JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Climaxing years of bank/credit unionclashing, Gov. Matt Blunt has signed the Field of Membership Lawwhich takes effect Aug. 28 and will require state CUs to follow newguidelines on geographic expansion.

“I think there are at least 10 who are not grandfathered andwill now have to resubmit their applications and there are another10 that have held up their applications not wanting to get sued,”said Betty Clark, chairman of the Missouri Credit Union Associationwhich struck a deal with the banking lobby to get the bill enactedand halt endless bank FOM litigation.

The governor's signature on July 13, “brings finality to thelong arduous process we have endured over the past year,” said anMCUA statement.

Under the new law, the 3,000 potential member limit ongeographic expansion is removed and the law also eliminates theword “community” to describe FOM in the CU statute. Uncleardefinitions led to a string of suits brought by the MissouriBankers Association to block FOM growth.

Under the law, a CU is now “allowed to expand its field ofmembership to counties contiguous to its main branch,” said RosieHolub, president/CEO of MCUA.

Clark, who also is president/CEO of United Credit Union ofMexico, Mo. said she was “guardedly optimistic” that the new lawwill work to bar bank attacks. “But we've been through thisbefore,” she said.