colorado United Credit Union of Denver, the $318 million Premier Members FCU of Boulder disclosed plans Tuesday for a 2010 expansion into Wal-Mart Stores, a first in Colorado, plus an eventual interstate reach.
"We see both our planned merger of Colorado United and in-store expansion into Wal-Mart as what credit unions like ours need to do to grow," explained Rhett Rowe, president/CEO of Premier and a former Denver and Wal-Mart bank executive.
Prior to taking the Premier Members slot last October, Rowe was CEO of the $2.7 billion First National Bank of Denver and previously was chief lending officer of the Arkansas-based Arvest Bank, owned by members of the Walton family, the Wal-Mart founders.
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Regarding the merger of Colorado United, Rowe said the consolidation to take effect Jan. 1 would allow the Boulder CU to expand into Denver suburbs including Broomfield where Colorado United has a branch and where the first in-store Wal-Mart facility is planned, said Rowe. The second Wal-Mart facility will be in Longmont.
Eventually, said Rowe, Premier Members, which has enjoyed a healthy 9.33% capital ratio and ROA of 1.42 through June, intends to explore mergers of other CUs "all along both the north and south of the Colorado Front Range" and down the road "we would like to pursue interstate as well."
Under the Colorado United merger, Branda Abbott, the president/CEO of Colorado United CU, will become chief operating officer of the combined CU which will have 11 branches and 40,000 members. Colorado United was started in 1952 as Adams County School District CU and has three branches serving Adams and Jefferson counties.
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