Members of Access Credit Union (Access) have given the green light for a merger to proceed 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 President and CEO Larry Davey says 75% of voting members were in favour of the merger.

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

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 explained how the amalgamation will affect the membership.

“I think we explained a fair bit through the process. 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 said 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 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 from Starbuck to Moosehorn, and Sunova has 14 with three locations in Winnipeg and 11 ranging from Teulon and Stonewall, to Pinawa and Beausejour.

Davey noted 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're 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 expressed gratitude on behalf of Access.

“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.”

The merger will officially begin July 1, 2022. Additional details on next steps will be shared over the coming months.