Merger and acquisition record retention: Survivor edition

Mergers aren’t always a bad thing, you know? We have had many SUCCESSFUL mergers throughout the course of history; even those that did not make complete business sense to the less business savvy population. And to prove it to you, I’m going to list them out: airplanes and an office supply company; burgers and roast beef sandwiches; oatmeal and fruit juice… Wait, these aren’t sounding too great once I read them out loud. Nevertheless, we can agree that peanut butter and chocolate is a hit, right?

When credit unions merge into each other, that is essentially two businesses becoming one. Now that the ink on the paperwork is dry, your staff is so enthused to begin sifting through all the new paperwork that they didn’t generate. Yay, you!

Whatever your reasoning is for the merger, you have one major question on your mind when it comes to this new paperwork. You need to know this now because the pizza party is not distracting your staff from the truckloads of business records and potentially long hours! The question is: which credit unions’ record retention policy do we follow with respect to the newly acquired documentation?

First things first, you may want to consult with local counsel to check your merger agreement and determine if record retention was addressed. Sometimes, credit unions agree to handle record retention policy in a different manner based upon their various business needs. If your merger agreement does not address record retention, then it’s important for you to understand the general nature of mergers: the survivor wins. Or loses, depending on whether you’re a pessimist.

 

continue reading »