Work begins this week to transform the 12 Caisse Populaires in Northeastern Ontario into a single entity by January 1st. The new organization will be known as Caisse Populaire Alliance after the members from the 12 branches voted last week to merge. Phillipe Boissonneault, the chairman of the board, says the amalgamation project has been in the works for 10 years. Since June, Pierre Dorval, the President and CEO of L’Alliance, has been travelling across the northeast attending information meetings explaining the merger.
The merger campaign operated on the theme “Bigger, Stronger and Better Together” and the theme is no exaggeration. Dorval says once amalgamated, the new entity will have assets of $1.5 billion and puts it in a position to enhance what it already offers the members. This week’s work involves a transitional committee that sets in motion the organizational restructuring. The committee will oversee existing resources and projects transferred from the present branches to the new Caisse Alliance.
As Moose News reported last week, the members will see virtually no change and in addition employees will still have their jobs. The merger includes the branches in West Nipissing as well as the North Bay cluster which takes in the Bonfield and Mattawa offices.
