Champion Credit Union announced that Ecusta Credit Union, which has served Transylvania and Henderson counties since 1976, will formally merge into Champion Credit Union later this year, in a move a press release noted is aimed at enhancing financial services and member experience.

A merger between Macon County-based Entegra Bank and First-Citizens Bank is moving forward, but under the condition that Entegra will sell off three of its branches in Western North Carolina.

After announcing in January that Franklin-based Entegra Bank would be bought out by SmartFinancial Inc. out of Knoxville, the deal is being called off and Entegra now has plans to merge with Raleigh-based First Citizens Bank instead. 

With the one-year anniversary of Jackson County’s decision to consolidate its health and social services departments looming, commissioners are now talking about returning to the way things were before 2018. 

Entegra Bank, which has locations throughout Western North Carolina, will soon merge with SmartFinancial, Inc., the parent company of SmartBank based in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

LifePoint Health and RCCH HealthCare Partners have completed their merger and will now begin operating as one united company under the LifePoint Health name. 

After nearly a year of public hearings, votes and contentious meetings, Jackson County’s health and social services departments are back where they started — sort of. 

LifePoint Health, the parent company of three regional hospitals in Western North Carolina, recently announced its plans to merge with RCCH Healthcare Partners.

Mission Health, the largest health care provider in Western North Carolina, could soon become a for-profit health care system if plans to be acquired by Nashville-based HCA Healthcare come to fruition. 

A 14-month process to overhaul Jackson County’s splintered planning ordinances is now underway following the county commissioners’ unanimous approval of a $66,000 contract for Raleigh-based Stewart, Inc. to lead the project.