Syracuse, N.Y. -- The boards of directors of Syracuse-based Empower and Binghamton-based Horizons federal credit unions announced plans Wednesday to merge the two organization.
The merger will take effect Oct. 1. The signage at the four Horizon offices and one Empower location in the Southern Tier will change to “Horizons, a division of Empower Federal Credit Union,” the organization said. The Empower name will remain on all other Empower offices.
“The merger of Empower and Horizons federal credit unions will join two institutions that share a strong commitment to their membership and community,” the organizations said in a statement. “Most importantly, this merger will offer expanded services to Horizons FCU members and expanded branch and ATM access to Empower FCU members.”
Horizons formed as the U.S. Employees Federal Credit Union in 1937 for postal employees. In the early years, only federal employees and their immediate families were allowed to join.
The name was changed to Horizons in 1999. The following year, Horizons was granted a community charter, which allows any person who lives, works, worships or attends school in Broome County to join the credit union.
Empower formed from the merger of the Power and Empire federal credit unions in 2007 and provides savings, loans, and other financial products to members in Central New York. Power was founded in 1939 by employees of what was then CNY Power Corporation/Niagara Mohawk (currently National Grid). Empire was established in 1950 as Syracuse District Telephone Employees Federal Credit Union.
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