Wings Financial FCU Kicks the Tires at FAA First FCU

LOS ANGELES – Wings Financial FCU said yesterday it has also considered a merger with FAA First FCU, as well as Continental FCU, the airline industry credit union that has rebuffed its overtures for the past three weeks. The $1.6 billion Minnesota credit union has even reserved an Internet domain for a website called FAAFirstWings.com, in preparation for a possible solicitation of the smaller, $290 million credit union. “We’ve explored a lot of different options. FAA First is a well-run shop,” John Wagner, spokesman for Wings Financial, told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. But, he insisted, Wings is currently focused on its efforts to acquire the $180 million Continental FCU, and not on any other candidate, for now. NCUA regulations limit the merger possibilities for Wings Financial, which operates a TIP charter serving the air transportation industry, to only those credit unions with similar fields of membership, including Continental FCU and FAA First FCU. Separately, NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson is expected to underscore the agency’s position on the Wings-Continental battle today, insisting that a hostile takeover–as some have labeled the Wings bid–is already barred under NCUA rules, which require that the boards of both credit unions approve a merger before NCUA will consider it. “(the merger section of) NCUA’s regulations sets forth very specific rules governing credit union mergers and was designed to ensure the full consent and cooperation of both institutions when such a transaction would occur,” Johnson will tell attendees to the Massachusetts CU League’s Governmental Affairs Day Conference in Boston, according to an advance copy of her remarks. In addition, just as it does in conversions to mutual savings banks, NCUA is responsible to ensure the accuracy of all advertising and representations being made about a merger.