NuMark Credit Union in Joliet, Illinois, has agreed to acquire The Lemont National Bank in neighboring Lemont in an all-cash transaction.

No other financial details of the deal were disclosed in a press release Wednesday.

“It is clear to us that our organizations share a common vision in that we are both invested in the importance of putting people and community first in all that we do,” said NuMark CU’s President and CEO Lloyd Fredendall in the release.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025.

It is the second bank acquisition for the $851 million-asset NuMark, which closed its purchase of Pioneer State Bank in 2023.

The Chicago area has been a hotspot for CU-bank deals, in part due to the sheer number of banks in the region.

Among the credit unions bulking up in Chicagoland in recent years was Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, which bought two banks – McHenry Savings Bank and Algonquin State Bank – in the market in 2023.

At $52 million of assets, The Lemont National is one of the smallest banks ever bought by a credit union. In fact, only the $27 million-asset Nakomis Savings Bank, which was acquired by Land of Lincoln Credit Union in 2023, was smaller in the past two years.

“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,” said Hercules Bolos, Chairman, President and CEO of Lemont National Bank.

The release did not say if Bolos would remain with the combined organization, and Fredendall is set to retire at the end of the month.

The deal is the second announced this year in which a credit union is buying a bank.

The $1.5 billion-asset Frontwave Credit Union in Oceanside, California, in January agreed to acquire the $316 million-asset Community Valley Bank in El Centro.

There were 22 CU-bank deals announced last year – the most ever. Prior to 2024, the most credit union-buying-bank deals struck in a year was 16 in 2022.

By this time last year, six credit union-bank deals had already been announced.

Some industry observers at America’s Credit Unions’ Governmental Affairs Conference last week wondered if the constant pushback against those deals from the banking trades might finally be gaining some traction. 

Others suggested the frantic early days of the Trump administration may have caused potential buyers to hit the pause button.

“I think credit unions and banks are waiting to see how things will play out in Washington, D.C. related to taxation and the regulatory agencies,” attorney Jeff Cardone of Luse Gorman told Tyfone. “That said, I still have a strong pipeline of deals.”

Cardone advised NuMark on the Lemont transaction.

NuMark CU has nearly 62,000 members and earned roughly $6.6 million in 2024, a 26% increase compared to a year earlier, according to call report data from the National Credit Union Administration.

The Lemont National Bank lost $400,000 in 2024 after its earnings were flat in 2023, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

“It is clear to us that our organizations share a common vision in that we are both invested in the importance of putting people and community first in all that we do.”

 – Lloyd Fredendall
President and CEO
NuMark Credit Union