TOPEKA, Kan. — The new application forms for branches and mergers are ready for the official start of the state's new field of membership law on Tuesday and so far compliance procedures "seem to be working OK," according to Kansas' top credit union regulator.
"We've been meeting with representatives of the nine credit unions most directly impacted and which are in the process of reconfiguring their fields of membership," explained John Smith, administrator of the Kansas Department of Credit Unions.
The complicated new law, described as "compromise" legislation and drafted following heavy lobbying by banks to curtail extended statewide branching, has several implementation markers leading up to the actual Jan. 1, 2009 enforcement.
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Meanwhile, those CUs most directly affected have been working with lawyers to draft new branch strategy and "configuration" for regulatory approval and that has included the state's largest, the $555 million Boeing Wichita CU, which is contemplating cutting in half its 46-county FOM reach.
"This law is really a tragedy for Kansas consumers," lamented Wade Bruendl, chief operating officer and interim CEO of Boeing Wichita, in commenting on the CU's compliance plans leading up to Jan. 1. The CU's existing branch network, mostly in metropolitan Wichita is grandfathered but future membership growth under its wider FOM charter across the state is restricted, said Bruendl, who has been acting CEO following the May 15 departure of Gary Regoli, who joined a Florida CU.
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