The Rhode Island Credit Union, which was founded in 1946 and operates from a commanding building overlooking the State House, plans to move its operations to Warwick next year.

Gina DePalo, the credit union’s senior vice president and chief retail and marketing officer, said in an interview Friday that an extensive search was conducted before selecting the vacant Jewelers Board of Trade building at 95 Jefferson Boulevard as the future home for operations. The building is slated to undergo significant exterior and interior renovations plus an addition, which DePalo anticipates will be completed by late 2024. On Nov. 14 the Zoning Board of Review approved dimensional variances for the development.

DePalo said the credit union picked the Warwick location because it is central to the state and easily accessible.  “It kind of checked every box for us,” she said.

The credit union that currently employs 78 and expects to add another two to eight jobs when the operational office opens in Warwick,  has branches in Cranston, Pascoag, Kingston, Bristol and Pawtucket. It will be keeping its Providence office as well.  The credit union has 28,000 members and assets of $400 million.

“We have a full range of products and services,” said DePalo. She said the credit union is a big auto loan lender.

Unlike many financial institutions, Rhode Island Credit Union has its own credit card, enabling it, as DePalo pointed out, to offer substantially reduced rates over other credit cards. She said rates range from 9.90 to 14.90 percent. Members of Rhode Island Credit Union must be Rhode Island residents or live within 50 miles of the border. However, DePalo explained that, should a member move, “once a member always a member.”

Like 50 financial institutions across the state, the Rhode Island Credit Union was shut down by the Rhode Island banking and credit union crisis of 1991, but quickly reopened. Rhode Island Credit Union is federally insured and is a member of the National Credit Union Association.

DePalo reminisced briefly of the crisis caused by the collapse of Heritage Loan and Investment due to embezzlement and the bank’s insurers, the Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corporation (RISDIC), which insured a number of Rhode Island financial institutions managing the funds of about a third of the state’s population.

Television coverage of the saga, which lasted months before depositors could access their funds, frequently focused on the State House and photos of the nearby Rhode Island Credit Union. The irony, as DePalo points out, is that Rhode Island Credit Union is federally insured and remained open.