Members of the Vermont State Employees Credit Union narrowly approved a merger between the former state employee’s credit union (now simply called “VSECU”) and the New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) on election day this month. The merger passed by a margin of 318, with almost 15,000 members voting.
Of the credit union’s 71,000 members, 7,622 voted to approve the merger, and 7,304 voted not to approve it according to a memo posted on the VSECU website. A total of 21% of the membership weighed in on the proposed merger that VSECU has been marketing for nearly a year.
“This is the most member voter engagement ever for VSECU. The second highest member voter turnout was in 2007, when 10,991 members voted on a proposed name change,” said Simeon Chapin, VSECU community impact officer in an email to The Bridge.
The merger will be official effective Jan. 1, 2023, but plans to operate as a single entity may not be in place until later in 2023, according to the VSECU “What to Expect” section in themerger page of its website.
The two credit unions will operate under their separate names until “a new name is identified and created,” said the website, “until then, members will conduct business with VSECU, now a division of the New England Federal Credit Union.”
For the time being, VSECU officials say no changes are happening to accounts, and all employees will be retained. According to VSECU, it came to the merger with just over $1 billion in assets, and NEFCU has $1.9 billion. As for equity, the combined total of both credit unions is $300 million, according to VSECU.
VSECU has been gearing up for this vote for well over a year and facing opposition from former credit union leadership, including former CEO Steve Post and four former board chairs who created “Calling All Members” to oppose the merger and put forth a more locally controlled vision for the credit union.
