The board of directors of the Port Townsend based Quimper Community Federal Credit Union has signed a letter of intent to merge with much-larger Kitsap Credit Union.

“Through a partnership with Kitsap Credit Union, this merger will provide the economies of scale and resources to provide products and services that our members have been asking for but we could not provide as a small credit union,” said Quimper CEO Debbi Greenspane in a statement. “I am thrilled that through this venture our members will have increased access with 17 additional branch locations and 52 ATMs throughout the Peninsula area and availability of thousands of ATMs through the national Coop network.”

Charlie Arthur, Quimper’s board chairman, will join the nine-member Kitsap Credit Union board of directors after the merger.

A member of the current Quimper Supervisory Committee will join Kitsap’s four-member Supervisory Committee.

Auther said discussions with Kitsap Credit Union had been underway since February with the goal to “provide more services, more loans” and also deal more effectively with the challenges of the economy and “increasing pace and expense of new regulatory requirements.”

The merger would rebrand Quimper as branches of Kitsap Credit Union and give the credit union its first offices in Jefferson County.

The merger vote by the Quimper membership is expected to take place in late September or early October. No action is needed by the Kitsap Credit Union membership.

“The necessary steps between now and then are formalizing the merger agreement, gaining approval from the National Credit Union Administration and the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions and providing Quimper members more in-depth information about the merger,” said Leah Olson, Kitsap’s vice president of marketing.

Kitsap Credit Union, which has $901 million in assets, 326 employees, 17 offices and 85,000 members, was established in Bremerton in 1934, five years before Quimper, which has $47 million in assets and 18 employees.

Membership eligibility is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Washington state and their immediate family members. Kitsap Credit Union more than 30 years ago absorbed the assets of a small credit union in Bremerton at the request of federal regulators.

“One of our goals is to keep the close community ties that Quimper has established — one thing we’ve always tried to do is to stay local. We’ve always been involved with the local community,” said Elliot Gregg, Kitsap’s president and CEO.

Signing the letter of intent was the first step in the formal merger due diligence process, which will also include approval by QCFCU members and federal and state regulators.

A board vote is expected in September.