The Aid Association for Lutherans has received approval from the federal Office of Thrift Supervision to open a full-service, federally chartered savings bank, the company announced on April 13, 2001.

The new bank, AAL Bank and Trust, will open in June in Appleton, Wis., and will eventually serve customers within its membership and the general public. The bank's services will be available nationally via telephone and Internet.

Aid Association for Lutherans already owns a trust company, AAL Trust Co., which has $100 million in assets. It also sponsors two credit unions, AAL Member Credit Union, with 46,000 customers, and AAL Credit Union for 6,000 Aid Association employees. The board of directors for each credit union has suggested that the credit unions be dissolved, with member accounts transferred to the new bank.

"We were the first fraternal benefit society to start a national trust company," says Woody Eno, chairman of AAL Bank and Trust. "We are now one of the first to open a full-service federal savings bank." Eno expects AAL Bank and Trust to record $200 million in assets by the third quarter of 2001.

Based in Appleton, Wisc., Aid Association for Lutherans is a fraternal benefit society selling insurance to its 1.8 million members.