Zeal Credit Union of Livonia, Michigan, has become the most recent credit union to buy a community bank.

The $839 million-asset Zeal said it plans to acquire Gogebic Range Bank of Ironwood, Michigan – the banking arm of West End Financial Corp.

Financial terms of the all-cash deal were not disclosed in a press release issued Monday.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2025.

Neil Beckman, President and CEO of the $147 million-asset Gogebic Range Bank, said that after considering what is best for its employees, customers, shareholders, and the communities it serves, the bank decided the best path forward was a partnership with Zeal.

“We are excited to bring together two organizations focused on exceptional customer service and high value products, as well as a philosophy of strong community support,” Beckman said in the press release.

Zeal is one of the smallest credit unions to ever acquire a bank.

And Gogebic Range is the second-smallest bank to be acquired by a credit union this year. Only $105 million-asset Washington Business Bank, which earlier this month closed its deal with Sound Credit Union, was smaller.

Zeal is expected to keep predominately all the Gogebic employees and its four branches and will increase its footprint into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to 16 branches at deal completion.

“Gogebic is a well-managed bank, and we look forward to welcoming their customers and employees into our family,” said Zeal President and CEO Julie Kreinbring in the release.

It is the first acquisition of a Michigan-based bank by a credit union since 4Front Credit Union completed its deal for Old Mission Bank in September, 2023.

The transaction is the 22nd announced this year in which a credit union is buying a bank.

Most recently before Monday, Hanscom Federal Credit Union in Littleton, Massachusetts, on Dec. 20 announced plans to acquire the $300 million-asset Peoples Bank in Chestertown, Maryland.

Prior to 2024, the most credit union-buying-bank deals ever announced in a year was 16 in 2022.

There were 11 such deals announced last year.

“Given the improved economic conditions and our current pipeline of deal activity, we are anticipating that the number of CU-bank deals in 2025 will exceed the record-breaking number of deals in 2024,” attorney Jeff Cardone of Luse Gorman told Tyfone.

Cardone advised Zeal on the transaction, which represented the credit union’s first-ever bank buy.

Zeal Credit Union has 66,000 members and earned roughly $16.8 million through the third quarter of 2024, a 5% increase compared to a year earlier, according to call report data from the National Credit Union Administration.

“Given the improved economic conditions and our current pipeline of deal activity, we are anticipating that the number of CU-bank deals in 2025 will exceed the record-breaking number of deals in 2024.”

 – Jeff Cardone
Attorney
Luse Gorman