Chartway Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Virginia Beach, will press its out-of-state expansion arrangements with NCUA, according to its CEO Ronald Burniske.
"We will pursue a couple more potential acquisitions next week," Burniske said.
Burniske said the CU handled its latest hNCUA driven merger transaction, with $139 million SouthWest Community FCU of St. George, Utah, with careful due diligence to ensure a correct fit.
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The CU also employed an agreement it has with NCUA whereby the agency liquidates the CU then "immediately" awards the assets to Chartway.
"We find this kind of arrangement works well in eliminating liabilities and letting us start from a clean slate," explained Burniske noting the talks with the Southwest board and management have been in the works for five months.
The Southwest pact is similar to Chartway's merger last December of the also ailing $311 million HeritageWest FCU of Tooele, Utah. HeritageWest remains a division of Chartway and so will SouthWest, said Burniske.
Beyond its current presence in 10 states mostly on the East Coast and in Texas, Burniske has maintained his 60-branch CU intends to expand its nationwide reach to include some of the most troubled CUs in the West.
Asked what the next merger deal might be Burniske only replied "I can only say we are visiting with those west of the Mississippi.".
In a formal statement, Burniske said the "partnership with SouthWest will ease the ongoing market stress SouthWest has endured as a result of the economic downturn." And he added, "as our nation's citizens have struggled to stay afloat, so have financial institutions because what happens to those on Main Street in turn happens to their banks and credit unions."
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