Dive Brief:
- Joliet, Illinois-based NuMark Credit Union has agreed to acquire The Lemont National Bank in an all-cash transaction, the companies announced Wednesday.
- That would give NuMark roughly $910 million in assets and expand its footprint to 15 branches, by adding two branches from Lemont.
- Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The acquisition, expected to close in the second half of 2025, awaits shareholder and regulatory approvals.
Dive Insight:
This is the second acquisition for the $800 million-asset credit union. NuMark acquired Earlville, Illinois-based Pioneer State Bank in 2023, adding four locations to the credit union’s footprint.
“As we welcome Lemont customers into the NuMark Credit Union family, we look forward to providing a top-notch experience by focusing on our member-owners’ needs, and offering value-added products, services, and technology in our on-going quest to help our members do more with their money,” NuMark CEO Lloyd Fredendall said in a statement.
Lemont entered into a consent order last April with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which found unsafe or unsound practices, including those relating to capital planning, strategic planning, succession planning, and liquidity risk management. The lender agreed to appoint a compliance committee, maintain higher minimums and develop a strategic plan.
“NuMark Credit Union is a high-performing, growing, and successful organization that has demonstrated a commitment to enriching the financial lives of its members and a passion to serving its communities,” Lemont CEO Hercules Bolos said in a statement. “We are extremely excited to have found a partner that will continue to serve our customers in a manner they have come to expect from The Lemont National Bank.”
The number of whole-bank acquisitions by credit unions soared in 2024, with 22 deals announced – breaking the previous record of 16 such deal announcements in 2022.
The NuMark deal is just the second bank-credit union deal announced since January. But Michael Bell, a partner at law firm Honigman, chalked that up to a natural first-quarter slowdown following the holidays, before activity ramps up again.
“I think we will be on the same pace as last year. I have an abundance of opportunities on my desk,” Bell said, adding that the next deal will be announced as soon as next week.
Trade groups including the Independent Community Bankers of America have long pushed back against such deals, saying the tax-exempt nature of credit unions allows them to offer a higher purchase price.
ICBA CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey called for policy changes after the first such deal of the year, announced in January.
“While growth-obsessed credit unions rush to leverage their tax exemption to make inflated offers for healthy community banks, each acquisition increases the federal tax exemption for nearly $2.2 trillion in credit union assets,” Romero Rainey said in a statement.
Credit unions have strayed from their mission to serve people with “modest means,” she contended, while the National Credit Union Administration has “expanded the powers of the industry it is charged with regulating.”
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. this month rescinded a merger policy update, saying the agency needs to conduct a “broader reevaluation of its merger review process.”
Last month, Rodney Hood, the new acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and a former chair of the NCUA, outlined his priorities and emphasized his commitment to reducing regulatory burdens on community banks.
Hood identified issues in how merger applications are evaluated. Community banks seeking mergers face hurdles because the credit union market share is not included in market concentration calculations, he said. The omission skews the results, making bank mergers appear to create higher market concentration than actually exists.
Bell, for his part, said he expects “removal of some of the needless red tape.”
