RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – CO-OP Financial Services on Tuesday said it completed the merger of Financial Service Centers Cooperative, creating a nationwide network of 4,400 shared branches and 1,700 credit union participants.
As a result of the merger, the 125 shareholders of Financial Service Centers will be sharing in a patronage pool of FSCC funds totaling around $14 million later in the first quarter.
Under the deal, CO-OP Financial acquired all of the shares of FSCC from its shareholders. Neither side would disclose what the buyout price is.
“This is a great deal for FSCC as we are staying intact as a going concern using CO-OP’s money and our users that have CO-OP stock (which is most of them) will continue to receive FSCC patronage,” said Sarah Canepa Bang, CEO of FSCC, yesterday. “Credit unions that don’t own CO-OP stock will have the choice to buy it, but it is not required to continue as a member of the network.”
Bang will stay on as president and chief operating officer for FSCC and chief strategy officer of CO-OP Shared Branching.
“It is very gratifying to note that with the conclusion of our agreement, all the major pieces of the credit union movement’s decades-old shared branching initiative have been brought together,” said Stan Hollen, president of CO-OP Financial. “Now under the CO-OP Shared Branching business line are FSCC and the operations of Service Centers Corporation and Credit Union Service Corporation.
