Considering the attention regulators and lawmakers pay to the underserved these days, it was no wonder NCUA Vice Chairman Rodney Hood dropped in on United Services Credit Union here last month.

NCUA's field of membership policies were stirring new talk last week about federal-to-state credit union conversions with Colorado's top CU regulator speaking out about CU concerns following the fed-to-state switch this month of a $120 million suburban Denver CU.

To make sure a positive credit union "message" got through to state lawmakers and policymakers, CU lobbyists were out in force last week wining and dining at the annual National Conference of State Legislatures.

The lessons have been painful, but in a candid look-back on the eve of the Katrina anniversary, the president/CEO of Singing River Federal Credit Union said last week his $130 million CU has made it through a challenging year in fine shape with surprisingly low delinquency ratios.

In an almost eerie case of d?j? vu, CUNA has turned back a banker-backed attempt to write new policy language revoking the credit union tax-exemption into the official position of the National Conference of State Legislatures convened here last week.

A California credit union director who in 2005 worked free for four months to turn around a Berkeley credit union at the brink of collapse won top national honors here last week as "Director of the Year" during the annual National Directors' Convention.

The merger trend among Michigan credit unions hasn't let up, with at least one more medium-sized consolidation in the pipeline.

Pressures on net interest margins show no sign of change in the months ahead "with little on the horizon that would push longer yields higher," according to a top Callahan & Associates executive and economist.