Texas OKs Conversion

The Texas CU Department said last week it has issued an order approving the application from Community CU to convert to a mutual savings bank, finding that the balloting and vote for the $1.4-billion credit union were proper. "It's not just the balloting process; we've approved their application," Kerri Galvin, general counsel for the CU Department, told The Credit Union Journal. The state regulator's action, coming a week after the federal Office of Thrift Supervision approved the credit union giant's thrift application and the voting process, sets up a showdown with NCUA, which has indicated it won't certify the controversial vote because the ballots included a technical violation of the agency's conversion regulations. NCUA said Wednesday its Texas-based Region Five Director has received Community CU's certification documents, including a 17-page letter and attachments, and has until this week to render its decision on the largest credit union ever to seek a bank charter.