Credit Union Times Magazine April-09, 2008
In Other News
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Donations
MidSouth Federal Credit Union, Macon, Ga., made a sponsorship donation to the Macon Georgia Film & Video Festival. The festival was created to celebrate film & video and give light to films that rarely appear in Macon, such as independent, experimental, and short length films.
News
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Southeast Corporate Federal Beefs Up Online Reporting System
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Since the first of the year, Southeast Corporate Federal Credit Union has signed up 46 credit unions to take advantage of its online reporting service. Now the $4.9 billion Southeast has enhanced the popular service.
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PSECU Elects 2008 Board
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- PSECU has recently announced the results of its 2008 board election.
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Coastal FCU, IBM Subsidiary Ink Mortgage Processing Deal
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- IBM Lender Business Process Services Inc. and Coastal Federal Credit Union have entered into a five-year contract whereby IBM will provide comprehensive private label mortgage loan fulfillment services.
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Minnesota CU Members Now Have More Shared Branch Options
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Credit Union Network has announced two more shared branch sites have become available to the members of participating shared branching credit unions.
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Gen Y Looms as Topic A at June Discovery Conference in Florida
MADISON, Wis. -- All the latest buzz on Generation Y--those born in the 1980s and early 1990s--to grow credit union membership will receive extraordinary treatment at CUNA Mutual Group's annual Discovery Conference June 18-21 in Hollywood, Fla., convention planners reported last week.
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Let the Postings Begin: Illinois League Opens Dialogue with CEO Dan Blog
NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Adapting to the new technology, the Illinois Credit Union League has started a Dialogue with Dan blog for its president/CEO Dan Plauda.
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Members Mortgage Names Barksdale
FORT WORTH, Texas -- CU Members Mortgage here, which provides mortgage services to more than 850 credit unions, CUSOs and leagues nationwide, announced that Alison Barksdale has been named its the new marketing director.
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Discover Launches Web Site to Cross Sell Auto, Home and Life Insurance
RIVER WOODS, Ill. -- Credit unions with members that hold Discover cards should be aware that the card issuer has launched a Web site to sell its cardholders insurance products.
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Demonstrators Rage at Bear Stearns
NEW YORK -- Nearly 200 demonstrators, protesting the government-led bailout of Bear Stearns, pushed past security guards and forced their way into the investment bank's high-rise headquarters in Midtown Manhattan.
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California CU Enlivens Card Analysis with Dynamic Reports from TMG
GLENDALE, Calif. -- Fast changing information on the fly has replaced static green-bar graphs on Excel at California Credit Union.
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Orange County Teachers FCU Finally Changes Name to SchoolsFirst FCU
SANTA ANA, Calif. -- The $7.5 billion Orange County Teachers FCU has a new name: SchoolsFirst FCU.
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brass|SHOW Podcasts for Young Adults Are Ready to Hit Credit Union Web Sites
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Brass is doing it again--unveiling a new way for credit unions to reach out to younger members with brass|SHOW.
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William Sterner, CEO of Elevations and League Chairman, Dies at 66
BOULDER, Colo. -- The industry here and in Washington was mourning the death last week of Elevations President/CEO William Sterner, a leading figure for years on both national and international levels.
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Treasury's Blueprint Would Create Mortgage Oversight Panel
WASHINGTON -- Among the recommendations made by the Treasury Department's Blueprint to overhaul financial services regulation, the key change with regard to mortgage products and services would be the creation of a new Mortgage Origination Commission.
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Alaska USA Trust Adds to Its Securities Lending Lineup, Acts as Conduit for Start-Up
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- After nearly 20 years of offering securities lending to custodial agent services for fixed income securities, Alaska USA Trust Co. has added conduit lending services to its lineup.
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BizKid Raphael Is Making a White House Stop to Receive Presidential Kudos
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- A BizKid is coming to the White House April 16, and the credit union promoters of the syndicated public TV show could not be more thrilled.
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Keri Bailey Named to Replace Fong
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- The California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues have named Keri Bailey their new director of state government affairs succeeding Ron Fong.
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PEFCU Trust Officer Gains Recognition
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Larry Hyser, trust liaison officer for Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union Trust and Financial Center, has been recognized as a President's Council performer by PEFCU and CUNA Mutual Group's CUNA Brokerage Services Inc.
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Central Florida CU Chat with Rep. Feeney During Beach Walk
LAKE MARY, Fla. -- Central Florida credit unions joined Representative Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) for a portion of his annual three-day walk on the Volusia County beaches.
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Arizona, Antigua Sign 26th International WOCCU Partnership
WASHINGTON -- The World Council of Credit Unions has played international matchmaker again, this time hooking up the Arizona Credit Union System with the Antigua & Barbuda Cooperative Credit Union League.
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Minnesota CU Network Hosts International Financial Group
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Seven international financial services professionals visited the Minnesota Credit Union Network on March 27 as part of the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program.
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Wings Financial Says Subprime Crisis Not Affecting Safety, Soundness
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. -- Members of Wings Financial Credit Union are being reassured that the financial institution is safe and secure in the midst of the subprime mortgage crisis and liquidity issues affecting markets worldwide
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Polish and Slavic Federal CU Celebrates New Branch Opening
BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- The $1 billion Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union appeared to take another step away from its recent past of board infighting and litigation when it opened a new branch in Garfield, N.J. The 32-year-old CU has 70,000 members and now has 11 branches.
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Silicon Labs Picks A+FCU
AUSTIN, Texas -- A+ Federal Credit Union has added Silicon Labs as a select employee group.
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NJCUL, Adopt-A-Soldier Platoon Partnership Supports Troops and Families
HIGHTSTOWN, N.J. -- With the New Jersey National Guard slated to have its largest deployment since World War II later this year, including some 3,000 soldiers deployed to Iraq, the New Jersey Credit Union League is showing its support by teaming up with Adopt-A-Soldier Platoon.
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Trust for Credit Unions Funds Up 35%
WASHINGTON -- The Trust for Credit Unions' mutual funds rose 35% in the first three months of the year to $2.047 billion in total balances as of March 31, according to Callahan Financial Services.
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Clearview FCU Expands Check Cashing Service to Nonmembers
PITTSBURGH -- Nonmembers will have more access to Clearview Federal Credit Union's check cashing service.
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Boulder Valley CU's Green Team Recycles Old Electronic Equipment
BOULDER, Colo. -- Boulder Valley Credit Union has taken another eco-friendly step toward reducing its environmental impact.
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Marketplace, HealthAmerica Merge
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Marketplace Federal Credit Union will be merged into HealthAmerica Credit Union, which has enabled HealthAmerica CU to reach the $100 million milestone.
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First Future and California Coast Announce Billion-Dollar Merger
SAN DIEGO -- Two big players in the San Diego market have announced their intent to merge: $944 million First Future Credit Union and $907 million California Coast Credit Union.
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As Signing Nears, Views Clash on Impact of Kansas FOM Bill
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Amid a growing industry debate about the efficacy of a restrictive field of membership bill about to become law, attorneys for Kansas credit unions last week were grappling with definitions and interpretations to handle future branch and member expansion.
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Massachusetts CU Sells Portfolio To TNB Card Services
DALLAS -- TNB Card Services announced the purchase of the ValleyStone Credit Union credit card portfolio.
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Charlotte Teller Wounded During State Employees' CU Robbery
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Marking a grim milestone while also expressing heartfelt concern for the teller victim, State Employees' Credit Union last week experienced what it said is the first injury resulting from an armed robbery at one of its branches.
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CUNA Council White Papers Take On Unconventional CU Approaches
MADISON, Wis. -- Two recent CUNA Council white papers delve into the impact of atypical approaches to designing a credit union branch and strategies for building a sales and service culture.
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Calif. Data Defense Bill Advances
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California's landmark data security legislation, AB 1779, moved one step closer to becoming law when the State Assembly Judiciary Committee approved the California Cre-dit Union League-sponsored legislation.
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TV to Boost Idaho Literacy Drive
BOISE, Idaho -- Idaho will likely make gains in financial literacy this month thanks to a joint effort by the Idaho Credit Union League, the University of Idaho Extension Service and the National Endowment for Financial Education, which includes a grant from the National Credit Union Foundation.
Front Page News
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Internet Gambling Law Spawns Debate As Frank Offers Sidebar Defending CUs
WASHINGTON -- Supporters of a federal law that would require financial institutions, including credit unions, to block transactions involving Internet gambling faced contentious questioning as regulators and financial institution representatives testified at a hearing designed to look into the law and its regulations.
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NCUA's AMAC Is Now a Reluctant Fla. Real Estate Management Co.
AUSTIN, Texas -- The NCUA's Asset Management Assistance Center was created in 1990 precisely to unload foreclosed assets the agency receives from conserved credit unions. It just never envisioned there'd be so much of it to unload.
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Investment and Insurance Regulatory Murkiness Sure Bet if Plan Advances
ROCKLIN, Calif. -- The backlash following the release of the controversial regulatory agency overhaul proposal from the Treasury Department last week came on several fronts within the credit union industry.
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Leagues Gang Up to Blast Treasury Plan, But Annaloro Spies Silver Lining
WASHINGTON -- Citing the severe damage to the industry and even its elimination, credit union leagues were quick last week to join in attacking the Treasury Department's consolidation plan as unworkable and anti-consumer. But one league CEO, John Annaloro of Washington State, found a silver lining.
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End of CU Charters? - Treasury's Regulatory Restructuring Proposal Draws Poor Marks From CUs
WASHINGTON -- Taking advantage of the current crises in the U.S. mortgage and credit markets, the U.S. Department of the Treasury last week unveiled the most sweeping package of changes to U.S. financial institution and market regulation in almost 80 years.
News Briefs
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Mshift Adds 12 CU Mobile Clients; Miami Firefighters Get Demo
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Mshift Inc. here, a provider of mobile banking solutions, announced that it has added another 21 credit unions to its list of mobile banking clients.
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USA Today Column Shines Spotlight on CUs
WASHINGTON -- Credit unions were the topic of personal finance writer Sandra Block's column in USA Today last week where she reminded consumers of the good savings rates and security that credit unions can offer.
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Member One FCU's First CEO Retires
ROANOKE, Va. -- After 36 years Member One Federal Credit Union CEO Dick Williams is retiring.
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NACUSO Debuts New Collaboration Logo
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- NACUSO has changed its long-time logo to send a strong message of its collaboration mission.
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Hampel: Fed Action on Bear Was Necessary
WASHINGTON -- On March 28, CUNA's Chief Economist Bill Hampel was interviewed on Bloomberg TV along with Jay Mueller of Wells, Fargo Bank on the ongoing mortgage crisis and credit crunch. They were asked about recent Federal Reserve and Treasury Department actions to bolster the credit markets by organizing a...
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Affinity FCU Members Use Refunds to Pay Debt
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. -- Paying down debt will be the top use for tax refunds for some members of Affinity Federal Credit Union, according to a recent survey.
Regulatory/Compliance
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CUNA Looks Forward to End of Reserves on Transaction Accounts
WASHINGTON -- In a recent comment letter on the latest round of amendments to the Federal Reserve's Regulation D, CUNA looked forward to a time when reserve requirements on transaction accounts would be zero.
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SBA Launches National Small Business Site for a Week of Celebration
WASHINGTON -- Marking the upcoming National Small Business Week, which takes place April 21-25, the Small Business Administration has launched a new Web site for the week-long celebration and released the lineup of keynote speakers.
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Johnson Uses Web Site to Deliver Information on Stimulus Payments
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson has announced that information related to the government's economic stimulus payments has been made available on the MyMoney.gov Web site.
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Fed Approves JPMorgan Chase, Bear Stearns Acquisition
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve Board on April 1 announced its approval of the proposal by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to acquire Bear Stearns Bank & Trust.
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Ideas Sought for Development of SBA Online Lender Portal
WASHINGTON -- In an effort to connect small business loan applicants and commercial lenders, the Small Business Administration is seeking ideas for the development of an online lending portal.
Special Report
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OSI, uMonitor Partner for Joint Offerings
GLASTONBURY, Conn. -- Open Solutions Inc. is integrating the account opening and funding solutions from uMonitor into the Connecticut-based company's core processing systems.
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New Nevada CUSO Allies with iPay Technologies for Bill Pay
ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. -- A new CUSO in Nevada has allied with iPay Technologies to offer integrated bill pay solutions with the organization's online banking service.
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Fraudsters Focus on Credit Unions, Banks Evenly in February
BEDFORD, Mass. -- Credit unions, regional banks and nationwide banks were equally attractive to phishers in February, according to RSA Security. The operator of the Anti-Fraud Command Center said that this is the first time that the attacks have been so evenly distributed. RSA Security also said that the number...
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Touch Here and You're All Clear; Honda FCU Goes Biometric
TORRANCE, Calif. -- A bit of social engineering assessment by a visiting auditor was all it took to convince management at Honda Federal Credit Union to take up fingerprint authentication.
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VeriSign Reaches Century Mark
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- More than 100 credit unions are now using VeriSign Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer Certificates to help thwart phishing, according to VeriSign Inc.
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Pew Survey Finds Americans Increasingly Going Mobile
WASHINGTON -- Credit unions wondering whether to go wireless might consider this: A new survey shows that 58% of adult Americans have used a cell phone or personal digital assistant to do at least one of 10 different mobile, nonvoice activities. Those figures come from the Pew Internet Project's December...
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Report Cites Black Market Prices For Card Numbers, Identities
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Ever wonder what fraudsters pay each other for the identifying data they purloin from people over the Web? Those numbers were included in a new report from Forrester Research about the increasing threat that fraud is posing to online commerce. Based on research from Symantec, the report...
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Reviews Outrank Games and Customization in Web Survey
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- They don't want to play games. The older respondents to a Forrester Research survey made that clear in their opinions on what matters to them on an online banking site. Only 1% of "Older Boomers" responded that such a thing would be of interest to them, compared...
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USA CU Seeks to Protect Member Base with StrikePhish Security Blanket
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- USA Credit Union has allied with a Canadian partner to help the 64,000-member CU deal with cyberthreats from around the world.
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Flying with Fish - Denali Alaskan Smoothes Courier Bumps with New Check 21 Electronic Capture
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- When bags of checks are bumped in favor of fish by the local air courier, electronic check capture's not such a tough sell.
Opinions
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These Tough Times Call for Smart Measures That Fully Leverage Technology
By any standards, this is perhaps the toughest time ever to run a credit union. Tight net interest margins, rising labor costs, ever-increasing competition, and flat membership growth all combine to create an extremely challenging environment in which to operate. It's precisely this kind of environment that proves the wisdom...
Publisher's Column
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Credit Unions Will Escape Treasury Consolidation... Again
They've done it before and they'll do it again. Picture it, early 1991. Congress is just returning from winter break and, boom, the Deposit Insurance and Regulatory Reform Act (H.R. 6) is introduced by Democratic Congressman Henry Gonzalez (Texas). The bill would, among other things, fold all the financial institution...
People
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People
East, South, Midwest, West
Clarifications/Corrections
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Corrections/Clarification
An article in the April 2 issue misstated the asset size of The Golden 1 Credit Union. The credit union has $6.7 billion in assets.
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Explosion Severely Damages Water & Power CU, Kills Firefighter
LOS ANGELES -- A March 26 explosion severely damaged the exterior of a branch belonging to $492 million Water and Power Community Credit Union, killing a firefighter the credit union says saved employees' lives.
Letters to the editor
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Credit Unions Need Media Programs
Thanks for a great column (CU Times, March 26, 2008) on working with the media. This is so important for credit unions to know. It is my firm belief that media coverage is the only way credit unions will change perceptions, and it's encouraging to see more and more credit...
Publisher's Notebook
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CU Associations and Vendors: Send Us Your Meetings, Events
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