Credit union leaders have not said much about the news thatThrivent Financial for Lutherans is narrowing the business focus ofits subsidiary Thrivent Financial Bank and launching a credit union to take the bank's retailbusiness.

Thrivent Financial Bank is a $550 million operationheadquartered in Appleton, Wis., and part of a larger organizationthat is the only non-profit on the Fortune 500.

NAFCU CEO Fred Becker said it was “[a]lways great to have a new creditunion, especially one that recognizes the value of the credit unionmodel over other alternatives.”

CUNA CEO Bill Cheney said his trade group also welcomed the move. “Wewelcome their steps in offering credit union services to theirmembers, and invite other banks with an interest in providing theircustomers a better value to consider such a move as well,” Cheneysaid.

The Wisconsin Credit Union League has not yet commented on thedevelopment.

Alan Theriault, president of CU Financial Services, a consultingfirm which helps credit unions change to bank charters, put themove in the context of a broader trend he had noticed amonginsurance companies and banking.

Many insurance companies had started banks and then been forcedto back off after they found that the business model had not beenas easy to adapt as they imagined, Theriault explained. Inaddition, the margins on the banking business were not as favorableas they had been, he added.

He also observed that the insurer had not mentioned how itplanned to capitalize the CU. “When they dissolved those CUs in2001, the capital went back to the members, so I would be curiousabout how the plan to capitalize it now,” he said.

Thrivent Financial Bank, on its website, said three creditunions, one trust bank and one community bank were consolidated in2001 to create the current bank.