Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, the fraternal benefits societythat has become the only non-profit listed on the Fortune 500,plans to create a new credit union to handle the traditionalbanking part of its broad financial services business.

The plans are detailed in an article on a password-protectedpart of the Appleton, Wis., organization's corporate portal.

Thrivent Financial, formed in 2002 by the merger of the AidAssociation for Lutherans and the Lutheran Brotherhood, has nearly3 million members and says it's the largest fraternal benefitssociety in the country, with 1,400 chapters nationwide.

Thrivent Financial Bank has assets of about $550 million andprovides checking and savings accounts, CDs, mortgage lending,consumer loans and online banking.

Those services will be offered by the new credit union, while achanged bank charter will keep Thrivent Financial Bank as a whollyowned subsidiary of Thrivent Financial “and we will use it to offerour members the trust and investment services the bank currentlyoffers,” the website article says.

Current bank depositors will be grandfathered into the creditunion and NCUSIF coverage will replace FDIC insurance, the websitearticle says.

The boards of Thrivent Financial and Thrivent Financial Bank areexpected to approve the plan by the end of the year and the bankshould begin operating as a credit union by the middle of nextyear, the organization said in the article on its website.

A Thrivent spokesman on Friday said the organization expects toseek a federal charter for its new credit union but that finalapprovals are still pending from its board, as well as the NCUA,OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC and Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner. Hedeclined further comment pending those actions.

The conversion “is designed to bring the benefits of anot-for-profit credit union, including member ownership andgovernance, and more competitive products and services, to Thriventmembers,” the article said.

Costly new regulatory demands on insurance companies that ownand operate banks also were cited.

“In today's environment, a member-owned and member-governedcredit union is a natural fit for Thrivent,” Jim Thomsen,Thrivent's senior vice president of member services, says in thearticle.

In a reply to a comment below the posted article, Todd Sipe,president/CEO of Thrivent Financial Bank, said three credit unions,one trust bank and one community bank were consolidated in 2001 tocreate the current bank.

“At the time, a thrift bank charter gave us the most flexiblemodel to serve members,” Sipe said in the comment. “Today, drivenmostly by the Dodd-Frank legislation, there are new costs,restrictions and the introduction to the Federal Reserve as aregulator, which has caused us to rethink our model.

“After considering all options, the decision to move to a creditunion makes the most sense.”