Members of Access Credit Union have given the green light to proceed with a merger with Noventis and Sunova Credit Unions.

Online voting took place last week Tuesday through Thursday, and concluded at each organization’s Special Meeting of Members on January 27th. A two-thirds majority vote was required in order for the proposal to move ahead.

Access Credit Union President and CEO Larry Davey explains how the amalgamation will affect the membership. “There are some major technology changes coming forward and as we all know, there's a cost to technology. What we were looking at doing was mitigating some of that cost and spreading it over more members, and as a result, we're going to be able to save our members some money going forward, when those technology changes hit.”

Davey says there are many benefits to the merger for members. “We're going to be able to provide members a larger footprint for branches that they may want to attend. We have a number of members who have cottages in Lake Country, so this provides a wider scope for them to visit branches. It'll also provide them the ability to see the same type of service in a wider range of branches and we're going to leverage our scale in order to expand on the services available for members.”

Noventis has 12 branches most of which are in central Manitoba. 

Sunova has 14 branches, including locations in Beausejour, Dugald, Oakbank and Pinawa. 

Access Credit Union has 26 branches across Manitoba with 6 branches in the southeast, including Grunthal, Vita and Sprague. 

Davey notes there are a few reasons the three entities will make great partners. “We were really happy when they approached us. In the fact that, there's a very strong similarity between the values of each organization. They believe, similar to Access, in supporting small communities and investing in our communities. They are also a big proponent of member service, as well as about being leading edge in technology. So, we felt that was a great fit, the board certainly saw it as a great fit going forward, and it makes it a lot easier when you're bringing those cultures together.”

Davey expresses gratitude on behalf of the Access Credit Union. “We just want to thank the membership. They definitely have had to endure a lot, the same as our staff, a lot over the last couple of years, not only when it comes to the credit union, but to their personal lives dealing with this pandemic. We appreciate the support that they provided us, not only in this vote, but on a day-to-day basis. They can be rest assured we're going to continue to provide a very strong credit union for them and one that they'll be proud to deal with.”

Here is the summary as shared by each credit union's returning officer as submitted by Access Credit Union.

Sunova:  Total votes cast: 3,016

In Favour: 74% Opposed: 26%

 

Noventis: Total votes cast: 941

In Favour: 86%  Opposed : 14%

 

Access: Total votes cast: 3,394

In Favour: 76% Opposed: 24%

 

Davey says 75% of voting members were in favour of the merger. The merger will officially begin July 1, 2022.