Ontario’s largest credit union, Meridian, began operations today after completing the union of the Hepcoe and Niagara credit unions.

The merger, finalized Friday, makes Meridian the third largest credit union in the country, with 43 branches, 180,000 members and $3.5 billion in assets. None of the 1,000 employees at Hepcoe and Niagara were laid off as a result of the merger.

The company has branches in the Niagara Region, the Greater Toronto Area and central Ontario including Barrie, Orangeville, Owen Sound, Penetanguishene and Kincardine.

“With the creation of Meridian, Ontario for the first time will have real access to the credit union experience on the scale to seriously compete in the financial services market,” said Sean Jackson, president and CEO of Meridian.

Last week, Alterna Savings opened its 24 Ontario branches. Alterna was formed by the merger of Metro Credit Union and CS CO-OP.

Ontario has 209 credit unions with a total of about 1.5 million members and more than $19 billion in assets.