Credit Union Times Magazine July 20, 2011

Consumer Bureau Ready to Start Up

By Claude R. Marx

When the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau begins operations on July 21 it will be a headless wonder, albeit one with lots of clout. At press time, President Obama hadn’t named a permanent director for the CFPB. However, that won’t prevent the bureau from issuing regulations and examining certain large...

Hearing Clash on New CFPB Powers

By Claude R. Marx

House Republicans used a July 14 hearing to accuse those setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of not disclosing enough information and for not spelling out what financial products it plans to target for increased scrutiny.

Board Governance Focus of New Survey

By Robert McGarvey

Late last year the NCUA published its regulation on expectations for credit union directors. The agency focused specifically on financial literacy and how it will be measured. As the July 27 deadline for compliance looms, Credit Union Leadership Forum conducted a survey of credit union executives and board members as...

Interchange Rule Draws Flak

By David Morrison

The Federal Reserve's most recent update of its rule implementing the Durbin amendment makes it a bit better for most CUs but leaves most of their deep concerns about the measure untouched.

Marketing ‘Ditch Your Bank’ Spreads Anew

By Jim Rubenstein

It looks to be another big year for the “dump your bank” marketing campaigns that were fired up by credit unions in 2010 as media coverage mounted on the woes of big banks.

Boeing CU’s Trust Unit in Pact With MEMBERS Trust

By Michelle A. Samaad

Nearly eight years after its launch through Boeing Employees Credit Union, BECU Trust Co. is moving in a much bigger direction.

NCUA Liquidates CU Linked to Online Poker

By David Morrison

The $8.1 million Vensure Federal Credit Union, the Arizona credit union that at one time made most of its money by processing transactions for Internet poker sites, is no more. The NCUA announced it has liquidated the Mesa-based credit union on July 11, the same day a court case...

Texans CU Hit With Another Lawsuit by Former Exec

By Michelle A. Samaad

A little over a year after Texans Credit Union settled a contentious wrongful termination case with the former president of its insurance CUSO, the cooperative has been hit with yet another suit with strikingly similar details.

Retirement Fears Among Small Business Owners

By Michelle A. Samaad

Even though some are doing what they love, small business owners are the latest group to express concerns on whether they will ever be able to retire.

REOs Grow at Nation’s Credit Unions

By David Morrison

Contrary to conventional wisdom, as the nation moves through an extended housing downturn, a number of credit unions have found themselves faced with significant amounts of REO.

Mergers That Slash and Burn Are Denounced

By Jim Rubenstein

The head of one of Atlanta’s largest credit unions, Lin Hodges of the $1.1 billion Associated Credit Union, takes a dim view of “slash and burn” tactics when it comes to CU merging.

Card Affinity Programs at Colleges Show a Decline in Growth

By David Morrison

The Federal Reserve's most recent report about cards issued in affinity with colleges and universities has shown how the overall college and university affinity market has contracted slightly over the last year but also provided credit unions with card-issuing opportunities.

iBelong Campaign Dues in Pa. Are Dropped

By Jim Rubenstein

The concept of mandatory dues to pay for industry-sponsored awareness campaigns looks to be ending. The Pennsylvania Credit Union Association said it was ending a four-year-old rule financing the iBelong campaign out of concern it might lose disaffiliating members because of the economy and internal costs.

CDCUs Seek Treasury Funding Approaching

By David Morrison

The National Federation of Community Developing Credit Unions is helping CDCUs organize themselves to take advantage of any opportunity to obtain more government support.

Editor’s Column: How Not to Run a Government or a CU

By Sarah Snell Cooke

Often in life things happen that you just have to shake your head at. We all know this happens in CUs, too. That said, I’m going to indulge my penchant for sarcasm with a list of how-to’s you never want to see.

Quicken Calls CU Partnering a Win

By David Morrison

After roughly a year in partnering with financial institutions to offer mortgages, Quicken Loans reports that a significant number of CUs have opted to use its mortgage platform for their mortgage lending needs.

Business Lending Pilot at St. Mary’s Bank

Through a new program, St. Mary’s Bank is looking to offer mini loans to start ups and small emerging companies that it said are finding it difficult to obtain more traditional bank financing.

Chicago CUs Host Ecuadoreans

Chicago area credit unions recently welcomed a group of about a dozen individuals from OSCUS in Ecuador as part of the World Council of Credit Unions’ international customized training program.

Merger Final After Two-Year Wait

By Jim Rubenstein

There is little doubt that the planned merger of a smaller and neighboring Pennsylvania CU advanced by the $65 million SPE Federal Credit Union of State College became complicated by charter issues, but this is one that took two years to complete.

Minn. League Meets International Delegation

The Minnesota Credit Union Network recently welcomed participants of the International Visitor Leadership Program to its St. Paul office.

TTCU Gets New CEO

TTCU has found its new president/CEO in Chief Financial Officer Tim Lyons. Lyons succeeds Leslie W. Rector, who will retire Sept. 30.

Catholic FCU’s Watson Takes the Helm

Remove the “acting” as Alan Watson has officially been named president/CEO of Catholic Federal Credit Union.

Using the Internet to Book Mortgages

By David Morrison

The 32,500 member Sooper Credit Union, headquartered in Arvada, Colo., has found a technique for helping market its mortgage products. The $242 million credit union is a client of CU Members Mortgage CUSO.

Altepeter to Be Numerica CEO

Carla Altepeter, longtime CitizensFirst Credit Union president/CEO, is making a move to Spokane, Wash.

Banks and CUs in Tight Lending Race

With the exception of auto loans, credit unions and banks are competing closely in nearly all loans.

Western CUNA Management School Promotes Steinberger

By Marc Rapport

The Western CUNA Management School has promoted Michael Steinberger to the position of dean after serving for five years as associate dean.

MShift Patent Appeal Dismissed

By Marc Rapport

A federal appeals court has declined to overrule the dismissal of a patent infringement suit filed last year by mobile banking vendor MShift against Intuit Financial Services and several banks and credit unions.

Intuit Financial Services Buys Mobile Money Ventures

By Marc Rapport

Mobile Money Ventures has sold its Web banking technology to Intuit Financial Services, which already uses the platform at more than 320 credit unions and banks, the companies said.

WOCCU CEO Reflects on Long Industry Tenure

By Sarah Snell Cooke

World Council of Credit Unions President/CEO Pete Crear sat down with Credit Union Times Editor-in-Chief Sarah Snell Cooke just prior to flying off for his association’s last annual conference before his retirement. While Crear was shy about naming a date for his departure, he did share his thoughts with us...

Marx on Capitol: Prepay Pledge Month Needs a Makeover

By Claude R. Marx

There is, we are told, no such thing as a free lunch. For the NCUA, however, there may well be free money.

Letter: Are Prepaid Assessments a Good Investment?

By G. Michael Moebs

On the heels of Sheila Bair relinquishing her chairmanship of the FDIC, NCUA seems poised to incorrectly continue her legacy.

Guest Opinion: Succession Planning Is Critical Board Function

By Stuart R. Levine

his past month, I attended a Deloitte conference hosted by its Center for Corporate Governance, including 1,000 directors across 30 locations, live from New York City. One of the most important topics and issues discussed is the board’s approach to succession planning.

It Ain’t Easy

Vox Populi: What Is Your CU Doing to Attract Younger Members?

We strive to provide all our members with the best possible value proposition. In order to better communicate this value proposition, we had to get creative about how younger members wanted to interact with us. Gen Y members are especially technology driven.

College CUs Use Many Means to Lure Students

By Myriam DiGiovanni

Sorting through a hundred or so applications from University of Missouri students to fill five internship spots at Tigers Credit Union has become a common occurrence for Laura Kogut, program director.

New Core Processing Trends Emerge

By Natasha Chilingerian

Around 10% of credit unions looked to upgrade their core banking systems last year, marking a significant increase from the historical percentage average of 4% to 5%, according to two new reports from Boston-based financial research and consulting firm Celent.

COMPASS4CUs Hired by D.C. Credit Union

By Marc Rapport

COMPASS4CUs said it has been hired to provide compliance services to the $90 million CSC Employees Federal Credit Union of El Segundo, Calif.

Forrester: Hispanic Teens Embrace Mobile

By Marc Rapport

A new report from Forrester Research argues that Hispanic American teenagers are particularly strong users of mobile technologies who don’t necessarily respond to mobile advertising.

CUBUS Solutions Adds Fund Transfer

By Marc Rapport

A core-agnostic funds transfer solution that supports account-to-account and person-to-person payments has been added by CUBUS Solutions to the lineup of online banking software it offers to credit unions.

Card Services Re-Signs Calif. Credit Union

By Marc Rapport

Card Services for Credit Unions said it has re-signed the $9 million California Center Credit Union in Ontario, Calif., for credit card processing services.

KEMBA Financial Now Live With BOB

By Marc Rapport

Jwaala Inc. of Austin, Texas, said the $621 million KEMBA Financial Credit Union in the Columbus suburb of Gahanna, Ohio, has gone live on its Better Online Banking platform.

Fight Fraud With an Enterprise Approach

By Marc Rapport

A CUNA Mutual risk management expert said an enterprise approach is needed to combat the growing threat of fraud against credit unions.

Granite CU to Convert to FLEX

By Marc Rapport

The $330 million Granite Credit Union in Salt Lake City will convert to the FLEX core processing platform later this year, according to Computer Marketing Corp.

Phishing Report Finds Repeat Targeting

By Marc Rapport

A study of 270 phishing attacks between mid 2009 and this past March found that many of the victims were repeat targets.

BlueYield Gets New Web Page

By Marc Rapport

A new corporate Web page has been launched by BlueYield LLC to better serve users of its automotive lending exchange and private-label affinity automotive financing programs.

S1 Corp and Fundtech Plan to Merge

By Marc Rapport

Online banking and financial services software and supply chain specialists S1 Corp. and Fundtech Ltd. are merging in a stock swap valued at approximately $700 million.