TwinStar Credit Union, Northwest Community Credit Union Announce Merger Approval

TwinStar Credit Union and Northwest Community Credit Union (NWCU) have announced their merger has received regulatory approval, along with member approval by a vast majority vote of the Northwest Community Credit Union membership.

The legal date of the merger for the two organizations is planned for June 12, a news release from TwinStar stated.

The newly-merged organization will serve more than 245,000 members with a branch network of 36 locations across the states of Washington and Oregon, which includes two locations in Yelm. Combined, the organization will have assets of over $4 billion, stated the release.

The biggest change at the time of the legal merger is that Northwest Community Credit Union will become “Northwest Community Credit Union, a division of TwinStar Credit Union,” as the organization works to determine a unified name for the combined organization.

“From a member perspective, it will be business as usual as the organization ramps up efforts to fully integrate their systems in 2024,” stated the release.

NWCU Chief Executive Officer John D. Iglesias expressed his optimism for the future of the combined organization.

“We are excited that our members see the additional benefits of forming this partnership and bringing our two credit unions together for the benefit of members, employees and communities,” Iglesias said. “Although our combined organization will be double in size, the true theme of this merger has been and will continue to be about being ‘better together.’ Thank you to NWCU members and employees for their active participation in this voting process and for their commitment and loyalty to help ensure we continue to grow and thrive.”

According to both chief executives, the merger is another example of the impact credit unions can have when they pursue a cooperative partnership with another like-minded organization, according to the release.

“We are now eager to begin the process of pooling and combining our resources and our talent to provide further efficiencies and economies of scale to all those we serve,” stated Jeff Kennedy, the chief executive officer of TwinStar Credit Union, in the release. “The boards and leadership teams of both credit unions have worked side by side over the past several months to ensure the original intent of this partnership remained, and that intent was to work collaboratively to make decisions for the future organization and stay focused on our passion for serving members. We know members have many choices when it comes to a financial institution and we take that very seriously. We’ve been lucky to form this great partnership and are excited about the future. The end goal is to build a greater experience for employees and members, and then everyone wins.”

Kennedy will be the chief executive officer of the new organization and Iglesias will be the president, stated the release.

More information, including frequently asked questions regarding the merger, can be found on both the TwinStar and NWCU websites.