ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The nation's largest CUSO has joined the mobile banking wave.
PSCU Financial Services is offering credit unions a solution that allows credit unions to choose between two widely used formats-an applet developed by mFoundry for phone-based software, or a wide-access protocol solution the big CUSO developed in-house for use with a cell phone's built-in Web browser.
Partnerships with FSCC, CheckFree, FDR and eFunds also were key to deploying the solution, which includes real-time balance access, transaction history and fund transfers, with credit card, bill pay and pre-paid card accounts to follow, PSCU said.
The 600-owner organization said it is the first CUSO to offer mobile banking and will incorporate the turnkey solution with its 24/7 contact center to provide support for credit unions and members.
"Mobile banking is pivotal for credit unions because it taps into a growing demand from users of mobile devices and boosts member satisfaction and loyalty among all age groups, especially young adults," said David Serlo, PSCU's president/CEO.
A demonstration is available at www.pscufs.com/mbanking.
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NCUA Changes Corporate CU
Accounting for CLF Notes

By CLAUDE R. MARX
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — U.S. Central Credit Union's capital position could get some needed relief as a result of today's approval by the NCUA Board to remove Central Liquidity Facility-funded notes from the aggregate corporate's books.
The board approved the change 2-1.
U.S. Central would keep its role as the master servicer and the relevant corporates would still service the loans, but the loans would be an asset of the CLF. The corporate servicing the loan would have to make an agreement with U.S. Central to subordinate any collateral claims it pledged to secure the CLF loan.
Board members said that the agency's SIP and HARP programs, which are aimed at helping corporates and homeowners, respectively, could inflate the balance sheets of the corprorates.
NCUA Chairman Michael E. Fryzel said the action should have been taken long ago, and he and Vice Chairman Rodney Hood voted for it.
Board Member Gig Hyland opposed it, saying it did not go far enough and that there needs to be "more solid protection."
She questioned NCUA Senior Investment Officer Jeremy Taylor about how closely the CLF monitors corporates. He replied, "The level of vigilance is high. We look for breaks in the chain. The CLF is not a rubber stamp."
The board also learned that failures cost the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund $227.8 million last year. It had reserves of $278.3 million and recoveries of $56.8 million.
In December, the fund's net income increased $9 million. In the same time frame, its gross income rose to $129.9 million because of a sale of Treasury notes and money from the corporate credit unions as part of SIP.
NCUA Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann Woodson said in an interview after the meeting that the sale of Treasury notes was "another in a series of contingency-oriented moves by the agency to take proactive steps in difficult economic times."
The fund's equity ratio was projected to be 1.27% as the final audit was not completed, she said. Congress requires the equity ratio to be 1.2%-1.5%. The NCUA must levy a premium if the ratio drops below 1.2%.
As of Dec. 31, there were 271 credit unions with CAMEL 4 or 5 ratings, but those credit unions represented 2.7% of all insured shares. By contrast, the last time there was a higher number of problem credit unions-280 in 2005-they represented 1.1% of all insured shares.
In 2008, there were 18 credit union failures, compared with 12 in 2007.
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