BATON ROUGE, La.-Main Street Financial FCU's direction may be uncertain after members rejected a merger with Jefferson Financial CU, but it's clear it will move forward without CEO Pat Duhe.
At press time, Main Street declined to comment on whether it will seek a second try at merging with the Metairie, La.-based JFCU, nor was it talking about the sudden departure of Duhe, who was CEO from only December of 2011 until Jan. 19, according to MSFCU. Duhe left shortly after two-thirds of the membership who voted decided against the merger with Jefferson Financial. SVP Diane McDuff has been appointed interim CEO.
Main Street was also mum about whether it will look for another merger partner outside of Jefferson Financial, or go it alone. "The board is looking into options," Misty Albrecht, VP of brand, initiatives and growth, said last week, deferring comment about what those choices are until after MSFFCU's board met with NCUA late last week.
Albrecht reiterated what Chairman John Lyon said in a letter to members, which is that the credit union is "taking the merger vote under advisement and further actions are still being determined."
According to reports in local media, Jefferson Financial CEO Mark Rosa remained open to trying again to merge with Main Street. Rosa did not respond to several messages left by Credit Union Journal. Reports suggested the reason Main Street members voted against the merger was overlap in offices that might lead to branch closings. Main Street, however, had assured members branches would not be closed.
Albrecth acknowledged that the $98-million Main Street sought the merger due to its eroding financial performance.
According to 5300 Call Report data, Main Street lost $2 million in 2010 and struggled to show any positive net income last year. Capital stood at 7.90% as of Sept. 30, 2011. The $260-million JFCU made $1.8 million in 2010, and was on pace to beat that number in 2011.
