EAU CLAIRE, Wis.-Royal Credit Union said it expects to open the 11 branches it is acquiring from troubled Anchor Bank as credit union branches by the end of the month.
The unprecedented purchase of bank branches also comes with about $177-million in deposits, about 20,000 customer accounts, real estate loans and certain equipment and will give the $1.1 billion credit union a total of 41 branches in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The new members acquired from the bank all had to be reviewed to determine that they came within the credit union's field of membership, a total of 30 towns in Wisconsin and Minnesota, according to Charles Grossklaus, president of Royal. "They all fall into the field of membership we have presently," he told Credit Union Journal.
Royal plans to keep the 114 bank employees on until at least the end of the year, said Grossklaus. "We'll keep them through at least the end of December," he added.
He declined to disclose the purchase price for the Anchor assets.
