The boards of the Kansas Credit Union Association and Missouri Credit Union Association said Monday they have signeda letter of intent to develop the framework for a proposedconsolidation of the organizations.

Don Cohenour, president/CEO of the Missouri association, said heand Marla Marsh, president/CEO of the Kansas association, have beentalking about a possible consolidation for about a year.

About three months ago, the associations formed a jointcollaboration task force to explore the possibility ofconsolidation. After meeting twice, the task force gave the greenlight to develop a business plan that will detail how the newassociation would operate and how it would be governed.

“These are preliminary discussions, and the task force has a lotof work to do as well as myself and Don Cohenour,” Marsh said.

The business plan is expected to be completed by June 2015.After reviewing that plan, the two boards will vote on whether topresent it to the credit unions in each state for discussion and avote on whether to approve or reject the proposedconsolidation.

“Part of the consolidation is certainly being driven by the factthat the number of credit unions is being reduced,” Cohenour said.“I think every state league is talking a look at what are theviable number credit unions they can serve and do it effectivelyand efficiently.”

In 1993, the Missouri association served 227 cooperatives. By2013, that number of credit unions dropped to 129, according toCUNA. In Kansas, there were 166 credit unions in 1993. By 2013,there were 96, according to CUNA.

“What Marla and I decided was to address this issue long beforewe had to and be able to do it on our own terms so that we couldcontinue to maintain our presence in our respective states,”Cohenour said.

Although Marsh agreed the credit union merger trend is acontributing factor for the proposed consolidation of theassociations, it is not the driving factor.

“We want to drive a good value proposition,” she said. “We wantto make sure that our credit unions continue to receive the type ofservice and value that they have become accustomed to over the lastfew years and throughout the history of the association. That isour driving force behind this.”

This represents the second league consolidation this year.

In October the MassachusettsCredit Union League, the New Hampshire Credit Union League andCredit Union Association of Rhode Island agreed to consolidate toform the Cooperative Credit Union Association.

Last year, the Texas Credit Union League, the Arkansas CreditUnion League and the Credit Union Association of Oklahomaconsolidated under the Cornerstone Credit Union League, and theNorth Carolina Credit Union League and the South Carolina CreditUnion League merged under the CarolinaCredit Union League.

Since 2007, there have been eight league consolidations.