Credit Union Times Magazine February 9, 2011

TDECU Disaffiliates From CUNA and Texas League

By Jim Rubenstein

Citing lobbying tactics, governance and other policy issues, the $1.6 billion Texas Dow Employees Credit Union has quit CUNA and the Texas Credit Union League.

SEC Struggles With Surge of Investment Advisers

By Michelle A. Samaad

The number of registered investment advisers has increased so dramatically since 2004, the SEC said it is overwhelmed, understaffed and out of resources to keep up with exams to monitor their activities.

Judge Rules PenFed Lawsuit Must Stay in State Court

By Claude R. Marx

A federal judge in Maryland has ruled that Pentagon Federal Credit Union can't have a lawsuit transferred from state to federal court by making a claim that it is not a corporate citizen of a state.

NCUA to File Amended Complaint Against WesCorp Directors

By Robert McGarvey

In a complicated ruling last week, Judge George Wu opened a door that had seemed closed, by agreeing to allow cases against WesCorp's outside directors to proceed.

CUNA, NAFCU PACs Raised Less in 2010 Election Cycle

By Claude R. Marx

The sluggish economy caused CUNA and NAFCU PACs to raise less money, but they each had very different spending patterns during last year's campaigns.

Autoland Fixes Six-Year Insurance License Lapse in Oregon

By Michelle A. Samaad

Credit union auto buying service Autoland Inc. said it is back in good standing after the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services issued an enforcement action against the firm for operating without a license.

Fannie Mae Argues to Retain CU Mortgage Loans From Fraudulent Sale

By David Morrison

The ongoing battle in federal court over the fallout from the CU National mortgage scandal continues.

Natural Person CUs Forgo Using Corporates for Investing

By Robert McGarvey

If you can't trust corporate credit unions, who can you trust?

First Community Enjoys Loan Success in Walmart Branches

By Jim Rubenstein

When it comes to maintaining and expanding branches in Walmart stores, the $1.6 billion First Community CU of St. Louis is now among the foremost CU cheerleaders.

Michigan CU Buys Insurance Firm

VML Insurance Agency, a firm that offers a line of personal and business insurance plans and benefit packages, has been purchased by the $2 billion Lake Michigan Credit Union.

NACUSO Conference to Include Director Training

NACUSO's annual conference in April will feature three sessions in response to the need for documented director training to comply with recent NCUA regulations.

Navy FCU Touts GEICO Insurance Partnership With National Ad Campaign

By Jim Rubenstein

After nearly a decade of what it calls a "beneficial relationship with similar brands," Navy Federal Credit Union is finding the GEICO gecko its new best friend.

ACMG FCU Brings 'Mad City Money' to NY High School

By Marygrace Murphy

ACMG Federal Credit Union in Solvay, N.Y., recently gave 43 seniors at Solvay High School a taste of the real world through Mad City Money, a two-hour financial education simulation created by CUNA.

PrimeVest Partnership Spurs Growth in Langley Investment Program

By Michelle A. Samaad

With members such as NASA scientists, Langley Federal Credit Union started looking at expanding its 16-year-old investment program in ways that would continue to meet the needs of its unique member base.

FHA Loans Outgrow Their Stigma, See Rising Demand

By David Morrison

Many credit unions remain trapped between rising consumer and member demand for mortgages backed by the FHA and HUD regulations governing those loans.

Home Ownership Still a Goal for Americans

A survey commissioned by the National Association of Realtors has found that the desire to own a home has persisted both among people who already own homes and those who rent their residence.

Existing Homes Sales

More existing homes changed hands in December, allowing 2010 to end with a run of five of the preceding six months having higher sales of existing structures, according to the National Association of Realtors.

CUNA Mutual to Sell Its Australia Operation

By Michelle A. Samaad

After a 41 year run, CUNA Mutual Group is pulling its operations out of Australia through a sale to an international insurance firm based down under.

Little Green Visitors Invade Napa

Redwood Credit Union of Napa, Calif., is committed to helping people learn how to better manage their money, and it has taken to the streets to get the message out.

CUSO Extends to Caribbean

Through an alliance with United Nations Federal Credit Union, members of the Cooperativa San Jos? Credit Union in the Dominican Republic will have access to investment services.

AEA EVP to Retire

Effective Feb. 18, longtime Executive Vice President Denise Sweet-McGregor will retire after 35 years.

Account Opening at First Nebraska

CU Service Network LLC of Lakewood, Colo., said it is now in the process of helping the $83 million First Nebraska Educators Credit Union in Omaha launch online account opening.

RCU CEO to Retire

Royal Credit Union President/CEO Charlie Grossklaus has announced plans to retire from the Eau Claire, Wis.-based credit union effective Jan. 2, 2012.

CUNA Sees 'Targeted' Role for Government

CUNA has informed the Treasury Department that credit unions believe the federal government has a "very important but targeted" role in the secondary mortgage market going forward.

Filene, NJCUL Partner

Debt in Focus is headed to New Jersey.

NCUA Rules on Services

If a federal credit union offers services such as lines of credit, share-draft processing, check collection, ACH origination and receipts to its members, it can also provide them to other credit unions.

Del-One Names CEO

There is a new leader at Del-One.

Dow La. Teams Up

Dow Louisiana Federal Credit Union has teamed up with longtime member and two-time Super Bowl champion Randall Gay, cornerback for the New Orleans Saints, to kick off its "Go Further" campaign.

Insurance Solutions

Mountain America Credit Union members now have access to long-term care insurance.

Texas CU Takes Project Management Into the Cloud

By Marc Rapport

The marketing department at Firstmark Credit Union has turned to the cloud to, among other things, solve that age-old conundrum of what to do when Macs and PCs won't play nice.

Numerica Launches Mobile Banking

Mobile banking for smartphones and other Web-enabled devices is now being offered by the $1 billion Numerica Credit Union in Spokane, Wash.

MasterCard Extends ATM Finder

The fast-growing pack of Android users can now use a MasterCard app for finding ATMs.

'Try Before You Buy'

A Texas online banking and personal financial management vendor is looking for new business by offering credit unions the opportunity to "try before you buy."

Fiserv Partners on Mobile Apps

Fiserv Inc. has found a partner to help its financial services clients provide applications and widgets to consumers across a wide variety of touch points, including smartphones, tablets, social network sites and computers.

Growth at WRG

Twenty-six new credit union clients were added at Wescom Resources Group in 2010 as the CUSO said it recorded its best year since its 2002 creation.

40 New Portal Clients

By Marc Rapport

Forty more credit unions and banks contracted for portal solutions from Passageways LLC in 2010, the company said, including customers in the United States, Canada, Barbados and even one in Moscow, Russia.

New CU*Answers Backup Center

A new backup center will soon be providing high availability and disaster recovery services for most of the client base of CU*Answers, the Michigan-based core processing operation said.

Xtend Issues First Dividend

For the first time in its history, multisolution provider CUSO Xtend Inc. said it recently declared a stock dividend return to its 52 owners.

Risk Council Website

The Credit Union Risk Council has launched a new website aimed at helping credit unions better arm themselves against card fraud, including the first secured channel of communications with law enforcement of its kind, the group said.

Generations Goes Live With Online Banking

Jwaala Inc. said its newest client-the $391 million Generations Community Federal Credit Union in San Antonio-has gone live on its BOB (Better Online Banking) platform just 30 days after signing up for the service.

Compliance Tools

A new compliance and risk management solution Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is making its credit union debut at the $3.5 billion Kinecta Federal Credit Union of Manhattan Beach, Calif., the company said.

Opening Compliance

BancVue is now guaranteeing that its online account opening solution meets regulatory compliance, through a new partnership with Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

Vendor Management

The growing demands of keeping up with outsourced services are helping to grow business at Passageways LLC, the company said.

PSCU, Fiserv Extend Contract

A contract for PSCU Financial Services to use Fiserv Inc.'s CheckFree RXP bill pay service for the CUSO's PayLynx online bill pay platform has been extended by three years.

S1 Corp. Rebrands

S1 Corp. has renamed the information security business it bought last March to S1 Defense.

Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way

By Sarah Snell Cooke

The credit union industry has many leaders: Credit unions that excel at their business, credit unions that assist other credit unions, and volunteers who spend their free time sifting through inches-thick board packets.

Still Seeking a Credit Union That's 'Just Right'

By Marygrace Murphy

Goldilocks I ain't, but I sympathize with her plight. I've been sampling from several bowls of porridge, so to speak, looking for the one that suits me "just right." The financial institution, that is. I can't say I've found it yet.

Interchange Rules May Be a Gift

After reading repeated articles about credit union and trade association opposition to the proposed debit card interchange changes, I have found myself repeatedly coming back to the same question. Why?

Vendor Management: A Blessing in Disguise

Vendor management is seen as a project for staying compliant and managing third-party risks.

People

Greylock Federal Credit Union, Pittsfield, Mass., announced the appointment of two new executives to its risk management team.

Be a Talent Master

By Claude R. Marx

As if CEOs and other senior executives didn't have enough on their plates.

Dividends

AMOCO Federal Credit Union, Texas City, Texas, paid out approximately $1 million in bonus dividends and loan interest refunds to its membership.