What will Canada’s 3rd largest credit union be called?
Members of Alberta’s three largest credit unions have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a merger:
+ Servus [ 60 branches | 195,000 members | $4.75 billion | 900 employees ]
+ Community Savings [ 30 branches | 110,000 members | $2.5 billion | 640 employees ]
+ Common Wealth [ 15 branches | 52,000 members | $1.5 billion | 300 employees ]
The new $9 billion credit union will be the third largest in Canada, with almost 400,000 members, 2,000 employees and 100 branch locations.
But the merger leaves one big question: What will the name of the new organization be?
What do you think?
What will be the name of Alberta's newly-merged credit union?
- Servus (56%, 5 Votes)
- None of the above, a different new name (33%, 3 Votes)
- Common Wealth (11%, 1 Votes)
- Community Savings (0%, 0 Votes)
- Alberta-something-or-other (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 9
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The safe money is on ‘Servus’ because it represents over half the deal. When one of the organizations is much larger, it is usually their name that prevails. But it’s no sure thing.
As of now, the newly-merged entity hasn’t decided anything. According to this article, “The board will undertake a name selection and branding strategy review prior to registering the Articles of Incorporation November 1, 2008.”
It’s usually a little easier when only two firms merge. Quite often the two firms simply mashup their two names, like ‘AOL Time Warner.’ But you can’t do that here (’Servus Community Wealth Credit Union’).
Key Question: Will the credit union give members a voice and invite their participation in the selection of the new name?
Tip of the Hat: Three organizations merging at one time is rare. It almost never happens, and not just in the credit union industry — any industry. But if anyone anywhere can find a way to do it, it’s those affable Canadians.
Previous related stories from The Financial Brand:
- Two credit unions merge to create ‘Genisys’
- The ‘Community Credit Union’ fallacy
- Most common words in credit union names
Tags: Alberta, Common Wealth, Community Savings, Servus
May 28th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
WOW! Where have I been? (Positively SHOCKED that I didn’t already know about this).
I’m disappointed that on the heels of Common Wealth’s extremely successful “Young & Free Alberta” initiative, that they would be involved in a merger. From afar, it seemed like they had such a good thing going a merger would have been the last thing they desired. Hopefully this will better serve their members, but feels to me like a brand, and morale, atom bomb.
What good would a member vote be? Obviously, the members of the bigger credit union will have a much more powerful say (theoretically leaning toward selecting the larger credit union’s name).
May 28th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I’d recommend the credit union keep ‘Young & Free’ running no matter what name gets picked. Good thing the Y&F name works in any situation and isn’t tied specifically to Common Wealth.
May 29th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Wow, I’m shocked that Common Wealth is merging. Seemed like they were on a roll with Y&F. I definitely think they will continue running the program since its really just a matter of switching out Common Wealth’s logo on the Y&F site…I wonder what effect this will have on they way it is run/people’s response to it.
May 29th, 2008 at 7:40 am
@Jeffry It will be interesting to see if that works. I agree that its concept works no matter what name is selected, but I remain skeptical that this is anything less than a serious blow to the program.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:30 am
If I was part of either Servus or Community Savings, I’d be very excited about gaining the Y&F program — certainly vs. trying to start my own initiative. I’m optimistic that all the extra muscle and new horsepower behind Y&F will only help the program get bigger in Alberta.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:35 am
First off, let me say that we at Currency are super excited about the merger. Young & Free Alberta will continue on a much bigger stage. Next year’s search and program (which we are just planning now) will have province-wide impact. We are attending a Y&F Summit with all the new parties mid-June to plan everything. Imagine Young & Free with the backing of a 400,000 member / 95 location CU versus 52,000 member / 16 location CU. It will be huge and transformational.
Young & Free Alberta is intended to be a flagship program for the new entity. In fact, because of Y&F and other innovative initiatives at CWCU, Common Wealth was treated as an absolute equal partner in the merger (seats on board, etc.), even though they were a very distant third in size. Jeff Mulligan is the #2 person in the new organization and has been charged as the key driver behind all things innovation and harmonization. Marketing reports to him.
Why did they merge? The biggest reason is impending legislation in Western Canada that will allow CUs to operate across provincial borders. With Vancity at 14 billion and Coast Capital at 10 billion in neighbouring BC plus the government run Alberta Treasury Branch (ATB) that is 30 billion and looks and acts like a CU, you will see some major competition coming when this is passed mid-2008.
This was not a merger of desperation, this was a merger to prepare for the future. Members voted at 98% approval. All three entities are doing extremely well.
On a side note, Currency is actually the trademark and license holder of the whole program and Common Wealth is our founding partner. Young & Free’s future looks really, really bright. I’ll leave it at that!
May 29th, 2008 at 9:52 am
@Tim Thanks for clarifying! Your comment certainly puts my fears to rest. I would hate to see the truly wonderful Y&F go away - merger or not. Glad that the general feeling is one of optimism and promise…makes me truly excited to see how it develops even further!
May 29th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I think the new name should be Serve Us Up Some Savings Wealth CU
May 29th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
@Tim - Good news for Y&F. Thanks for weighing in!
May 29th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Jeff great post and hope your firm is working on the name. From the pot to the kettle, you do good work.
The entire story provides big picture insight for CEOS and board about the future of credit unions, strategic planning and remaining relevant to members. We are doing a ton of merger communications work lately: message creation and strategic communications plans - even for the father of a famous blogger.
I predict we will continue to see more merger of equals, watch credit unions $250 million-$600 million in the US adopting the Desjardins model and even franchising. I can think of no less than 20 credit unions in a fleeting thought on this subject. And the franchising is something State Employees, CUDE Mike Banks is speaking about and the CUNA Membership Growth Task Force is looking at to encourage credit unions to make budget choices that cut back office and put more money into marketing and educating consumers.
Lots of new names will be needed, Jeff… That is, when it is right for the members and if the credit unions can communicate the sensitive topic effectively to both boards, employees, members and communities.
May 29th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
@Jamie - I like the franchise idea. Always have.
And the credit union hasn’t contacted me yet about a naming project or name evaluation, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed
May 29th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Altough Tim has done a good job with his comments, I would like to add a few. For us, at Common Wealth, this merger is not about protecting our existing credit union but rather to create the most relevant and innovative credit union in Canada and perhaps North America. Other large CU’s in Canada have very well defined value propositions (VanCity, Coast Capital) and I’m sure that Young & Free will become a prominent part of our new credit union. Our new partners at Servus and Community are super excited about being able to take our Y & F program and engage even more young CU’ers across a broader market space. In my mind, this will create even more fuel for us to use with Tim, Currency and the great people at Brookline. Stay tuned for the next phase coming out of our Young & Free Summit in June and thanks for all the support for our program.
May 30th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Hi Eric. Thanks for expanding on Tim’s thoughts and sharing your enthusiasm for the Y&F program.
Noteworthy: Use of the expression “Y&F” is widely recognized now as CU industry shorthand for “Young & Free.” It’s a good thing when people talk about something so much that they feel the need to shorten it.
It will be interesting to see if Y&F becomes so popular in Alberta that members start using the abbreviation. The credit union shouldn’t push the shortened form of the name on the public, however. If it happens, it should happen naturally, as it did in our intra-industry conversations.