Alaska USA Merges with Global Credit Union
The Alaska USA branch at Denali St. and Northern Lights Blvd. in Anchorage, with a freshly refurbished exterior.
Alaska Business
Alaska USA Federal Credit Union has finalized a merger with Spokane-based Global Credit Union. The merger combines Alaska USA’s 700,000 members with Global’s 45,000 members, resulting in an organization with combined assets of nearly $12 billion, making it one of the fifteen largest credit unions in the country.
Shared Values
Alaska USA President and CEO Geoff Lundfelt remains in charge, while Jack Fallis, the president and CEO of Global, becomes Alaska USA’s regional president of Pacific Northwest and international markets.
Global operates nine branches in Washington and Idaho and an additional three branches in Italy on US military installations. Alaska USA has sixty-seven branches in Alaska, Washington, California, and Arizona. The merger expands the combined organizations’ workforce to approximately 2,200 employees.
“With shared values, and a commitment to our communities, it is with great excitement that we merge into one organization,” Lundfelt says. “We welcome the employees and volunteers of Global and look forward to next year when we truly become one.”
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April 2024
Global is rebranding as “Global Credit Union, a Division of Alaska USA Federal Credit Union.” All employees of Global are now employees of Alaska USA, and several members of Global’s board of directors continue to serve on a volunteer regional advisory committee.
“As this merger becomes official, our members will continue to receive the products and services they have come to rely on and will continue to see us in the community, engaging and interacting, giving back to those we serve,” says Fallis. “It also becomes even more apparent that by becoming one entity, we are able to offer our employees opportunities they would not otherwise have.”
The merger was announced last October and required approval by the National Credit Union Administration and Global Credit Union members.
At the time, Fallis said, “Global’s long history of community involvement and charitable giving will continue as both organizations share the same philosophy of giving back to the communities we serve.”
The company expects no change in customer service in the short term until a full system conversion in early 2023.
Both credit unions originally formed to serve members of the military. Alaska USA, established in 1948 as Alaskan Air Depot Federal Credit Union, expanded into Washington by merging with Whidbey Federal Credit Union in 1983. The company entered California by acquiring High Desert Federal Credit Union in 2009 and Arrowhead Credit Union the following year. A single branch opened in Glendale, Arizona in 2014 and was joined by seven more in that state by an acquisition from TCF Bank in 2020.
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