State Farm affiliated credit union members are one step closer to a national membership with last week's merger approval by the NCUA.
The process of merging 12 State Farm Insurance credit unions into one $3-billion giant has been given the go ahead by the NCUA, with members now set to approve the union in the third quarter of this year.
The 12 credit unions will be headquartered at the present State Farm Great Lakes CU (SFGLCU) in Bloomington with the current CEO, Tom DeWitt, taking the helm as CEO of the combined organization. DeWitt said the original plan hasn't changed during the merger approval process and the 12 former CUs will become branches of the new CU.
"The approval process, I feel, went well," Dewitt said. "Hopefully it will be a fairly seamless transition for members."
As reported in The Credit Union Journal in March, the merger means State Farm employees will no longer have to close their accounts when they're transferred to a different region and reopen them at a new credit union. The merger will also streamline logistics, products and services. The CUs range in size from the $152-million State Farm Great Western in Tempe, Ariz., to the $654-million SFGLCU. All of the State Farm Credit Unions are running on Harland's ULTRADATA solution.
DeWitt said none of the future branches will change any of its vendors at the present time.
"It will be one membership for all of us now," he said.
Dewitt said he hadn't heard a great deal of feedback from the membership, but the comments he did hear were all positive regarding the pending merger. DeWitt said the credit unions will now set up Q&A sessions for members at each branch and prepare voting packets prior to the membership vote.
Others involved in the merger are State Farm California FCU, Bakersfield; State Farm Central, Columbia, Mo.; State Farm Florida FCU, Winter Haven; State Farm Great Western FCU, Tempe, Ariz.; State Farm Heartland FCU, Lincoln, Neb.; State Farm Mid-America FCU, Newark, Ohio; State Farm Mid-Atlantic FCU, Frederick, Md; State Farm Northeast FCU, Ballston Spa, N.Y.; State Farm Pacific Northwest FCU, Dupont, Wash.; State Farm Southern FCU, Duluth, Ga.; and State Farm Texas FCU, Austin.
