Credit Union Times Magazine December 19, 2012

Year of Progress Pockmarked With Disasters and Missteps

By Donald Shoultz

A week after super storm Sandy slammed into the East Coast, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie looked ahead to preparations for a nor’easter that was due to dump snow and rain on the already reeling Northeast.

Sunny Days Returning to Florida

By Candice Reed

After six years of stagnation and economic hardship, Florida is slowly coming out of the recession cocoon.

Services Drop in Satisfaction

By Michelle A. Samaad

The surge in members over the past year may have been welcomed news for credit unions, but the overall member satisfaction experience might have suffered along the way.

Cards CU Affinity Skills

By David Morrison

An annual report prepared for Congress by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and released last month documented that credit unions have continued to sharpen their skills when it comes to managing and growing affinity card programs with colleges and universities.

Industry Ponders Technology, Economy and What Works

By Robert McGarvey

Another year, another meeting. A reality of the credit union industry is that it is chockablock with conferences, conventions, and more, from CUNA’s sprawling annual Washington Governmental Affairs Conference in late February through the California-Nevada Leagues’shindig on the West Coast toward year end.

Expert Says Consumers Will Go Slow on Mobile Wallets

By David Morrison

Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of the credit card comparison website CardHub.com and a personal finance consultant. predicted that large credit card issuers will likely make more credit available in 2013 and that consumers will not rush to sign on to any of the latest mobile wallet technologies.

Burd to Implement Bucket List

By Eileen M. Courter

Ask Loretta Burd what she will do in retirement, and she’ll laugh as she announces she indeed has a bucket list.

Making My List and Checking It Twice

By Sarah Snell Cooke

As is tradition, Credit Union Times’ Year in Review issue is when I make predictions for the upcoming year. I predict YIR 2012 will be no different.

Helminak Lends His Own Speech to Lure the Young: Trailblazer 40 Below

By Myriam DiGiovanni

While he dreamed when he was younger that he’d be a speech writer for others, Chad Helminak, CUDE director of REAL Solutions and outreach at the Wisconsin Credit Union League, has found his own voice through service to the credit union industry.

People 12-19-12

ESL Federal Credit Union, Rochester, N.Y. announced the addition of John Cirella as business banking relationship manager. In his new position, Cirella will be responsible for identifying, developing and managing business banking relationships in the Greater Rochester area.

Shopping List: Superhero, Zombies, Pork Rinds and Diapers

By Peter Strozniak

Look! Up in the air. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s………Credit Union Man?

Governance Lessons From the U.S. Central Failure

By François Henriquez

A little over a month ago, the NCUA unceremoniously brought to a close the four-year saga of the failure and conservatorship of U.S. Central, the one-time $52 billion corporate credit union.

Charity Collaboration Drives National Unity

By Theresa Mann

Just before the New Year rings in, I’m reflecting on how proud I am of our industry. I am particularly impressed by how credit unions serve their members on the micro level but also partner and collaborate both locally and nationally to help each other and our communities.

Go Beyond The Lender Role

By Mike Lubansky

Every business can benefit from having a select group of external colleagues who act as professional resources and allies. Aside from accountant, lawyer and investors, another resource that is just as important (but not always tapped) is the credit union professional.

From Recession to Stability and Growth

By Debbie Matz

This year was a transformative year for credit unions. It was a year in which credit unions made the transition from the losses of recession to the stability and growth of recovery. During the year, the industry topped $1 trillion in assets and grew strongly to approach 94 million members.

To the Ramparts on Tax Exemption

By Fred R. Becker Jr

Let there be no doubt that credit unions’ federal tax exemption is something our industry is going to have to fight for in order to keep.

Noninterest Income Spike

Callahan & Associates found that credit unions have generated $10.7 billion in noninterest income this year as of the third quarter–the highest amount reported since third-quarter 2009 and 18% more than the first nine months of 2011.

Share One CEO Tanner to Retire

After more than 40 years in the credit union industry, Daryl Tanner is retiring as CEO at Share One Inc. this month and will continue with the Memphis, Tenn., core processing CUSO as a director and product research consultant.

Simonton Is New CEO at AOD FCU

The $245 million, 31,400-member AOD Federal Credit Union in Bynum, Ala., has named veteran credit union executive Richard Simonton Sr. as its new president and CEO.

Service Security FCU Names Jim Laffoon

The $6.9 billion, 923,000-member Security Service Federal Credit Union in San Antonio has promoted Jim Laffoon to president.

CEO Brown to Retire

Service One Credit Union announced the retirement of its longtime President/CEO Valerie C. Brown after 34 years of service.

Family Affair Robbery

Police arrested a 50-year-old man and his two adult children for robbing a branch of the Houston-based, $892 million First Community Credit Union in Katy, Texas, in October. Authorities said the three may also be responsible for five bank robberies.

Super Storm Sandy Put Credit Unions to the Test

By Peter Strozniak

By 8 p.m. Oct. 29, the center of Sandy had blasted into the southern coast of New Jersey. Hurricane-force winds extended up to 175 miles from the center of the storm spreading out 485 miles to far as the Great Lakes region.

After Obama Re-Election, Trades Focused on Lame Duck Session

By Heather Anderson

While President Obama won a resounding victory in his re-election quest, credit union trade groups celebrated their successes in the congressional races and turned their attention to the Congress’s lame duck session.

Examiners Moved Out From the Shadows

By Heather Anderson

The list is long on 2012 news and actions emanating from the NCUA: CUSO loan participations rules, an easier op-in process for low income credit union designation, a 6.1% increase in the agency’s budget for the next fiscal year and the October departure of Gigi Hyland.

Telesis Took a Belly Flop

By Michelle A. Samaad

The NCUA announced on April 2 that it has contracted with the $1.3 billion Premier America Credit Union to manage the assets of the $318 million Telesis Community Credit Union during Telesis’s conservatorship. Both credit unions are based in Chatsworth, Calif.

Credit Unions Grew Market Share

By David Morrison

For the first time ever, credit unions originated more than 8% of all U.S. mortgages originated in any given three month period, Callahan and Associates announced in May. The previous record had been just over 5%.

Vermont Uncensored the ‘B’ Word

By Heather Anderson

The alternately comic and sad episode over credit union marketing ended in early October with a whimper rather than a bang. And, reliable sources said no custard pies were thrown during negotiations.

Members Rejected Tech CU Bank Bid

By David Morrison

In September, members of Technology Credit Union voted resoundingly to reject a proposal to convert their institution to a mutual bank.

Mobile Mania Broke Out In a Big Way

By Robert McGarvey

Conferences, white papers, surveys, pilot programs, new applications all screamed the same refrain in 2012: mobile banking, mobile banking, mobile banking.

Cooke Named Publisher

Summit Business Media announced in August that Credit Union Times Editor-in-Chief Sarah Snell Cooke had been promoted to publisher/editor-in-chief.

Reviews, Results Were Mixed

By Peter Strozniak

Nov. 5, 2012 marked the first anniversary of Bank Transfer Day, a national grass-roots social media movement that motivated 664,000 consumers to join credit unions, leaving their rising big bank fees behind.

Credit Unions Relished Used Cars

By Michelle A. Samaad

Vehicle loan originations continued to be a bright spot for credit unions this year.

Ala. Telco Aided Trucker

By Michelle A. Samaad

Trucker Glenn Sasser’s routines have become more of a barometer of what takes priority over time wasters. Adhering to a tight schedule can mean the difference between getting paid for making a haul on time versus filling an order to remesh 100 old frames so that a wholesaler can have...

Hyland Exited NCUA

By Heather Anderson

Change seemed inevitable at the NCUA following the announcements by Board Member Gigi Hyland and Executive Director David Marquis that they were leaving the agency.