Mecu / Regionalone Credit Union Merger

Bright Future for Victoria's Largest Mutual

Victoria's largest credit union mecu Limited announced today that it's merger with Bendigo based RegionalOne Credit Union will proceed following a strong endorsement by RegionalOne members at a Special General Meeting held last night in Bendigo.

mecu CEO Phylip Doughty, has advised credit union members, and staff that the proposed merger will create a dominant Victorian credit union with assets exceeding $2.2billion, over $223million in capital, 30 Service Centres located throughout the country and around 300 staff. The combined credit union will have more than 100,000 members living in Victoria alone with more than half of these members residing throughout regional Victoria.

Mr Doughty confirmed the merger will see the credit union invest in a range of new products and services targeting both existing and new members.

"mecu has a strong track record of decentralising key areas of its operations into regional Victoria. Today around half of mecu's staff live and work in Gippsland. This commitment to regional development will see mecu make a further investment into RegionalOne's Bendigo and Ballarat operations" said Doughty.

The RegionalOne membership's strong endorsement of the merger confirms the significant benefit of the merger to all members, staff and the communities served by each credit union including:

A broader range of competitive products and services.
Enhanced career opportunities for all staff.
Greater resources to pursue opportunities for further growth across the state.
Greater scale and expertise to match a sophisticated and competitive financial
services market.

Doughty states "this outcome offers an exceptional opportunity to invest in the development of a strong credit union presence across regional Victoria, offer Victorian's a greater choice in banking and to increase competition".