Leaders from Greater Vancouver Community Credit Union (GVC) and Cascadia Credit Union have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a merger.
The lenders, both based in British Columbia, will now conduct a joint review of potential benefits and risks to a merger. This will examine how a merger could enhance services, operations, and employee career development.
Founded in 1940, Greater Vancouver Credit Union is one of British Columbia’s oldest credit unions and has 4,000 members and 37 employees across three branches in Vancouver, Burnaby, and Surrey.
Cascadia is the larger of the two credit unions, having been formed out of a merger between three other credit unions in 2025; it has more than 100 employees and 16,000 members across branches in Summerland, Revelstoke, and Osoyoos.
If the merger goes ahead, the resulting organisation would possess over 20,000 members, more than CA$1.3bn in assets, and six branches.
“Exploring the possibility of a merger between our two credit unions is rooted in our commitment to putting members first,” said GVC chair Shaun Olafson. “GVC will explore whether a potential merger with Cascadia Credit Union will create a stronger credit union that can provide enhanced services and financial advice to all of our members for many years to come.”
If the joint review supports proceeding with a merger, the two organisations will examine making a regulatory application before consulting with members ahead of a member vote this autumn.
Cascade chair Connie Denesiuk said: “The environment for Canadian financial institutions is influenced by rapid innovation, evolving member needs, the pace of technological change, economic uncertainty, regulatory expectations and more. Our credit unions want to explore whether a potential merger would enable us to be better positioned to address these opportunities and challenges.”
