Sacramento-based newspaper credit union prepares to stop the presses

Members of McClatchy Employees Credit Union have approved a proposal to merge into First U.S. Community Credit Union.

The $382 million-asset FUSCU said in a notice on its website that the merger will become effective on July 1. Both institutions are based in Sacramento, Calif.

FUSCU said that employees of the $12.8 million-asset MECU will be retained and that MECU’s current CEO Stephen Serfozo will join FUSCU’s board as an associate board member.

MECU serves employees of the McClatchy Company, which operates daily newspapers across the country, including the Miami Herald, Charlotte Observer, Kansas City Star and Sacramento Bee.

The combination will provide the former MECU members with “expanded product options, and enhanced electronic services including mobile app access to online banking and bill payment,” according to FUSCU.

MECU posted net income of just under $6,000 in the first quarter, a 48% drop from the same period of 2018. MECU's membership has declined by almost 31%, to 938 in the first quarter, since March 2014.

FUSCU posted net income of about $588,000 in the first quarter, a 38% decline from the same period a year earlier. Over that period, FUSCU’s total non-interest income dropped from $922,000 to $739,000.