That tri-fold plan now nearly seven months old hatched by theIowa Credit Union League, its processing affiliate and the $84million Iowa Corporate Central of Des Moines to dissolve thecorporate and fold its processing business into an entity run bythe National Cooperative Bank of Washington remains on hold.

In a statement issued Thursday, the Iowa trade group said theleague, its subsidiary Affiliates Management Co., and NCB “remaincommitted to implementing a solution” sometime “in the thirdquarter.”

The “solution,” as it is called, would “provide consistentproduct offerings, local delivery of services and competitivepricing” to Iowa CUs that have been members of Iowa Corp.,considered the nation’s smallest corporate.

Last September the Iowa League and the Des Moines corporateannounced a “preliminary agreement” for the eventual “unwinding” ofthe corporate and service consolidation with NCB. The original–andapparently optimistic–timetable, amended several times since then,was for the NCB package to be wrapped up by year-end 2010. Morerecently, an April 1 target was put forward in memoranda sent toIowa Corporate members, sources said.

While operational details on products and pricing–not spelledout–are being finalized, the Iowa League said Iowa Corporatecontinues to function routinely with Sara Flynn as itspresident/CEO.

“Iowa Corporate continues to operate as an independentstate-chartered corporate credit union providing correspondentfinancial services to its member owners,” said the league. “Therehas been no material change in Iowa Corporate's membership andthe fluctuations in total assets are within the range experiencedduring the normal course of business.” At the time of thepreliminary NCB deal, Iowa Corporate’s assets topped $100 million.

It was also learned this week that credit union lawyers for someof the NCUA-conserved bridge corporates, particularly WesternBridge Corp. and Members United Bridge Corp. had considered usingthe “empty shell or gutting” of Iowa Corporate as a transitionvehicle for a new merged corporate. That was until NCUA put adamper on merger plans being advanced by West Coast groups involvedin the negotiations.

“Frankly, I am a little surprised to learn that the Iowatransaction with NCB is still being worked on since I thought itwas a done deal,” said one industry source close to ongoing NCUAtalks on corporate mergers.