The $349 million CBC Federal Credit Union of Oxnard, Calif. announced this week it is merging the struggling $11 million Civic Arts Plaza CU of nearby Thousand Oaks and expects to effect the transaction by Dec. 1.

Iowa credit unions cautiously congratulated themselves Thursday for handling the corporate dilemma by linking up with the National Cooperative Bank.

The NCUA-conserved Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union, seeking industry input on its next direction, has now whittled down its volunteer "advisory council" from 140 CU executives to a 13-member executive committee.

Two of Houston's mid-size credit unions, First Service and Right Choice, are planning a merger set for completion by yearend creating a $304 million CU with 14 branches and 51,000 members, it was announced Wednesday.

The industry wrangling over how to deal with the fallout from corporate restructuring and options on provider servicing continued last week, with at least one fresh discussion of merger negotiations.

One of the nation's smallest corporates, the $100 million Iowa Corporate Central CU of Des Moines, is about to end its operations possibly by yearend with correspondent services shifted to the National Cooperative Bank of Washington.

Nader Moghaddam, president/CEO of the $710 million Financial Partners Credit Union has a message about all that California gloom and doom: Credit Unions are overcoming the challenges and have become creative managers.

The quandary of just how credit unions grapple with the new corporate structure and ensure service access from providers occupied the highest levels of industry leadership this week.