Banking Wire articles from February 2006

Banking Wire archives from February 2006

May I Help You? ?Puedo Ayudarlo?: With The Push To Reach Out To Hispanics, One Bilingual MSR Is Always Ready To Answer The Call...In Either Language.
February 1, 2006... MADISON, Wis. -- Heartland Credit Union not only found a new way to attract and serve Hispanic members, it didn't spend a dime in the process. Like many credit unions around the nation, Heartland CU was examining a Spanish-language version...

Military Recreation Center Gets CU Backing.
February 1, 2006... EL PASO, Texas -- A new USO recreation center at Fort Bliss is expected to be unveiled later this spring, courtesy of FirstLight Federal Credit Union. The credit union, known until last July as Fort Bliss Federal Credit Union, donated...

Wescom CU Plans New Anaheim Operation.
February 1, 2006... PASADENA, Calif. -- Wescom Credit Union said it has acquired a four-story, 117,523 square-foot office building in nearby Anaheim where it plans to open an administration center. The $2.5-billion credit union plans to employ 300 people, and...

Product & Service.
February 1, 2006... Gift Card Solution Is Available TUKWILA, Wash.-Member Access Pacific is offering a turnkey solution for clients to sell gift cards to members foregoing the cost of creating their own program. The Visa-based debit cards are in denominations...

Hiring of New NAFCU Lobbyist Raises Eyebrows.
February 1, 2006... ARLINGTON, Va. -- The hiring of banking lobbyist Dan Berger to be the new chief lobbyist for NAFCU has raised some serious questions among the credit union faithful. The consensus is that the former lobbyist for America's Community...

Realignment Has Begun On The NAFCU Board.
February 1, 2006... ARLINGTON, Va. -- As predicted in this space last week, the realignment on the NAFCU Board has begun, as Bill Cheney made his departure official (see related story, page 5). The soon-to-be former CEO of Xerox FCU pretty much had to resign...

NAFCU Fined By FEC For Campaign Reporting.
February 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Election Commission said it fined NAFCU $1,000 for failing to report a large portion of funds raised at the end of the last elections. The FEC noted that the post-election report that NAFCU submitted after the...

Hush, Hush: Is It Ever All Right Not To Tell Members About A Security Breach?
February 1, 2006... SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- When hackers steal credit card and social security numbers, members should know-sometimes. Credit unions must notify their members of data breaches, according to the NCUA and proposed federal legislation, which follows...

Technology News.
February 1, 2006... Contactless Payment At Major League Sports ATLANTA-Fans of the Atlanta Hawks basketball and Atlanta Thrashers hockey teams are being invited to test-pilot a new technology that will allow them to make contactless payments at concession...

Leave Your Mark: Will Your Members Fear The Fingerpad Or Embrace The Enhanced Security of Biometrics.
February 1, 2006... OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Fingerprint identification: for some, it's like getting the cold shoulder. Every now and then, a Department of Public Safety (DPS) FCU member is "put off" when their hometown CU teller asks them to use the biometric...

Digital Insight Adds Single Sign-On Capability.
February 2, 2006... CALABASAS, Calif. -- Digital Insight Corp. has added a single sign-on capability (SSO) to its business banking ASP suite of solutions. Adding SSO allows business customers to securely conduct a broader range of online banking functions in a...

ITems.
February 2, 2006... Pay By Touch On Shopping Binge SAN FRANCISCO-Biometric solutions provider Pay By Touch, developer of the fingerprint payment terminal, said it has continued its recent acquisitions streak and agreed to buy two providers of loyalty...

Go (con)Figure!: How Ent FCU Maintains Network Configuration With A Click.
February 2, 2006... COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Anti-virus software is missing entirely. Security patches are months behind. Spyware is alive and kicking, thanks to the electronic picture viewer that employee downloaded. These scenarios are all too common:...

Royal CU Moves To Multi-Factor Authentication.
February 2, 2006... EAU CLAIRE, Wis. -- Royal Credit Union has selected Cyota, a provider of authentication and anti-fraud solutions for financial institutions, to provide multi-factor authentication for its members. RCU will implement Cyota's eSphinx Risk...

Digital Insight Adds Single Sign-On Capability.
February 2, 2006... AUSTIN, Texas -- Teres Solutions, Inc., a provider of direct and indirect lending software to financial institutions, announced that Stanford Federal Credit Union (SFCU) has selected the SAIL (Software Application for Integrated Lending)...

Taking IT Off The Street: How One CU Found Value By Bringing Mortgage Technology Back In House.
February 2, 2006... OSHTEMO, Mich. -- If you build a mortgage loan program in-house, they will come. Consumers Credit Union moved mortgage tools in-house in 2004, investing more than $40,000 in technology and about $6,000 for annual maintenance, according to...

READER QUESTION #1.
February 2, 2006... We have a relatively small IT department and are looking for suggestions on how to make our board more aware of the work we do and what's involved from our side in many of the projects undertaken, without setting up an invitation for board...

READER QUESTION #2.
February 2, 2006... Have any of the providers on your panel done any tracking of the effectiveness of the different types of so-called "new media," such as in-branch video messaging, website banners, e-mail messages or even podcast messages? What works, and just...

eCU Technologies Renews Multiple CU Contracts.
February 2, 2006... HARRISBURG, Penn. -- In the last month, eCU Technologies has re-signed four credit unions to use its consulting and programming services, along with adding a new client. The returning credit unions include: AmeriCU, $534 million in assets and...

Fiserv To Offer 'Wisdom' To CU Clients.
February 2, 2006... BROOKFIELD, Wis. -- Fiserv announced that the seven business units in its Credit Union Industry & Products Group are integrating their core processing systems with the Wisdom Financial Management suite, which provides comprehensive accounting...

Hanscom, United Heritage Use ATM Locator.
February 3, 2006... HANSCOM AFB, Maine -- Since introducing an ATM search engine, Hanscom FCU is reporting that frontline staff and members have saved considerable time finding the locations of ATM with LocatorSearch, an online search engine that can quickly find...

CUTEK Exceeds First Year Expectations.
February 3, 2006... MURRIETA, Calif. -- CUTEK, a financial technology consulting firm for credit unions (using Symitar's Episys system), reported it exceeded its first year expectations signing a total of 32 new clients during 2005. Among its other...

Acquisitions, Security Solutions Highlighted.
February 3, 2006... VALLEY FORGE, Penn -- USERS Incorporated, a unit of Fiserv, Inc. signed 16 new or converted, credit unions to USERS' growing client base in 2005. USERS also renewed relationships with 122 current clients that signed agreements for hardware...

Summit Expands Collections Options for Clients.
February 3, 2006... CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Fiserv's Summit Information System has joined forces with Akcelerent Software LLC to offer a real time interface to its CollectAnywhere collections solution. Data integration between Summit Spectrum and Akcelerant...

Connects FCU Upgrades Technology to OSI.
February 3, 2006... GLASTONBURY, Conn. -- Connects FCU in Richmond, Va., selected Open Solutions Inc.'s The Complete Credit Union Solution, a relational core data processing platform for credit unions, to address its enterprise-wide data processing needs. ...

FSTC Removes Major Obstacle to Check 21.
February 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- The Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) successfully concluded phase II of its Image Quality and Usability Assurance Project. The project's goals were to produce a set of metrics against which check images could be...

'Small-Time' Mortgage Program Still Demands Big-Time Security.
February 3, 2006... NEW HARTFORD, NY -- This mortgage program may be small-time, but it demands big-time information security. For $169-million First Source Federal Credit Union, that means automated encryption for e-mails containing applicants' private...

SRP CU First In Arizona To Offer Managed Identity Theft Protection.
February 3, 2006... PHOENIX, Ariz. -- SRP Credit Union has become the first CU in the Grand Canyon State to offer a managed identity theft program for its primary members. With identity theft a growing and seemingly never-ending crime, many credit unions...

Tax Incentive Drives HQ Project.
February 3, 2006... HILLIARD, Ohio -- City fathers are offering the Credit Union of Ohio a tax break to build a new headquarters building here. The city plans to introduce a proposal next week that would provide a 100% property tax abatement on the...

Plastic Fantastic Lights Up Wallet.
February 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- GemPlus, a French smart-card manufacturer, has launched a new range of innovative cards that can be transparent, three-dimensional, scented or even glow in the dark. The series, called Plastic Fantastic, will allow card issuers...

Telephone Workers CU Looks To Closed Military Base For Branch Expansion.
February 6, 2006... BOSTON -- The $550-million Telephone Workers Credit Union is among those expressing interest in expanding into a closed military base. The 28,000-member credit union is in the preliminary phase of opening a new location at the former South...

High Fuel Cost Drives Northeastern CUs To Offer Loans For Heating Bills.
February 6, 2006... BAILEYVILLE, Maine -- Due to some of the highest fuel costs ever to face the nation, many credit unions in this northeastern state have decided to help members with low- or zero-percent interest loans to buy fuel for the winter. The Maine...

About The Cohen Brown Sales Management System.
February 6, 2006... LOS ANGELES -- Cohen Brown, a 27-year-old consultant firm, takes a behavioral approach to helping organizations-mostly in the financial services sector-develop a corporate culture of sales and service. This behavioral approach can be...

Teen Sentenced In CU Stand-off.
February 6, 2006... COLUMBUS, Ind. -- An 18-year-old male who held 20 people at gunpoint at Centra CU last July was sentenced to six years in prison. Police said Galen Kroger staged the assault not to rob the credit union but to provoke police into killing...

Hitting The Brakes: CUs Make Plans In Wake Of Auto Lay-Offs.
February 6, 2006... DETROIT, Mich. -- Credit unions across the nation are making plans to help their members-and themselves-in the wake of Ford Motor Co.'s announcement last week that it would cut some 34,000 jobs by 2008. While some CU leaders are discussing...

Hitting The Gas: CUs Forcing Dealers To Take Notice.
February 6, 2006... RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- With all the groaning over the high price of gas, here's a piece of irony: the vehicle that saw the sharpest increase in sales during 2005 was, of all things, the gas-guzzling Hummer. "I was surprised to see...

WesCom CU Plans Credit Card Bank.
February 6, 2006... PASADENA, Calif. -- Yet another new player emerged last week in the increasingly competitive market for credit union credit card portfolios, this one to be the first bank owned by a single credit union. Credit union giant Wescom CU said...

Kampen Returns, Forms New Firm.
February 6, 2006... KANSAS CITY -- Former U.S. Central Corporate CEO Dan Kampen has reemerged in the credit union movement with the creation of The Rochdale Group and its purchase of consulting firm Counterintelligence Associates. Kampen has teamed up with...

Calif. CU Expands Health Care With 'Alternative' Choice.
February 6, 2006... DOWNEY, Calif. -- While many employers are cutting back on healthcare benefits, Financial Partners Credit Union is giving its staff more choices with the addition of an "alternative medicine" health plan that includes acupuncture and...

On Deadline.
February 6, 2006... NCUF Officials Disburse $300K In New Orleans NEW ORLEANS-Top executives with the National Federation of CDCUs last week visited here to distribute $300,000 in grants to help area community development credit unions rebuild from Hurricane...

Boom or Bust.
February 7, 2006... I received a couple of letters from readers following December's publication of our Top 50 list. My two correspondents were both essentially making the same point: How could we justify lauding advisers who rely heavily on annuity sales for...

Clearing Firms Upgrade Workstation Technology.
February 7, 2006... A rep's best friend today is surely his or her workstation, which provides access to customer information, the ability to enter orders, and the most direct means to answer customer questions. Those workstations come from a wide variety of...

Authentication: The Big Security Choice: To Be Visible or Not?: WaMu, Boiling Springs take different security paths.
February 7, 2006... When the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council established its two-factor authentication guidelines in October 2005, it gave the industry until the end of 2006 to conform. Two banks at opposite ends of the size spectrum-Washington...

Fraud Scoring: An Early Look at Corporate Trouble: D&B, Experian products gain bankers' attention.
February 7, 2006... Banks have long analyzed pros-pective corporate customers before extending loans. But that analysis is usually contained to the creditworthiness of the firm and, in the case of small businesses, the principals involved. Now, new technology...

Oregon CUs, Banks Cancel Cards After Security Alert.
February 7, 2006... CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Several credit unions and banks in this market cancelled debit cards last week after a security alert from Fair, Isaac & Co. indicated the cards may have been compromised. OSU FCU cancelled 1,200 of its members cards and...

Miss. Regulator Takes Over CU, Dismisses Board, CEO.
February 7, 2006... GULFPORT, Miss. -- The president of the Gulfport CBC CU and its board of directors were dismissed and the credit union placed into federal conservatorship while state banking regulators look into alleged mismanagement of funds. An official...

Texas Telethon Raises PAC Money.
February 7, 2006... FARMERS BRANCH, Texas -- The Texas Credit Union League had raised $25,000 for its TCUL PAC at its first ever telethon last week, and money was still coming in at press time. Even before the official close of business, the trade group had...

Worth Noting.
February 7, 2006... NCUA Plans Small CU Workshops ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA has announced the 2006 schedule for 20 training workshops hosted by its Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives. The workshops are free to credit unions and will discuss current issues...

What Volunteer Leaders Think About Leadership.
February 7, 2006... As credit unions have grown in assets, so has discussion of what comprises leadership. Not surprisingly, it's the subject of much discussion when credit union CEOs (or those aspiring to be) gather. But what is often missing in this...

The Mobile Membership: Documents Must Join Members On The Web.
February 7, 2006... No one would argue that life is much different in the United States from 20, 10, or even five years ago. We have become an increasingly mobile and transient society, thanks in large part to technology. People are no longer confined to cities,...

UMA Potential Went Untapped Last Year.
February 8, 2006... Hyped by some as the future of fee-based investment products, unified managed accounts (UMAs) have not lived up to expectations. "A lot of comments and positions on UMAs were very aspirational," says Dan McNamara, a managing director in...

First Tennessee Could See Writing on Fund-Unit Wall.
February 8, 2006... Shrinking assets under management and rising compliance costs has forced First Tennessee Bank to yield to the same realities that had pushed other midsize banks out of proprietary fund management in the past couple of years. "Smaller...

Broker Servicing: Help for a New Biz: Holding loans longer necessitates new tech.
February 8, 2006... Steve Stripp hopes to make his job and the lives of his staff a little easier, even though his business is becoming much more complicated. Like a lot of mortgage brokers, Stripp, who's an executive at Absolute Home Mortgage Corp. in West...

CheckFree: A Payments Revolution 25 Years in The Making.
February 8, 2006... The evolution of electronic payments has come a long way. By 2010, Forrester projects 52 percent of U.S. online households will be paying bills over the Internet-with Gen Xers and Gen Yers comprising 67 percent of electronic bill presentment...

A Lesson To Be Learned: Why Board Governance Is So Critically Important.
February 8, 2006... What do recent events in Washington, a piece of research undertaken earlier this year by the Filene Research Institute, and a series of events on the other side of the world 10 years ago have in common? And why would these three events send a...

Loan, Share Characteristics Examined In Survey.
February 8, 2006... ARLINGTON, Va. -- NAFCU has released an analysis examining the characteristics of loans and shares at credit unions. Released this month, the analysis is based on credit unions that participate in its Flash Report survey. Among NAFCU's...

Product & Service.
February 8, 2006... myCUmortgage Adds Clients FAIRBORN, Ohio-myCUmortgage recently announced six new clients, all of which had been signed to CUNA Mutual Mortgage. The six new clients are: Cardinal FCU, Day Air CU, Fiberglas FCU, Midwest Community CU, Toledo...

Webcasts Continue To Grow In Effectiveness, Usage.
February 8, 2006... SAN DIMAS, Calif. -- After years of development, webcasting has evolved from being "cool" to being an effective "tool." The technology has to come into its own as a functional and reliable method of communication and education for...

Service CU Sees Opportunity In Wal-Mart Branches.
February 8, 2006... PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- While community banks around the country are fighting an application from Wal-Mart to gain a bank charter, officials with Service Credit Union say they are excited about the chance to open seven new branches inside the...

Product & Service.
February 8, 2006... Great American Joins CUSC ARVADA, Colo.-CU Service Network reported that Great American Community Credit Union has joined its network, bringing the number of credit unions in the network to 58. Additionally, GACCU, with locations in...

Product News.
February 9, 2006... EverBank has launched the MarketSafe Gold Bullion CD, a certificate of deposit available to investors through an adviser. In exchange for a minimum deposit of $1,500 for five years, customers are guaranteed 100% principal investment protection,...

Tools & Resources.
February 9, 2006... AIM Investments has published its Lifetime Income Planning Program, a business building plan designed to provide financial advisers with tools to help those clients expecting to retire in the next 10 years. The program covers various topics,...

Risk Management: BITS Offers Outsourcing Report Card: Pooled outsourcer assessments offer banks and vendors uniform reviews of risk management capabilities.
February 9, 2006... A BITS-led consortium of banks and service providers is launching a program this month that aims to create standardized IT outsourcer risk-management assessments to aid banks in shopping for vendors. The BITS Financial Institution Shared...

News Makers.
February 9, 2006... SARS Secrecy Softens: Sharing Data Is Now OK Banking regulators are permitting institutions to share information on suspicious-activity reports with corporate parent organizations, even overseas headquarters. Previously, the Financial...

2 New NCUA Board Members Outline Agenda Before Reps From State League System.
February 9, 2006... NAPLES, Fla. -- In remarks before a group of credit union league executives, a NCUA board member Gigi Hyland reiterated her support for the role the leagues play and called on the leagues to "continue to strive to assure credit unions' future...

Unable To Find A CU To Move In, Group Seeks To Start Its Own From Ground Up.
February 9, 2006... BATTLE CREEK, Mich. -- Unable to find any support to bring financial services to a low-income portion of this market, community leaders and residents here are moving ahead to create a community development credit union themselves. The...

At Blue Oceans Workshop, Credit Unions Seek A Bigger Catch Of Competiveness.
February 9, 2006... MALVERN, Penn. -- Seeking to leverage the best selling book on business strategy, the Filene Research Institute gathered some 70 credit union executives here to discuss ways to become more competitive. The two-day workshop was entitled...

In Booming Border Town, Jumbo CD Offer Helps To Fund Loan Demand.
February 9, 2006... DEL RIO, Texas -- Business is booming in this fast-growing city, and Border Federal Credit Union recently extended its non-member jumbo deposit program to meet continued strong loan demand. Elda Morin, an accounting assistant with Border...

Study: Consumers OK With Some Fees, Not Others.
February 9, 2006... CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Not surprisingly, consumers are not affected uniformly by financial institution fees, according to new research. More suprising, however, is how the type of fees may affect how satisfied consumers are with their institution....

Style & Design Rule.
February 9, 2006... RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- The quality gap among automakers is shrinking, and that means style and design is now king, according to one expert. "It used to be there was a major difference in quality between foreign makes and domestics,...

Learning Curve: How one rep who wasn't afraid to ask (and pay) for help has found it is boosting his production.
February 10, 2006... For Dennis Zanowski, vice president of wealth management services at Missouri State Bank and Trust, brokerage business can't grow in the dark. It needs to be open to the various elements that make up a good network of sustenance and growth. ...

Supercharging Brokerage: How TPMs are bringing big-bank investment services to the little guy.
February 10, 2006... For many smaller banks, entering the investment business is a significant challenge-it's expensive, complicated, fraught with regulatory risk and easy to fail at. However, the bank channel is so potentially lucrative that some broker-dealers...

Health Plan Finance: U.S. Bank Seeks Out a Healthy HSA IT Bench: The bank's entered into a partnership with Subimo to share tech tools that will help the financial institution offer healthcare finance to its institutional clients.
February 10, 2006... In a nod to the growing importance of health-savings accounts, U.S. Bank has partnered with Subimo of Chicago to offer its platform of health decision-support tools to the bank's institutional clients' employees and retail customers. Under...

Top Tech Deals.
February 10, 2006... Number One Lehman Brothers is looking to improve execution management for institutional investor clients, and part of the effort is its purchase of Townsend Analytics, which sells RealTick-a multi-broker, multi-asset, direct market access...

CUNA Mutual Makes Senior-Level Changes.
February 10, 2006... MADISON, Wis. -- CUNA Mutual Group has named Don Davidson to lead its Credit Union System Relations area. Davidson will have primary accountability for building and strengthening relationships with leagues, corporate credit unions and...

NACUSO, BISA To More Formally Collaborate.
February 10, 2006... NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- The National Association of CUSOs (NACUSO) said it plans to more formally collaborate with the Bank Insurance and Securities Association (BISA), Wayne, Penn. "Since the Gramm-Leach-Bliley regulation, depository...

Worth Noting.
February 10, 2006... Two To Join Foundation Board WASHINGTON-The National Credit Union Foundation has added two new members to its board, reelected three incumbents, and reappointed its four officers. New to the board are: John Gregoire, co-founder/partner of...

CUNA Questions Early Indicators Of Effects Of Bankruptcy Reform Bill.
February 10, 2006... WASHINGTON -- CUNA issued a statement last week indicating it remains too early to gauge the effects of the 2005 bankruptcy reform bill, which makes it harder for consumers to walk away from debt. CUNA Senior VP-Regulatory Compliance Kathy...

FASB Merger Plan Likely Is Delayed.
February 10, 2006... WASHINGTON -- In a briefing before representatives of CUNA, Jeff Mahoney, counsel to the chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), said proposals that would alter the way credit unions account for mergers will likely be...

The 9 Circles of Success: For Individuals & CU Boards (From a Certain You-Know-Who's Boyfriend).
February 10, 2006... MAUI, Hawaii -- A man perhaps as well-known for his girlfriend as his own professional accomplishments had some advice for credit union volunteers when it comes to leadership. In particular, the advice focused on how credit union volunteers...

Catching Up with the Law: How TPMs are coping with the Merrill Lynch Exemption.
February 13, 2006... Banks look to third-party marketers (TPMs) to limit their own compliance liability, especially considering the potential fallout from the passage of the so-called Merrill Rule, officially known as the Merrill Lynch Exemption, which allows...

Letter Perfect: As exchange-traded funds proliferate, planners find that they're useful for alpha as well as beta.
February 13, 2006... Just a few years ago, newcomers to exchange-traded funds could be forgiven for thinking they had wandered into a zoo. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with names like SPDRs and VIPERs were on display for investors, but few understood them. Today,...

Storage Problems: Info and Productivity Have Jammed the In-Box: Research shows people are spending so much time sifting for old information in email archives that it's causing them to fall behind on regular work.
February 13, 2006... Email was supposed to replace inter-office messages, sticky pads and while-you-were-out slips as a quick, efficient way for employees to communicate and send simple information back and forth-stuff like meeting times, appointments and reminders...

Biometrics: What's Around the Bend? It's All On the Inside.: Use for retail customer applications remains slow, but security standards are pointing the way for rising adoption for internal and corporate treasury operations.
February 13, 2006... Despite its infancy and a low public profile, biometric auth-entication technology still has the potential to elevate into mainstream banking and payments use, says a new report from the Aite Group in Boston. Just don't expect it to come from...