ST. PAUL, Minn. – Yesterday’s announcement that Wings Financial CU has agreed to acquire City-County FCU will give the $2.7-billion credit union a new footprint in the area’s northern suburbs.
Wings Financial currently operates 19 branches across the country, including eight in the Twin Cities, primarily in the southern suburbs, and City-County operates seven branch offices in Minneapolis and its northern suburbs.
Wings will operate the City-County locations under the Wings name, and will retain a majority of City-County’s 150 employees.
“Our members will benefit from stronger networks of branches and fee-free ATM locations across the Twin Cities and by expanded growth opportunities that will allow us to continue offering the great rates, low fees and great service our members have come to expect,” said Paul Parish, president of Wings Financial.
Wings Financial, fresh off a deal for ailing Highgrove Community FCU in St. Paul, is among a handful of healthy credit union giants to which regulators are looking to absorb troubled credit unions. The $450 million City-County FCU lost $2.3 million in 2009, even while its net worth ratio declined to 3%.
“Wings and City-County share the same values,” said Jon Seeman, City-County president. “We both have our roots deep in the Twin Cities and we understand the importance of serving both our members and the communities they live and work in. Our members and our employees will be well-served by this combination that brings together two rich traditions and combines the best of both institutions.”
Wings Financial, the one-time airlines employees credit union, has been one of the most rapidly expanding big credit unions in the country, first converting to a so-called TIP charter in 2003 to serve the entire U.S. air transportation industry, then converting to a state charter last year and adding communities surrounding the Twin-Cities with more than three millions residents.
