Sunmark's wave of merger growth continues

Two New York credit unions have applied to switch to charters and to then merge into Sunmark Credit Union in Latham, N.Y.

Hudson River Financial Federal Credit Union in Mohegan Lake and Columbia-Greene Federal Credit Union in Hudson have both applied to the Banking Division of Department of Financial Services for New York to become state-chartered institutions. Both have also applied to become part of the $764 million-asset Sunmark, according to the weekly banking bulletin from the DFS.

A federally chartered credit union has to convert to a state charter before it can merge into another state-chartered credit union, according to the New York Credit Union Association.

Applications for the changes were received on Tuesday, according to the bulletin.

The $64 million-asset Hudson River serves almost 7,000 members with one location, according to data from the National Credit Union Administration. Columbia-Greene has $31 million in assets, roughly 4,700 members and two locations, according to NCUA data.

Sunmark converted to a state charter at the beginning of the year, citing the need for more regulatory flexibility, while also expanding its potential field of membership to include additional counties. It can now serve more than a dozen counties and has almost 63,000 members. It lost roughly $437,000 in the first quarter, compared with a profit of roughly $1.3 million for the same period a year earlier, according to call report data from NCUA.

Sunmark did not immediately return a request for comment on the proposed charter changes and mergers. The credit union also absorbed Price Chopper Employees FCU last spring and Delmar Owens Corning Fiberglass FCU in late 2018.