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....

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- The California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues have named Keri Bailey their new director of state government affairs succeeding Ron Fong....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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 ...

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....

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- PSECU has recently announced the results of its 2008 board election....

AUSTIN, Texas -- A+ Federal Credit Union has added Silicon Labs as a select employee group....

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....

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....

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....

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....

PITTSBURGH -- Nonmembers will have more access to Clearview Federal Credit Union's check cashing service....

BOULDER, Colo. -- Boulder Valley Credit Union has taken another eco-friendly step toward reducing its environmental impact....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Marketplace Federal Credit Union will be merged into HealthAmerica Credit Union, which has enabled HealthAmerica CU to reach the $100 million milestone....

GLENDALE, Calif. -- Fast changing information on the fly has replaced static green-bar graphs on Excel at California Credit Union....

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- The $7.5 billion Orange County Teachers FCU has a new name: SchoolsFirst FCU....

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....

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Brass is doing it again--unveiling a new way for credit unions to reach out to younger members with brass|SHOW....

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....

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....

DALLAS -- TNB Card Services announced the purchase of the ValleyStone Credit Union credit card portfolio....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

ROANOKE, Va. -- After 36 years Member One Federal Credit Union CEO Dick Williams is retiring....

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 buyout of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan Chase and extending the Fed's discount window to investment banks....

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- NACUSO has changed its long-time logo to send a strong message of its collaboration mission....

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....

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....

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....

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....

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve Board on April 1 announced its approval of the proposal by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to acquire Bear Stearns Bank & Trust....

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....

GLASTONBURY, Conn. -- Open Solutions Inc. is integrating the account opening and funding solutions from uMonitor into the Connecticut-based company's core processing systems....

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....

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....

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 of brands attacked increased in February from the month before, but remains slightly below record levels, and that 20 financial institutions not before attacked came under phisher fire in February....

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 2007 survey of a sample of 2,054 adult Americans, which included 500 respondents contacted on their cell phones. The same survey found that 36% said it would be difficult to give up their wireless e-mail device, compared with only 6% who gave the same answer in a similar survey five years ago. The latest survey was taken Oct. 24-Dec. 2, 2007 and had a margin of error for the entire sample of plus or minus 2 percentage points, organization said....

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 said black market prices ranged from 50 cents for a credit card number to $150 for a full identity. The think firm's report concluded that growing sophistication in dealing with fraud will only manage to keep losses at current levels. "To substantially deter fraud, organizations will ultimately need a new approach to establishing and using identity online," writes analyst Geoffrey Turner....

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 with 4% in the entire group of more than 5,000 respondents in the recent survey. And only 9% of that group wanted to be able to personalize the site, compared with 25% of members of Generations X and Y. What they seemed to agree on was the desirability of users reviews and ratings....

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....

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....

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....

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 of the old adage: Work smarter, not harder....

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 unions waking up to the need for a full PR program. Having said that, I'm going to question some of the points made....

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 regulators into one....

We know the credit union industry is chock full of high quality meetings and events....

East, South, Midwest, West...

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....

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....