MARCY, N.Y. — If the roughly 3,800 members of the $24 million Marcy Federal Credit Union approve their credit union's conversion to a mutual bank, the credit union appears headed for an immediate merger. According to records with the Office of Thrift Supervision, Beacon Federal Savings Bank, a former credit union that changed its charter to a mutual bank in 1999, has applied to merge with the mutual thrift that Marcy FCU would become. If this happens, it would make Marcy the fourth, and largest, credit union to have merged with Beacon since it became a bank.

The NCUA has yet to approve or disapprove Marcy's disclosure documents linked to the proposed charter change and Marcy has declined comment until the disclosures are approved. The OTS has set Oct. 22 as the date by which it plans to make a decision on the merger application.

The phenomenon of credit unions converting to mutual banks in order to merge with other banks, often former CUs themselves, is not common, nor is it unknown. According to CU Financial Services, the consulting firm that specializes in helping credit unions convert to mutual banks, six of the 29 CUs that have changed their charters to mutual banks have done so to facilitate a merger with another mutual.