The NCUA also approved the fourth quarter's second biggest merger of the $944 million Xceed Financial Credit Union in El Segundo, Calif., with the $5.2 billion Kinecta Federal Credit Union in Manhattan Beach, Calif.

Xceed Financial members are scheduled to finalize the vote on whether to approve the merger proposal on Feb. 26.

The third largest consolidation in the fourth quarter was the $258 million Columbus Metro Credit Union in Columbus, Ohio with the $946 million Telhio Credit Union, also based in Columbus, which will create the Buckeye State's sixth largest financial cooperative with $1.2 billion in assets and a combined membership of 74,468.

Last month, Columbus Metro members approved the merger, which is scheduled to be finalized on Feb. 28.

Additional consolidations approved by the independent federal agency included the $222 million Premier Credit Union in Greensboro, N.C., into the $739 million Charlotte Metro Credit Union; the $128 million Lower Valley Credit Union in Sunnyside, Wash., with the $1.4 billion Self-Help Federal Credit Union in Durham, N.C.; the $81.2 million Cascade Central Credit Union in Hood River, Ore., with the $291 million Consolidated Federal Credit Union in Portland, Ore.; and the $50 million Kel-Co Federal Credit Union in Cumberland, Md., with the $352 million Chessie Federal Credit Union, also based in Cumberland.

Three credit unions that secured the NCUA's approval to merge because of their poor financial condition included the $20.7 million First Credit union of Scranton in Scranton, Pa., with the $206 million Penn East Federal Credit Union, also based in Scranton; the $5.3 million WJC Federal Credit Union in Damascus, Va., with the $3.3 billion Truliant Federal Credit union in Winston Salem, N.C., and the $250,900 Canaan Credit Union in Urbana, Ill., into the $431 million University of Illinois Community Credit Union in Champaign, Ill.

Because of a "lack of sponsor support," the $2.6 million MAWC Credit Union in St. Louis, Mo., was approved to merge with the $367 million Alliance Credit Union in Fenton, Mo.

An additional 24 credit unions that received green light to consolidate for "expanded services" were all under $50 million in assets, according to the Merger Activity and Insurance Report.

Conversion to or merger with an NFICU was listed as a reason for the consolidations of two credit unions, which included the $40.8 million Diversified Credit Union in Minneapolis with the $1.5 billion Spire Credit Union in Falcon Heights, Minn., and the $6.4 million Akron Municipal Employees Credit Union in Coventry Township, Ohio into the $155 million Towpath Credit union in Fairlawn, Ohio.

The NCUA Merger Activity and Insurance Report listed Firefly's consolidation with TruStone Financial as a "corporate restructuring."