<p>JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Missouri judge has refused to grant the Missouri Bankers Association standing in a credit union field of membership expansion case. Judge Byron L. Kinder, a judge of the Cole County (Jefferson City) Circuit Court ruled Jan. 29 that the Missouri Bankers Association and the Century Bank of the Ozarks lack standing to appeal the decision of the state credit union division and the state credit union commission to grant a field of membership expansion to Telecom Credit Union (formerly Springfield Telephone Employees Credit Union). The credit union division had granted the Springfield credit union the FOM expansion in November 2000. The bankers appealed the expansion first to the state Credit Union Commission, which upheld the division's decision in May 2001, and then to the circuit court. Parties to the suit, including the Missouri Credit Union System, declined to comment until they could see the decision. Wade L. Nash, general counsel for the bankers' association, would say only that his group would decide whether or not to appeal the decision.</p>