Bank Buys, CUSO Acquisitions, and Mergers of Equals: The 2026 Acquisition Landscape with Mike Bell & Justin Gingerich

www.marktreichel.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-treichel/Credit union acquisition activity in 2026 tells a story the headline numbers hide. Only four or five bank purchases have been announced so far this year — but according to Michael Bell of Honigman LLP, that is not a slowdown. It is a market in which banks are bidding more aggressively than ever, and credit unions are losing more bids than they win. Bell argues that outcome is actually evidence against the banking-lobby claim that credit unions overpay and compete unfairly: if credit unions were routinely overpaying, they would not be finishing in second place on roughly ten strong bids in the last few months.Mark Treichel talks with Bell and his Honigman partner Justin Gingerich about the full range of credit union non-organic growth: whole-bank purchases, bank branch deals, and — newer — the acquisition of mature CUSOs by large credit unions bringing services in-house. They dig into state-level friction, including Washington State’s tax law that Bell says has raised zero revenue while shutting down credit union bidding there and depressing bank valuations, and the parallel dynamic in Tennessee.The conversation turns to the biggest shift of all: credit union to credit union mergers of equals (MOEs). For most of Bell’s 23-year career these barely happened. Now he is having new MOE conversations weekly, and once a letter of intent is signed, roughly eight of ten close. Gingerich walks through the Wings/Ent transaction — a merger creating an institution north of $10 billion that won NCUA approval in four to five months, a timeline he calls unheard of — and credits Honigman regulatory partner Brandy Bruyere for navigating a process he describes as “baking a cake when the recipe is only half written.”Treichel adds the regulator’s view: NCUA honors the democratic member-vote process when disclosures are sound, and with roughly 30% fewer staff after retirements, deal teams are effectively re-educating the agency as volume rises. The takeaway from both guests: strategic non-organic growth is now a mainstream lever for institutions building 2027 strategy — and sticking your head in the sand is not a strategy.