The boards of directors of both Westminster Savings Credit Union and Prospera Credit Union announced late January 28 that they have stopped merger discussions.
Both credit unions announced in September that they were discussing how best to merge.
Now, after due diligence, both realize that merging is not in the best interest of either’s members, employees or communities.
“This has been a very difficult decision for us to reach,” said Prospera Credit Union’s board chair Angela Kaiser said in a statement before thanking everyone involved in the discussions.
Westminster Savings Credit Union’s board chair, Bill Brown, said in the statement that the sticking point was “challenges we continue to face in our operating environment and the costs required to bring our two credit unions together.”
Credit union mergers have been in vogue for the past couple decades.
In 1996, there were around 100 credit unions operating in British Columbia.
Today, there are 42.
Business in Vancouver reported January 27 on the phenomenon that is spurred by the belief that being being bigger reduces the cost of complying with regulatory requirements, which have grown in recent years.
