The proposed merger between Prospera Credit Union and North Shore Credit Union, which was announced in April, is now off.

Both Abbostsford, B.C.-based Prospera and Vanouver-based North Shore said that they would now move ahead with independent business strategies and not proceed with the proposed amalgamation. It was Prospera that made the decision to end the discussions.

“The merger with North Shore just didn’t make sense for us, our members and our staff,” said Karen Laing, chairwoman of Prospera’s board of directors in a note to membership posted on its web site.

Prospera came to realize, through merger discussions, that the credit union’s memberships liked Prospera’s service offering and that the credit union’s business performance had improved recently. That led Prospera’s board to inform North Shore’s board of the decision that it no longer wished to merge.

“We felt that the momentum we have gained over the past little while has us poised for prosperity and that leveraging that from within rather than through a merger at this time was a better option for us,” Laing said.

In May, Prospera sold its virtual bank subsidiary Ubiquity Bank to High River, Alta.-based Western Financial Group, which was to be merged with Bank West, WFG’s banking arm. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The proposed Prospera-North Shore merger was seen to be a good one for both credit unions as there was little overlap in their respective branch coverage. The combined entity would have created the third-largest credit union in B.C. with 28 branches and more than 100,000 members

Prospera, which is more than 60 years old, has assets of $2.3 billion under administration, with offices stretching from Vancouver to Kelowna, including 16 branches, nine insurance offices, six commercial centres and a contact centre. The credit union is being led by Bruce Howell, interim president and CEO. Prospera announced it would now start searching for a permanent head.

North Shore Credit Union, which has 12 branches from Burnaby and downtown Vancouver to Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton, has $2 billion in AUA. Chris Catliff, who had been chairing a merger task force, will resume his duties as North Shore’s president and CEO, the credit union announced.