The P-u-r-r-fidy of Credit Union Mergers
... a malignancy of malpractice, metastasizing into mafioso malfeasance.
We've spent much time looking at the onslaught of mergers within the credit union movement. Been using the proposed SAFE/BECU merger as an example to illustrate and quantify the issues. The SAFE/BECU merger proposal is neither unique, nor exceptional. That CU management and Boards win big in mergers, while credit union members-owners lose out is now common practice.
If you're late to the game, "The Godfather Mergers" series has been reorganized so you can click here [link] and page through, beginning at Part I. (Click "Newer Post" at the bottom left of each "Part" to see the next one).
You may also like to take a look at the parody on the Warner Brothers/Paramount intense, "shareholders'-interests-always-come-first", real world merger struggle [link] to understand how financially negligent credit union mergers have become. Credit union members are being bilked out of billions in shareholder equity - that's billions $$$ with a large "B"!
Would like to add one more comparison to emphasize how malevolent the credit union merger process has become. The following anonymous blog comment epitomizes the bizarre economic logic underlying current credit union mergers:
✔ Anonymous December 8, 2025 at 7:31 AM
"Credit unions don’t sell themselves like you sell a house. There is no consideration in CU mergers. Advocating for competitive bid processes is harmful to the system. "
✅ Say what? Why would selling a credit union to an acquiring credit union be "harmful to the system"? Just who/what is "the system"? Do the interests of "the system" override the ownership interests of the merging credit union's shareholders? Really?
✅ Here's an intriguing question for your consideration. Credit Unions nationwide are not only acquiring fellow credit unions, but are also buying commercial banks in great numbers [link]:
✔ "Do credit unions who buy commercial banks, pay bank shareholders for the value of the assets and equity of the bank?"
Would any bank board of directors ever consider "giving away" their shareholders equity - what an insanely silly, illegal, economic idea!
😎 Why does the board of directors of SAFE credit union - or any credit union for that matter - believe they can giveaway a $1.4 billion financial institution worth between $400 to $800 million [link], without compensating the member-owners?
