Credit unions must collaborate in order to thrive and more of them are putting this belief into action.

Three Wisconsin credit unions decided to combine, each from a position of strength. Best Advantage Credit Union in Brillion, CitizensFirst Credit Union in Oshkosh, and Lakeview Credit Union in Neenah, all determined it was in the best interest of their credit unions to explore credit union 2.0 – a partnership that would be driven by extensive collaboration.

Each of the credit unions was mid-size or smaller: CitizensFirst had $400 million in assets, Lakeview had $107 million, and Best Advantage had $68 million.

Each CEO had independently come to the conclusion that their credit union's long-term success depended on a future that looked different than the present.

“When we first started collaborating, it was more about finding ways to allow each of our three credit unions to be individually sustainable going forward,” Tammy Williams, EVP of CitizensFirst, said. “But the more we explored our options, the more apparent it became that we needed to go beyond that; that if we wanted to evolve in a rapidly changing world, we had to be open to bigger changes.”

To read more about the journey these credit unions took to facilitate a three-way collaborative partnership, download the Filene report, Credit Union 2.0 : An Opportunity to Build Collaborative Partnerships.

The report is the latest in a series of exclusive content from Filene available to CU Times readers. Check out these other reports:

Manpreet Nat is a research associate at the Filene Research Institute. He can be reached at 608-661-3752 or manpreetn@filene.org.

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