WASHINGTON - Lusitania Federal Credit Union is making another bid for a thrift charter.
The National Credit Union Administration torpedoed Lusitania's last attempt, in March, because the proxy statement it had sent to its members didn't include a chart comparing current regulatory costs with those it would incur as a thrift.
The credit union has since added a chart, and in an April 19 letter, the agency's mid-Atlantic acting director, Robert Schafer, recommended the NCUA board approve the disclosure statement and mail ballot. Mr. Schafer had asked the board to oppose the statement the last time around.
Samuel J. Malizia, general partner of the law firm Malizia, Spidi, Sloan & Fisch, which is representing the credit union, said this latest effort should go to a board vote May 24.
Despite Mr. Schafer's nod, board approval is not a sure thing. The agency has taken a hard line against such conversions, claiming the transactions might be motivated solely by management and directors' desire for pecuniary gain.
May 1, the same day it rejected Lusitania's disclosure statement, the NCUA board approved tough conversion rules that would require a majority of a credit union's membership to vote in favor of converting.
Mr. Malizia said Lusitania is not bound by those strict guidelines because it applied before the rules were adopted.
"We'll be holding our breath until May 24," he said.
