Four more credit unions are kicking tyres on the merits of folding their businesses in as franchises of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.The bank, in its half-year results, said the four had signed confidentiality agreements. Bendigo named none of the four, but at least a couple are small fry with assets in the low tens of millions.Bendigo and Adelaide Bank launched its Alliance Bank partnership model in 2014, with four partners: AWA Credit Union, now AWA Alliance Bank; Berrima District Credit Union, now BDCU Alliance Bank; Circle Credit Cooperative, now Circle Alliance Bank; and Service One Credit Union, now Service ONE Alliance Bank.Joining the Alliance partnership means, in effect, that a mutual becomes a franchise, shifting its assets and liabilities to the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank balance sheet while remaining a mutual owned by its members.MCU Limited, formerly Maleny Credit Union, may become the fifth mutual ADI to operate under the Alliance Bank umbrella by the middle of the year.Members of MCU have already supported changes to its constitution to foster any proposal, though a meeting to vote on a transfer of business is not likely until April.Bendigo put growth among the four Alliance members to date at 25 per cent on the lending side and 13 per cent on the deposit side since March 2015.