GECU wins approval to buy Bank of the Southwest, forming $4.9B credit union

What's the deal? El Paso's largest credit union, GECUDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, said Thursday that regulators approved its acquisition of Roswell-based Bank of the SouthwestDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The all-cash deal will fold the New Mexico bank into GECU on November 1, creating a $4.9 billion credit union with nearly half a million members.

The players: GECU, founded in 1932, has more than two dozen locations across Texas, mostly in El Paso. Bank of the Southwest, launched in 1992, runs nearly two dozen locations and ATMs in towns including Roswell, Hatch, Farmington, and Las Cruces.

The terms: GECU did not disclose the price. In the deal, first announced in November 2025, the credit union will assume all of Bank of the Southwest's liabilities.

Why now? Approvals from the National Credit Union Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department's Financial Institutions Division cleared the final hurdle. "This milestone reflects our shared commitment to serving our employees, members, customers and communities with integrity," GECU chief executive officer Alex Rascón said in a statement.

What changes? The two institutions are "expected to operate as independent divisions during the integration," GECU said, but the New Mexico banks will eventually take on GECU branding.

Crossing state lines: The purchase deepens GECU's push into New Mexico. The credit union opened its first location there, in Las Cruces, in March 2025, and Bank of the Southwest gives it a ready branch network across the state.

The signal: Credit unions buying banks remains a growing route to scale and new markets. For GECU, absorbing Bank of the Southwest turns a fledgling New Mexico presence into a multi-state footprint almost overnight.

Image credit: w_lemay