When 3Rivers Federal Credit Union completed its purchase of West End Bank last month, the transaction became part of a growing trend of large, billion-dollar credit unions buying small community banks.
While there's no question that the vast majority of credit unions follow the rules of serving well-defined, underserved communities, evidence is mounting that a subset of the industry wants to operate more like traditional banks. If Congress does not properly delineate the differences between banks and credits unions, it's only a matter of time before yet another local bank gets taken over by a bank-like credit union.
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