Underscoring the growing merger trend in the Northwest, two ofthe Seattle area's largest credit unions, the $778 millionHarborstone of Lakewood and the $241 million Prevail of Seattle,have signed letters of intent for a consolidation, the partiesannounced Thursday.

Following member and regulatory approval, the mergerencompassing 67,000 members and 17 branches could be complete byJan. 1, said Phil Jones, president/CEO of Harborstone CU, whichwill retain the brand following the planned merger.

Negotiations on the combination began last January as Prevailmanagement saw the need to enhance its product and service line,Jones said, citing Harborstone's mobile and text banking productsand an emphasis on member business lending.

Having a presence in Seattle, where Prevail has branches, shouldaid in growing business lending, said Jones.

News of the merger discussions, he said, have been under wrapson purpose “because we did not want a repeat of problems our creditunion had several years ago with TwinStar,” in reference to collapse of a planned merger withthe Lacey, Wash., credit union.

This time all the advance work on a merger agreement was put inplace early, Jones said.

He acknowledged the merger trend has picked up the pace in Oregon and Washington in recent months.

“Maybe it relates to the Northwest association merger with everybody eyeing each other,”he said of the consolidation more than a year ago of the WashingtonCredit Union Association and the Credit Union Association ofOregon.