Credit Union Times Magazine January 25, 2012

UMass Loan Shows How to Keep Them Down on the Farm

By Michelle A. Samaad

As the cold, hard freeze eventually makes its way to New England this winter, some members are already planting stakes in summer fruits like plums, strawberries and watermelon.

CAMEL Code Dispute Pits Feds vs. States

By Claude R. Marx

CAMELs aren’t usually a source of controversy in a place known for basketball and tobacco. At issue is the NCUA’s fight with state regulators over the release of the CAMEL rating of State Employees Credit Union.

Mergers Nixed by Member Votes

By Jim Rubenstein

In a rare case of reversals, two proposed credit union mergers–one an interstate pact in the Northwest and the other involving Louisiana CUs–were called off last week as a result of member opposition.

Fallen MBS Prompts CUNA Mutual Suit

By Michelle A. Samaad

CUNA Mutual Insurance Society, CUMIS Insurance Society and MEMBERS Life Insurance Co., have filed suit against RBS Securities Inc. claiming that the firm made false representations of its offering documents at the time that more than a dozen residential mortgage-backed securities were purchased by the three plaintiffs.

Alloya Reaches Out to VSoft

By Robert McGarvey

A wave of outsourcing may be heading toward the corporate credit union sector. That at least is the hope of Murthy Veeraghanta, CEO of VSoft, a Duluth, Ga.-based provider of computer processing to hundreds of financial institutions, a number that just grew by one with the signing of a deal...

Visa Says New Chip Cards Won’t Need Off-Line PINs

By David Morrison

Visa USA has made some recommendations for how to implement the shift from magnetic stripe payment cards to those which use a chip for authentication. And a Visa executive predicted the technology will have become a standard payment method by 2015.

Scammer Thwarted by Mich. CU Staffer

By Andrew Corselli

Last spring, an unsuspecting elderly couple came into Alpena Alcona Area Credit Union in Alpena, Mich., to discuss a loan. Their loan interviewer, Jamaican Beaudoin, was helping them when the couple said two words that set off alarms that something was amiss.

Strategic Merger in Ohio

By Jim Rubenstein

An Ohio merger deal, years in the making, is providing a retirement honor and sendoff for a 38-year industry veteran, Tom Furrey, the president/CEO of the $65 million Western CU.

Church to Consider Polish CU Founder for Sainthood

By David Morrison

If Polish credit union industry officials succeed, a Polish credit union pioneer may become the very first credit union saint.

Obama Pushes Agency Consolidation

By Claude R. Marx

The Small Business Administration would no longer be a separate entity and its functions would be incorporated into an agency that combines the functions of six agencies that deal with trade and business matters, according to a proposal made by President Obama.

Bank Transfer Day Trademark Quest Turned Over to CUNA

By Jim Rubenstein

At the urging of South Carolina credit unions, CUNA has taken over the drive to formally own the “Every Day Is Bank Transfer Day” slogan.

Gingrich Slips Up on CU Knowledge

By Claude R. Marx

How quickly he forgot. Newt Gingrich was once crucial to helping credit unions pass a major bill on Capitol Hill. But during a recent GOP presidential debate, he seemed confused about what credit unions are all about.

Gen Y’s Retirement Woes Could Draw Them to Credit Unions

By Eileen Courter

Those tapped into the needs of Generation Y are encouraged that this segment of the population would be attracted to credit unions if they knew the cooperatives could help face challenges with their retirement goals.

Editor’s Column: Directors’ Frustrations Cloud Hawaiian Sky

By Sarah Snell Cooke

Amid the sun, sand and waves on the Wailea Beach of Maui, something evil lurked last week at The Paragon Group’s Volunteer Leadership Conference. It wasn’t far below the serene and relaxed surface and without much effort it managed to swallow the ballroom whole. That beast was palpable in the...

Trailblazer 40 Below: New Media Maven Embraces His Fears

By Myriam DiGiovanni

James Robert Lay, grower of relationships at PTP New Media, doesn’t believe in regrets–regardless of the outcome.

CU*Answers Hits 100 Stockholders

By Marc Rapport

The credit union owner list of core processing CUSO CU*Answers has now crossed the century mark, with eight new stockholders pushing the number to 101.

Goldenwest Office Building Named for CEO

Goldenwest Credit Union has found the perfect way to honor former president/CEO Shelley Clarke’s 37 years of dedicated service.

Market USA Names Laura Hassan CEO

Market USA Federal Credit Union has promoted Executive Vice President Laura Hassan to president/CEO.

Island FCU Names Sears CEO

Island Federal Credit Union has named Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Bret W. Sears president/CEO.

Mortgagebot at CU Members

CU Members Mortgage of Dallas is now offering its more than 1,000 credit union customers the PowerSite integrated point-of-sale loan application and customized website solution from Mortgagebot of Mequon, Wis.

Canadian CU Gets Acumen Core Platform

Fiserv Inc. said its new Acumen core banking platform has replaced two systems at Momentum Credit Union.

Meriwest Taps VSoft

A suite of remote deposit capture solutions from Atlanta-based VSoft Corp. has replaced an in-house system at the $1.1 billion Meriwest Credit Union in San Jose, Calif., the company and credit union said.

Paper Titles to ELT

More than 10,000 paper titles have been converted to computer files at the $389 million Valley First Credit Union in Modesto, Calif., since it began using an electronic lien and title service solution from VINtek.

Orion FCU to Corelation

Core processing specialist Corelation Inc. has signed its fifth and by far largest credit union client. The $535 million Orion FCU in Memphis, Tenn., is larger than the San Diego startup’s first four clients combined.

Vertifi Snags Two for RDC

EasCorp said two large credit unions are the newest customers of mobile remote deposit capture services from its CUSO, Vertifi Software LLC.

CUBUS Provides Notifications for Energy Capital CU

CUBUS Solutions said it is now providing electronic notification services to the $171 million Energy Capital Credit Union of Houston.

Cloudworks Bought by Ongoing Operations

A year after entering a joint venture, Ongoing Operations LLC said it has purchased Cloudworks, a Thousand Oaks, Calif., provider of cloud-based hosted solutions.

Corelation Signs Fourth

A fourth credit union has committed to the KeyStone core processing platform from Corelation Inc., the company said.

PRINGLE Sold to Wolters Kluwer

PRINGLE Publications Corp. of Oklahoma City has sold its regulatory compliance content to Wolters Kluwer Financial Services in Minneapolis, the companies said.

Guest Opinion: Loan and Lease Loss Challenges

The estimation of the allowance for loan and lease Losses has been a part of the financial institution’s accounting processes for years, but it has taken on increased importance over the last several years.

Guest Opinion: The Option-Fueled Generation

By the year 2020, the population segment we all refer to as Gen Y could reach upwards of 95 million and make up 36% of the adult population in the U.S. There is no doubt that this consumer group is becoming more relevant than ever.