EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Royal CU, the state’s fifth largest credit union, will expand into Minnesota with a deal to acquire REAL Financial CU, a $29 million Minneapolis-based credit union that reported a $1.2 million loss for the first three quarters of the year.
REAL CU, whose members include Realtors, their staffs and their families, may be best known for the 2005 capture of the "Fishing Hat Bandit," a serial robber who hit 23 credit unions and was arrested after REAL Financial CU President Dean Wickstrom chased him down after he held-up the credit union. Wickstrom followed the bandit to a nearby garage and kept watch while he called police on his cell phone.
Royal CU, with $1 billion in assets, plans to retain the smaller credit union’s brand name at its Minnesota branches. Wickstrom will continue to oversee all REAL locations as regional manager.
The combined credit union will have 14 branches, 11 across central and western Wisconsin and three in the Twin Cities, and serve more than 120,000 members.
