BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – There is still no word from NCUA on the status of an application it received March 1 from the 12 credit unions that serve State Farm Insurance on its intention to merge into one. Combined, the credit unions, which are located in 20 states, have assets of nearly $3 billion and serve 136,000 members. If approved, the new credit union, which would be called State Farm Federal Credit Union, would be among the largest credit unions in the nation. "We're really in a holding pattern right now," said Tom DeWitt, president/CEO, State Farm-Great Lakes FCU. "We weren't really anticipating hearing anything until at least the end of the month." DeWitt said if the regulator were to green light the application, the next step would be to allow members to vote to approve the merger. The decision to merge was to allow for enhanced operating efficiency and improve the CUs' ability to serve members in line with the structure of State Farm Insurance's 12 zones or regions in the United States and one in Canada, DeWitt said. Over the years, State Farm FCUs had to merge to keep pace with any zone restructures coming from the $50 billion insurance provider. DeWitt said if approved, this latest merger would eliminate the need for the credit unions to reconfigure.