DOVER – Del-One Federal Credit Union and Louviers Federal Credit Union are about to form a new union – a merger that would offer new products, services and opportunities to thousands of Delawareans.
Both organizations have decades-long legacies of banking service in the First State; Del-One was founded in 1960 and Louviers was founded just eight years later. And both continue to be financially sound, according to Del-One President & CEO Dan McCarthy.
“This is not a merger of necessity,” he told the Delaware Business Times. “Louviers and Del-One are both incredibly healthy financially and would be fine to continue in perpetuity.”
To date, Louviers’ assets have reached $220 million, according to McCarthy, while Del-One’s assets are at about $720 million right now. Merging will allow both member-led organizations to not only continue their growth, but also add to the scale of what they can offer to members, employees and the community alike by combining efforts.
“It’s hard to be competitive in the financial services industry; it’s hard to have scale,” he said. “I’m proud to say that Louviers settled on us in their search for a merger partner based on our commitment to Delaware and the people we serve.”
Del-One currently touts around 80,000 members with the vast majority of those members residing in Delaware and banking at any one of the organization’s 12 branches. Louviers has around 16,000 members through its four branches which are all located in New Castle County.
For Del-One, which will remain the “surviving bank,” according to an email sent out by McCarthy to its members Friday, May 23, the merger will offer additional opportunities for the group to reach residents and professionals in the First State’s most northern county.
“About 63 or 64% of Delaware lives in New Castle County and Del-One has a banking relationship with about 1 in 10 Delawareans. As we’re able to continue to grow that, we can have an even bigger impact on folks,” he told DBT.
A positive point in the merger conversation for Louviers, he added, was the added benefit for its employees. The organization currently has about 30 employees, who have the opportunity to stay on after the merger. Meanwhile, Del-One has about 180 employees across the state, affording the organization larger-scale benefit opportunities not currently available to Louviers employees.
“We were approached by executives at Louviers Federal Credit Union as they were searching for a merging partner that shares their strong mutual commitment to members, teammates, and the community,” McCarthy said in the email. “By combining the two credit unions, we will be able to strengthen our current markets and expand more throughout Delaware, namely a larger footprint in New Castle County. Together, we will be able to provide better services, more products, competitive teammate benefits, and better growth opportunities by having more budget dollars to devote to the credit union and ultimately our membership.”
While both groups have announced intentions for the merger and have filled out the appropriate paperwork, they are waiting for approvals from National Credit Union Administration before they can proceed. Once approved, both groups will ask for approval from their respective memberships before finalizing the merger.
Check out the 2024 Delaware credit unions list ranked by assets here.
