US Eagle acquisition of Southwest Capital falls through

ALBUQUERQUE — U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union is no longer set to acquire Southwest Capital Bank after a planned deal fell through, the bank announced Thursday.

Southwest Capital CEO Chez Steel raised concerns about U.S. Eagle’s finances to the Journal, indicating the credit union’s recent losses were partially responsible for the merger falling apart.

“Southwest Capital Bank is very profitable. (U.S. Eagle is) not. They’re having trouble,” Steel said. “Those are the key components.”

U.S. Eagle, which has 11 branch locations in Albuquerque, Farmington, Bernalillo and Santa Fe and a 12th planned for The Village development in Rio Rancho, would have absorbed Southwest Capital Bank’s six locations in northern New Mexico.

The merger, announced in August, was expected to have already closed earlier this year.

Officials from both companies declined to provide the cost of the proposed deal.

U.S. Eagle reported a loss of $2.35 million for its 2025 first quarter, which a spokesperson for the credit union characterized as “post-pandemic financial impact,” adding that U.S. Eagle’s “core business remains strong and continues to be classified as ‘well-capitalized’ for fiscal soundness” by the National Credit Union Administration.

As of March, U.S. Eagle had $1.5 billion in assets, according to the NCUA. Southwest Capital is operating on a smaller scale with almost $500 million in assets as of March, according to the bank’s most recent report to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That’s up from $433 million in assets reported last year.

The dissolved deal closes the door for U.S. Eagle to take advantage of Southwest Capital’s cannabis lending and banking operations, an industry that has seen fast-growing movement in New Mexico due to the 2021 legalization of recreational marijuana.

“In keeping with our values … we will not be moving forward,” Steel said in a statement.