Regulators seize Certified Federal Credit Union

Certified Federal Credit Union in the City of Commerce was seized by federal regulators Saturday because of losses suffered during the real estate and housing downturns, according to the National Credit Union Administration.

Vons Employees Federal Credit Union, based in El Monte, immediately assumed the deposits and loans of Certified and took over its operations, said John J. McKechnie III, a spokesman for the national agency.

Certified, which had only one office, served 8,500 members. The location opened Monday as usual. The member accounts were federally insured for up to $250,000 by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.

The Vons credit union isn’t changing Certified’s name or planning layoffs of its employees, McKechnie said.

Certified was started in 1949 to serve grocery industry employees.

The Vons credit union, which mostly serves employees of the Vons supermarket chain, has more than 40,000 members, the agency said. Vons markets are a division of Safeway Inc., the nation’s third-largest supermarket outfit.

Certified is the 12th federally insured credit union in the nation to be closed this year, McKechnie said.

“We are pleased to be adding new members, from the same industry, who share a common heritage and history,” Steve Weakley, chief executive of the Vons credit union, said in a statement.

nathan.olivarezgiles@latimes.com