Although they are less frequent than credit union to bankcharter changes, from time to time some banks have made the move tobecome credit unions, according to the NCUA.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is in the process of launchinga new credit union that will take the consumer business ofThrivent Financial Bank, while the bank will remain in existence asa vehicle for offering trust and investment services.

The latest bank to have become a CU prior to Thrivent FinancialBank is the now 301,000-member, $4.1 billion ESL Federal CreditUnion in Rochester, N.Y.

ESL started life as a federally chartered Eastman Savings andLoan Association in 1920. George Eastman, founder of EastmanKodak, founded the bank to serve Kodak company employees,particularly in obtaining mortgages, according to the creditunion's website.

In 1996 the bank, which had always operated like a credit union,went ahead and changedcharters, in part to expand its appeal to the community beyondKodak employees.

After at least one major CU merger in 2002, the CU took on the employees ofthe Wegman's supermarket chain as well and the CU now has 19branches and 40 ATMs in the Rochester area.

Thrivent Financial Bank itself was created from theconsolidation of three credit unions, one trust bank and onecommunity bank in 2001.

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 InsuranceCommissioner.