LAS VEGAS – The best practice employed during a 2010 merger of $177.4-million Metro 1 CU into $1.6-billion Travis CU, Vacaville, Calif., was “communication, communication, communication.”
That was the message from Barry Nelson, SVP and Chief Operating Officer of Travis CU, who told attendees of this week’s CUNA Operations, Sales & Service Council conference here Travis CU had people in Metro 1’s offices every day while the merger was coming together to make certain everything went smoothly.
“Our bid was accepted Nov. 10, 2010 with a merger date of Dec. 31,” he recalled. “We explained the merger to Metro 1 employees as a group on Dec. 8, and over that next week we met with all of the employees individually by Dec. 15.”
Nelson said prior to the unassisted merger Travis CU has 158,000 members to Metro’s 17,000; Travis had 10.1% net worth, Metro 3.3%; Travis 20 branches, Metro five. “Combined we made the 13th-largest credit union in the state by assets, serving 178,000 members, with more branches than either had on its own,” he said. “We had more services available to the combined membership, and efficiencies meant competitive fees, rates and programs.”
Look for more coverage on this story and more out of the CUNA OpSS Council conference in Credit Union Journal.
