Commsave Credit Union and Harvest Money complete merger

Following a year of careful planning, the transfer of undertakings between Northamptonshire Credit Union (trading as Harvest Money) and Commsave Credit Union is complete.

Welcoming 2,800 members with over £2m worth of savings, Chairman of Commsave Kundai Kafamba said: “This merger gives us the opportunity to continue to grow and offer great value savings and loan services to more people: – Truly living the values of People Helping People.”

Commsave’s Executive Director, Richard Munro said: “Bringing a community element into our predominantly employer based ‘common bond’ supports our strategy to diversify our membership base. Through our partnership with credit unions in Georgia, USA, we are reassured that this is a viable credit union model.”

Amanda Ivey, CEO of Commsave said: “We are delighted three of Harvest Money’s staff are joining our team. With the restrictions imposed by Covid-19 the merger has added additional challenges, but are determined the transition for Harvest Money members will be seamless.”

Anne Marshall, President of Harvest Money said: “I would like to thank all of the many unsung heroes who have sustained Harvest Money for the last 22 years. As we enter a new and exciting future, we trust that you, our members, will continue your support for the credit union movement.”

Two key themes of ABCUL’s Vision 2025 is collaboration & sustainability, and there while there is some variation in the views of credit unions toward strategic mergers as part of discussions around sustainability….there  is strong support for ABCUL to initiate a more proactive role in helping to facilitate discussions on potential mergers and shared services for credit unions interested in considering such moves to strengthen sustainability and improve business model capability.

In March 2020, ABCUL CEO, Robert Kelly officially launched a shared vision of the credit union sector for the next five years, with a strategy document which forms the basis for the sector and ABCUL’s shared future and its lobbying priorities and service development agenda to support this. The document raises the issue of the lack of strategic mergers and the need for continued collaboration among credit unions.

Commenting on the merger between Commsave CU and Harvest Money CU, Robert Kelly said: “The merger between both credit unions is an excellent example of two organisations collaborating together to achieve greater sustainability and service provision for its combined member base. This is a real and tangible sign of our Vision 2025 Strategic Plan in action creating great synergy for the future.