ARLINGTON, Va. — NAFCU said it is pleased that Wings Financial Federal Credit Union has withdrawn its merger proposal and thanked NCUA for the regulatory role it played.

“We want to thank the NCUA for listening to the concerns that we put forward and taking action. Upon further review we continue to hope that NCUA will work to examine this issue and ensure proper rules and procedures are in place,” said Fred Becker, NAFCU president/CEO.

Wings Financial announced today that it will withdraw its merger proposal towards Continental FCU. The $1.6 billion CU submitted a merger proposal on March 9 to Continental's board, which rejected it on March 20. Wings Financial continued on with “education campaign,” including its continentalwings.com Web site, and an online petition to get Continental's member to call for a special vote. Wings Financial said today that it had collected 50 petition signatures over the past few days but has never released the total amount of signatures collected.

“NAFCU undertook an intensive grassroots effort on this issue because of our concern over the long-term adverse impact such activities would have on the cooperative nature of our industry as well as its overall safety and soundness,” Becker said.

NCUA ruled earlier this week that the $200 payments Wings Financial would pay Continental's members should a merger ever occur were impermissible under provisions of the Federal Credit Union Act.