A flurry of job offers, in fintech land or far away, must await Rob Goudswaard, chief executive of Credit Union Australia, who pulled a bit of a surprise yesterday, outlining plans to leave by February 2020.A number of rationales compete to explain the choices of Goudswaard and the CUA board, custodians of the largest mutual ADI in the country, one with more than A$13 billion in loans under management and retail deposits "which now exceed $10 billion".In order of sourcing quality, there are at least three.First, from the media release: "Goudswaard will step down from the role after electing not to extend his five-year contract."Nigel Ampherlaw, chair of the board of CUA, said that Goudswaard would "continue as CEO while an extensive search is undertaken over the coming months for either an internal or external successor for the role".Ampherlaw said "further details about the transition to a new CEO, including the timeframe for Rob's departure and the appointment of his successor, were yet to be finalised and would be communicated in the coming months."He added: "the Board appreciates that after nearly five years in Brisbane, and close to a decade living in multiple cities, Rob is looking to pursue new opportunities that will allow him to spend more time closer to his home base of Melbourne."Second, a theory pushed by Goudswaard's CEO peers revives long running speculation that the boards of People's Choice Credit Union in South Australia and Credit Union Australia in Brisbane are, or soon plan to be, in deep talks over an amalgamation, creating an ADI with $23 billion in assets and 900,000 members.This would place any newly formed mega-mutual ADI ahead of AMP Bank and Suncorp Bank in industry rankings, and match ME Bank for asset size. PCCU and CUA became close cousins in early 2008, setting up "procurement company" Mutual Marketplace, a joint venture since extended to manage the property portfolio of each credit union. If this thinking is on the money, then Steve Laidlaw, a Bendigo-trained banker and managing director of People's Choice Credit Union since January 2016, must be a warm prospect to be hired as CEO of this giant credit union. The last theory rests on a degree of conjecture. For a bit of fun, Banking Day last week made a couple of calls to see if there were any murmurs that one of the mutual bank CEOs on whom we so often report might be among any dark horse names drawing interest in the now three-month long search for a new CEO for National Australia Bank.We didn't get any bites, but if an outsider suits the NAB board and an edgy APRA, Goudswaard might get a heck of a job offer.A 30-year banking veteran when lured to CUA in late 2014, Goudswaard has worked in various senior executive positions at ANZ over his career, including overseas as ANZ's country head for the Solomon Islands, general manager, Oman for ANZ Grindlays Bank and senior marketing manager, Grindlays Bahrain