- Key insight: Landmark Credit Union’s deal for American National Bank-Fox Cities comes after credit unions announced more than three dozen acquisitions of community banks in 2024 and 2025
- Forward look: Landmark believes the deal will boost the Small Business Administration lending capacity necessary to fill out its commercial product set.
- Expert quote: “If we are here to serve and enhance the communities we operate in, SBA lending is a very important piece.” Landmark CEO Timothy Mackay
Landmark Credit Union, which is based in the Milwaukee area, has struck a deal to acquire American National Bank-Fox Cities, a move that would bolster its Small Business Administration lending capabilities and deepen its footprint in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Processing Content
Appleton “has been part of our membership for a long time, but we’ve not had a physical location,” Landmark CEO Timothy Mackay told American Banker on Wednesday. “Certainly part of our long-term strategy was to figure out the right way for us to expand in that market.”
So when the $7.5 billion-asset Landmark learned that American National was considering selling, “that really struck our interest,” Mackay added.
“Certainly, their small business focus is very much aligned with ours, so the synergies seemed to make sense,” Mackay said. “We offered them scale and stability and resources, while we could continue to preserve their community bank culture. The discussions progressed and got to this point.”
Deal terms were not disclosed.
Appleton, where the $419 million-asset American National is headquartered, is the largest city in the Fox Cities metropolitan area in East-Central Wisconsin. The bank operates a loan production office in Green Bay, along with the Appleton location.
“We are pleased to find a partner in Landmark Credit Union that shares similar values for putting people first and building strong communities,” American National CEO Paul Northway said in a press release. “We are confident this will be a transformational partnership.”
The deal for American National — expected to close in the second half of 2026 — would deepen Landmark’s existing capabilities in investor and owner-occupied commercial real estate, as well as construction and commercial-and-industrial lending, Mackay said.
It also adds significant new capacity in SBA lending, another one of Landmark’s strategic objectives.
“If we are here to serve and enhance the communities we operate in, SBA lending is a very important piece, ” Mackay said.
The Landmark-American National transaction marks the second whole bank acquisition by a credit union announced in 2026. It follows the Alabama One Credit Union’s planned purchase of $476.6 million-asset Peoples Independent Bank in Boaz, Alabama, which was announced in February. Credit unions acquired 16 banks in 2025 and
While those numbers represent a small fraction of the larger consolidation trend impacting both the bank and credit union industries, they’ve infuriated banking advocates, who object to the idea of tax-exempt credit unions buying community banks.
The Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group that is critical of credit union-bank combinations, released a marketing campaign Tuesday aimed at highlighting what it described as the “harmful impact” such transactions have on local communities.
“ICBA is pulling back the curtain to reveal how growth-obsessed credit unions are contributing to industry consolidation, reducing consumer choice, and weakening the very local economies they claim to support,” Rebecca Romero Rainey, the group’s president and CEO, said in a press release.
The campaign marks a major investment by the ICBA, which envisions an extended run, according to ICBA Chief Marketing Officer Rob Birgfeld.
Birgfeld said the ICBA believes its advocacy questioning credit unions’ income-tax exemption and especially the bank acquisition trend has begun to turn heads.
“Strategically, we’ve seen momentum in the media and with policymakers on this issue because of our persistence and our voice,” he told American Banker.
The new campaign, which will show up in digital advertising, on television and in social media, is meant to “press down on that momentum,” Birgfeld said.
“It’s going to be with or without a press release or a statement,” Birgfeld added. “It’s going to be a constant drumbeat.”
Credit-union advocates argue that bank acquisitions are voluntary transactions and that credit-union buyers are often
Mackay joined Brookfield, Wisconsin-based Landmark in October from the $19 billion-asset First Merchants Corp. in Muncie, Indiana, where he served as president of mortgage banking and bank operations. Prior to that, Mackay served as president of the Farmington Hills, Michigan-based Level One Bancorp.
First Merchants acquired the $2.5 billion-asset Level One in April 2022.
Mackay, however, grew up around credit unions. His father, Robert Mackay, was the longtime CEO of the Berrien Teachers Credit Union in St. Joseph, Michigan.
“I had plenty of exposure and plenty of discussions with him over the years,” Mackay said. “It resonated with me when he would talk about the credit union movement and the great work they did in the community.”
“When the Landmark opportunity presented itself … it just felt like a natural fit for me,” Mackay added.