Integrations

With desirable merger partners hard to find, some credit unions are starting to look well beyond their home base.

Ballinger National Bank would be renamed Keystone Bank and its headquarters would move to an Austin suburb.

Queen of Peace Arlington Federal Credit Union had just $2.6 million in assets and one employee prior to the merger.

McCone County Federal Credit Union has added roughly $9 million of assets with the merger of Fallon County Federal Credit Union.

More than half of all federally insured credit unions have less than $50 million of assets. But challenges, including increased demands for technology, are making it harder for small institutions to thrive, forcing some to look for merger partners.

The two institutions scuttled their original plans to merge earlier this year after a court invalidated some parts of the NCUA's field of membership rules for federally chartered institutions.

With its CEO planning retirement, tiny Coast-Tel Federal Credit Union is seeking approval to merge into Bay FCU.

The added heft will help companies like Independent Bank and Berkshire Hills better compete with the bigger banks that control much of the region’s deposits, and perhaps give them a leg up on other giants, including JPMorgan Chase, moving into the Boston market.

First Merchants in Indiana would pass $10 billion in assets by acquiring MBT Financial in Michigan.

The combined institution will serve roughly 13,700 members with $300 million of assets and six branches.