WASHINGTON – CUNA said yesterday it is interested in discussing a combination with NAFCU but it has made no merger offer or overture.
"We have made no offer to NAFCU in any way, shape or form," said Tom Dorety, chairman of the CUNA Board, who disputed the tenor of yesterday’s story in the Credit Union Journal Daily Briefing. He said the CUNA Board has responded to a paper offered by an independent group of credit union CEOs who urged the two trade organizations to combine. "We are willing to sit down and discuss the possibility of creating a new national trade association for credit unions," Dorety told The Credit Union Journal, "Once we sit down and discuss it we may acknowledge that there’s no way we can do it."
But, he emphasized that CUNA has not approached NAFCU about a merger and has not talked about it. He said NAFCU, in rejecting a merger, was responding to the paper developed by the credit union executives without any input from CUNA. "It was written by these folks who requested both trade associations sit down and discuss the creation of a new entity," said Dorety, the president of Suncoast Schools FCU.
CUNA has approached NAFCU several times in the past about a merger and has made no secret that it favors a combination of the two organizations.
But NAFCU said it has no interest in pursuing a merger with CUNA. Brad Beal, chairman of the NAFCU Board, said the board has unanimously agreed to maintain NAFCU’s independence as a trade association. The NAFCU Board voted unanimously against discussing a merger earlier this summer.
