Two Louisiana Credit Unions propose $1 billion merger

quote:

---

Two Louisiana credit unions that started life decades ago as savings cooperatives for workers at the Avondale shipyard and Shell refinery in Norco, said Monday they plan to merge.

OnPath Federal Credit Union and Louisiana Federal Credit Union said that if the merger is approved by their members and regulators they will form a new credit union to be called OnPath Credit Union.

The new, larger credit union would have almost 90,000 members and $1 billion in combined assets, the two credit unions said in a joint statement Monday. It would be the largest credit union merger in Louisiana to date, they said, citing industry tracker Callahan & Associates. The deal is set to close in mid-2024.


Credit unions are non-profits that are technically owned by their members. The OnPath merger would have to be approved by a majority of the members of LFCU—which is effectively being absorbed by OnPath under its charter—as well as by federal and state regulators.

The proposed merger is part of a long-standing industry trend, according to Credit Union Times, a trade publication. Credit union membership over the last decade has grown from about 90 million to nearly 140 million in the U.S., even as the number of credit unions has declined from nearly 7,000 to 4,700.

The credit union consolidation is driven by the same factors shrinking the number of banks and other financial institutions: technology advancements and the desire to be bigger so as to save costs and offer a broader product range.

"Becoming a larger credit union would ... result in being able to provide even more benefits to members in the form of more product and service access and integrating new and robust technologies and services," the credit unions' joint statement said.

Jared Freeman, current CEO/President of OnPath, which has 53,000 members, would become the merged union's CEO.

Rhonda Hotard, CEO/President of FCU, which has 36,000 members, would become president of the new OnPath.

OnPath, which start out in 1961, currently has 10 branches in metro New Orleans and Thibodaux.

FCU, which was founded in 1935, has branches in Norco, Gonzales, Gramercy, Hammond and LaPlace.

---