NSW mutuals fix merger mix
Endeavour Mutual Bank and Sydney Credit Union will push on with a merger, the boards of the two mutual ADIs announced at the end of last week.SCU and Endeavour Mutual signed a memorandum around 15 months ago, and under the timetable announced to members the merger will be complete by 1 October 2019. Dates for Special General Meetings are yet to be set. The combined entity will have an asset size of more than A$1.5 billion and around 75,000 members.The merged organisation will continue to operate both 'Sydney' and 'Endeavour' brands, but adding to the confusion that may be creeping into mutual ADI land, "when deciding on the merger with Endeavour Mutual Bank, SCU members will also be asked to decide on a company name change from Sydney Credit Union to Australian Mutual Bank."Also late last week, members of Holiday Coast Credit Union and Regional Australia Bank voted in favour of the merger at separate meetings held on Wednesday and Thursday.Around 92 per cent of HCCU members supported the merger, while 97 per cent of RAB members did so."We have to make sure we don't lose any momentum in the merger," Kevin Dupe, CEO of RAB said."We'll combine them and get them running at the same speed."Regional Australia Bank will continue to use Cuscal as payments provider for members of HCCU, alongside the existing processing for RAB via Australian Settlements Ltd."Cuscal provide a lot value added," Dupe said, of a supplier his employer dumped more than six years ago."We value the Cuscal relationship with Mastercard, and that may be important to us in the future. And they have Apple Pay."Both credit unions use the Ultradata core banking system."One of the great things about Ultradata is merging systems, especially when it's like for like," Dupe said.