"Credit Unions Continue to Push for Expansion," recentlyappeared on the Oklahoma Bankers Association Web site(www.oba.com). It was written by the group's President/CEO RogerBeverage and is reprinted below in its entirety with permissionfrom the OBA.

The credit union industry is determined to "do something" in the110th Congress to expand their ability to serve virtually anyone,anywhere, and to further expand their ability to offer commerciallending services to their customers. Every time they do so, they doso at bankers' expense.

We're told that a "deal" is being discussed in Washingtonwhereby credit unions will be able to expand into "underservedareas", but that the term will also be more narrowly defined. Inexchange for banker agreement on that expansion, bankers willreceive some red tape relief, most notably in the area of filingSuspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for certain customers with whomthe bank has an established relationship.