DULUTH, Ga. – At a special meeting August 6, the board of Georgia Central CU voted to authorize the signing of a merger agreement between Georgia Central and Southwest Corporate. The board of Southwest Corporate did the same on August 1. Now the deal awaits regulatory approval and approval from the member credit unions. The deal will create a $7 billion corporate, the second largest corporate next to the $16.4 billion WesCorp. "We hope to receive approval from the NCUA this fall. Immediately following we will begin communicating these specifics to Georgia credit unions," said David Preter, president/CEO of Georgia Central. The communication process will include a written description of benefits prepared for each credit union and town hall meetings around the state. "We want members to be well-prepared to make a decision when the time comes to vote," said Georgia Central's Chairman, Rick Foley, CFO, Delta Employees Credit Union. "We're doing everything we can to make this consolidation transparent from an operational perspective," said Foley. Preter will be leaving Georgia Central CU to assume the president/CEO position for the $3.7 billion Mid-States Corporate FCU on August 20. [email protected]