Queensland Country Credit Union, based in Townsville, and ECU Australia Ltd, based in Cairns, have agreed to a merger, likely to occur in early 2017.The combined entity will have around A$1.6 billion in assets and be the 14th largest of Australia's dwindling list of mutual ADIs. It will overtake QT Mutual Bank to be third largest mutual in Queensland behind CUA and Heritage Bank, by asset size.It will have 70,000 members. The merged entity will trade as Queensland Country Credit Union, with its head office in Townsville. Current Queensland Country chair, Bruno Cullen, will remain as chair."This is about creating an organisation with scale, size and focus," ECU said in a shared announcement yesterday.After only three mutual ADI mergers during the 2014/15 financial year, the current year has seen six with another eight in progress, which will cut the sector to around 80.