NEW ORLEANS-Alaska USA FCU has looked at 23 potential credit union mergers over the past 16 months. But according to CFO Norm West, it has rejected most of those potential suitors as not fitting the criteria it looks for in mergers.
Alaska USA FCU is chartered as a multi-group CU. It is required to merge with like-chartered CUs-unless NCUA arranges the merger with a community charter under its emergency powers, as it did with the two failed California CUs: High Desert FCU and Members Own CU. "We've been very successful with it," said West. "We're not looking for the little guys down the street, per se, although we have merged a few over the years. Sometimes there is strength in a merger, such as expansion in a location, but obviously there are all kinds of things to be considered in formulating that strategy. As CFO, I want it to be relatively simple. Mergers can be bloody things if they don't go together well. Their members may be doing business with (the merger partner) for entirely different reasons than your members do business with you. I don't think anyone merges for the sake of merging. There are reasons you do it. Our CU is very much a bank alternative; we take on banks. We are the largest depository institution in the state of Alaska. We're not always the best deal in every case, but across the board we usually are."
West said most regulators are aware Alaska USA is "actively looking" for merger opportunities. The key to a successful merger, he said, is the right fit.
