Voting on the proposed merger between the Taylor's Arm-founded bcu and the Western Australian P&N (Police and Nurses) Bank closed for bcu members on Sunday.
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Those votes have now been tallied and today the results were announced at a General Meeting in Coffs Harbour.
It's been a nervous wait for some, including the families of the founding fathers of the former banana growers' credit union.
Michael and Stephen Spear and Bryan Ussher, sons of founders Neville Spear and Bill Ussher, expressed sadness that it had come to this, but all were ultimately of the mind that a merger was inevitable, and P&N offered the best opportunity to keep their fathers' legacy intact.
In order to proceed with the proposed merger, 25 per cent of the credit union's 55,000 members needed to cast a vote.
Of those, 75 per cent had to be in favour of joining with P&N Bank.
It was a convincing 'yes'
A total of 12,658 bcu members voted, representing 28.9 per cent of eligible voting members, with 86.9 per cent voting in favour of the merger resolution.
"On behalf of the board I would like to thank our members and staff for their involvement in the merger process, and their participation and engagement. The strong member endorsement of the merger opportunity, demonstrated by the voting outcome, has been great to receive," bcu chair Steve Targett said.
P&N Bank will hold a General Meeting with its members tomorrow (October 23) to seek their support for the merger.
If it's a yes from the west, APRA - the financial regulator - will conduct a final review before the merger can take place, which is indicatively planned for November 1.