Why Merge?
By Armand Muniz
From our founding (almost 90 years ago) Crosspoint has focused on serving our community. We offer a safe, stable place to keep your savings, extend affordable access to credit, and a helpful judgement free space to offer consultation and assistance with varied financial needs. Fully embracing the credit union maxim of people helping people, our team has helped thousands of people reach their financial goals throughout New Haven County. We meet our members at face value, do what we say, and mean what we say. Our formidable reputation supports this.
Recently new challenges have presented themselves. These challenges have raised questions about how we proceed. Member needs have become more immediate. Regulatory expectations have become more stringent. The demand for faster turnaround is ever present. While we are fortunate to have a strong following with loyal members and a resolute, capable team, we have come to a crossroads. After careful consideration and discussions with our board of directors and senior leadership team, we decided to merge operations. The next logical question was with whom?
Why merge with Nutmeg?
Though we value our independence and our work with our members, we have come to a crosspoint. Banking has evolved quickly over time and member needs have evolved faster still. In discussing the proposed merger, we met with Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union. Our strategic plans, focus on member service, and community centered approach to financial service aligned very well. In our continued meetings and discussions, it became clear that we were on a similar path and could benefit from each other’s input and contributions. A partnership with Nutmeg offers us the opportunity to expand the services we offer, creating opportunities to serve our members even more effectively and efficiently than we have in the past.
Beyond branch hours and online resources, our members have made it clear that they want us to be there for them. Being there has taken many forms, especially since the pandemic. With our proposed merger, members have asked whether our staff would be there. We will be. There are no intentions to close existing branches. There are no intentions to cut staff or lay staff off. Our intention remains to serve our members. Our intention is to offer you the same elevated level of service with the same teams that you have been comfortable with, developed relationships with, and grown with.
The merger will bring larger scale and more resources to ensure that we will continue to serve our members for years to come. Enhanced services and product offerings that members can grow with will be available. We will be able to grow with your growing needs more effectively. If members are happy with the services they are currently using, that is fine. They can continue to operate with what they currently use. As your needs evolve, we will be ready to support you.
Enhanced scale and resources will help ensure that we will be here, able to effectively support and serve our members, through the varied and rapid changes banking continues to experience. It is essential that we have services that help members reach their financial goals.
Together, we will offer more solutions for members to leverage in reaching their goals. Credit Unions have always placed their focus on member service and working together to help others. Our service must evolve as the needs of our membership evolve. Combining our assets, coordinating our strategic plan, and enabling our human resources will be our path to success. So, to answer the question posed earlier, why merge? Because we need to be here for our community. We will continue to work together, focused on what our members need, growing stronger, together.