For the Gazette
Grand Forks Credit Union (gfcu) members have voted in favour of a merger with Gulf & Fraser* that will take
effect on January 1, 2023.
A membership vote was held from November 28 to December 5, 2022. According to a press release on behalf of the staff, leadership, and Board of Directors, an “exceptional turn out of approximately 25 per cent of the eligible voting membership participated, [and] more than 80 per cent voted in support of the merger. “Together, the credit unions will better serve their collective membership, employees, and communities, through scale and combined resources. the release read.
“This result guarantees a more robust credit union in the Boundary,” said GFCU Board Chair Michael Strukoff. “Thank you, to our membership, for trusting our Board of Directors and supporting our recommendation to merge.”
“With this positive vote outcome, we have an exciting future to look forward to,” said GFCU CEO, Becky Clements. “Our employees did an outstanding job in communicating with members, ensuring they got the answers needed to make an informed decision.”
The merged organization will operate under the legal name, Gulf and Fraser Fishermen’s Credit Union, doing business as Gulf & Fraser. Recognizing the legacy and longstanding heritage of gfcu, both boards determined early in the process that the gfcu brand will live on with the merged credit union operating the former branch of gfcu as “GFCU Savings, a trade name of Gulf and Fraser Fishermen’s Credit Union.”
“This is our opportunity to connect and build a wider network to better serve our current members and the members of Grand Forks Credit Union, no matter where they live,” said Co-CEOs for Gulf & Fraser, Bill Kiss, and Jeff Shewfelt in a statement. “We have been steadily growing our credit union family for over 82 years, so we are already serving the entire province today, with members living in the southern, interior, and northern parts of B.C.
“Our goal is not to ‘grow for the sake of growth’ but to strengthen our ability to serve our collective members by providing enhanced technology and access to banking services, a strong network of credit union branches, and the services and programs that support our members wherever they live in B.C.”
The merged credit union will have a total of $5.6 billion under its guidance and administration which creates more opportunities for members such as enhanced services and giving back to communities. The merged credit union will have over 70,000 members and a network of 28 branch locations that extend beyond Grand Forks and span the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley communities from downtown Vancouver to Abbotsford.
“With the merger, Grand Forks and Boundary members have the opportunity to access more member benefits like competitive deposit rates, Apple Pay, Google Pay and other services offered by Gulf & Fraser,” said Floyd Yamamoto, President and Board Chair, Gulf & Fraser. “We’re excited to be able to provide these products and services to those members new to our credit union family.”