Vermont State Employees Credit Union and state regulators were told Wednesday to begin settlement talks over the $600 million Montpelier credit union's use of the words "bank" and "banking" in its marketing.

Meanwhile, the hearing officer, in a 30-minute session in a capitol conference room on Wednesday, set an Oct. 24 hearing date for the proposed cease-and-desist order urged by bankers and under consideration by the state's Department of Financial Resources. 

• UPDATE, Oct. 8, 2012, Vermont Credit Union, Regulator Settle 'B' Word Dispute
• READ Editor-in-Chief Sarah Snell Cooke's column on the proposed ban.
• READ NCUA Board Member Michael Fryzel's letter to the editor.

Hearing officer Robert Simpson ordered VSECU's attorney and DFR General Counsel Clifford Peterson to start working with the parties "to hold settlement discussions with a goal of narrowing or eliminating the issues that separate them," said DFR Commissioner Stephen Kimbell.

Kimbell's agency proposed the cease-and-desist order after hearing complaints from the Vermont Bankers Association. VSECU, the Association of Vermont Credit Unions and CUNA are opposing the proposed ban on use of what they say are commonly used terms for financial transactions.