A trio of Saskatchewan credit unions have announced plans to merge and create one of the biggest financial co-operatives in Canada.

If approved by the memberships of Conexus, Innovation and Synergy credit unions, the newly formed entity would boast more than $6.5 billion in assets under administration and serve 194,000 members from 85 credit union branches, 11 insurance offices, six real estate offices and six mortgage brokerage offices across Saskatchewan.

Ian Rea, CEO of Regina-based Conexus, says the marriage will build upon its status as the largest credit union in the province and leave the No. 2 player at one-third the size of the merged group.

“The three of us are quite like-minded, have similar values and we’re all very financially strong,” he says. “Our trading areas are complementary and don’t overlap to any significant amount, so the notion is we can create a truly provincial credit union.”

Susan Woods, interim CEO of Swift Current-based Innovation, says the merger would create the fourth-largest credit union in the country. Conexus is the biggest of the merger partners, with about $4.1 billion in AUA, followed by Innovation with $1.6 billion and Synergy with $900 million.

“[The proposed merger] provides an opportunity for our members to have access to a lot more locations, 84 compared with 26 now,” says Woods. “For our youth population, connectivity with credit unions has always been an issue. Students from smaller communities who go to school in Regina or Saskatoon, we don’t want to lose them as members. [With the merger], they’ll be able to go into a branch of ours and get the services they need, no matter where they are. It’s a continuity of service.”

Glenn Stang, executive manager of retail services at Lloydminster-based Synergy, says the merger will be accomplished without layoffs: “You need bodies when you first merge to get all of your business strategies aligned. As they start to come together — that might take three years — you look for attrition opportunities and you retrain people and you get them into different jobs.”

The 64 credit unions in Saskatchewan serve almost 500,000 members through 310 outlets. In many places, a credit union is the only financial services institution. — GEOFF KIRBYSON