Murray holds an associate's degree in business administration and a bachelor's degree in e-business from the University of Phoenix and is currently studying for a master's degree in global management. Murray is also a graduate of the University of Wisconsin's League Management Institute Program and received the designation of certified league executive.

Akaka Bill Focuses on Helping the Unbanked

WASHINGTON — More money could become available to financial institutions that want to help those underserved by financial institutions under a bill introduced by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii).

The measure would make grant and loan money available to encourage financial institutions to reach out to low-income consumers who do not have credit union or bank accounts.

One program would fund outreach efforts by credit unions and banks among communities in which there are large numbers of individuals who don't have accounts at financial institutions.

The other program would help financial institutions develop affordable alternatives to payday loans. Consumers who apply for loans under this grant program would also receive financial literacy education. Credit union loans would still be subject to the NCUA's loan interest rates, currently capped at 18%.

"About 45 million Americans do not have a bank or credit union account, denying them access to basic financial services. With these federal resources, mainstream institutions will be better able to bank the unbanked," Akaka said in a statement.

The bill's co-sponsors include Sens. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
It has been referred to the Senate Banking Committee.

Akaka worked with several organizations, including NCUA, CUNA, NAFCU and the Hawaii Credit Union League, to develop the legislation.

Higher Ed Bill Increases
CUs' Student Loan Role

WASHINGTON — Credit unions can lend more money to students.

That's one of the provisions of the higher education bill passed by Congress.

Credit unions with assets of less than $1 billion can increase the size of their student loan portfolios.

Those credit unions are exempt from the rule that a financial institution can't have more than 50% of its loan portfolios in student loans. The measure gives credit unions parity with similar-sized banks, which had previously had the exemption.

The wide-ranging measure expands the availability of student loans and contains provisions to protect students and their families from abusive lending practices. It also requires lenders and colleges to adopt strict codes of conduct. The measure also clarifies reporting requirements so that financial institutions with the same name as a college or university must clearly state that a loan is from the institution and not the school.

RSA Security Offers Authentication Upgrade

BEDFORD, Mass. — RSA Security has released a new version of its RSA Identity Verification authentication system.

The new system is supported by questioning technology that incorporates nonfinancial personal data in order to authenticate the consumer in real time.

The possibility of online fraud and identity theft is reduced by the ability to provide instant matching coupled with answers to questions not easily found by searching the Internet, according to RSA, a division of EMC.

Other enhancements include improvements to the identity event module that uses adaptive system behavior to proactively monitor for suspicious activity, current address verification, new question types based on the year that an individual lived in a particular city and improved report capabilities.

The new system is aimed at account originations, credit card activations, service transactions, password resets and other scenarios and can be used by call centers, online or in person.

It's also transaction-based and doesn't require additional software or hardware for financial institutions to deploy, the company said.

"A traditional identity verification system asks questions to which the answers can easily be discovered," said Chris Young, vice president and general manager of the identity access and assurance group at RSA.

"The RSA Identity Verification system doesn't rely on these those types of questions. Instead RSA has built a new question-generation engine that employs sophisticated business rules and algorithms which both make the process easier for the consumer and provide a more secure and accurate authentication," he said.

The new system also is aimed at meeting the upcoming FACTA Identity Theft Red Flags guidelines by providing improved accuracy in authenticating users by measuring the level of risk associated with an identity.