(a) A federal association may file with the Savings and Loan Association Board [abolished] a joint petition for authority to convert from a federal association to a state-chartered association and contemporaneously to convert from a mutual association to a stock association.
(b) Pursuant to the provisions of § 23-37-703, the board may hold a hearing on the petition and issue its certificate of preliminary approval to a contemporaneous conversion from a federal association to a state-chartered stock association.