Banking Wire articles from January 2005

Banking Wire archives from January 2005

Product & Service.
January 3, 2005... Certegy, Raddon To Partner ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.-Certegy Card Services, a provider of card processing, payments and e-banking services to financial institutions, is partnering with Raddon Financial Group to provide Certegy's clientele with...

Colo./Wyoming League Introduces New Small CU Initiative.
January 3, 2005... The Colorado Credit Union League is preparing to unveil a new initiative designed to help small-to-medium sized CUs in Colorado and Wyoming, league officials said. The venture, known as the Credit Union Resource Group, or CURG, has been in...

Maine League Rolling Out Statewide TV Commercials.
January 3, 2005... The Maine Credit Union League is about to launch a statewide media campaign to help set the record straight about the credit union difference. "We want to really let people know-some for the first time-that there is a credit union in the...

Product & Service.
January 3, 2005... Credit Union 24 Makes Payout TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-Credit Union 24 will pay its network-participating credit unions more than $3-million in cash rewards from October 2003 through September 2004. The $3.1-million payout is a result of Credit...

CFA: 'High Risks' In Online Payday Lenders' Websites.
January 3, 2005... The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) said its survey of 100 Internet payday loan sites found that small loans involving electronic access to consumers' checking accounts poses high risks to consumers who borrow money by transmitting...

Study: Ontario's CUs Role Grows In RE, Biz Loans.
January 3, 2005... A new study indicates that Ontario's credit unions and caisses populaires are playing an increasingly large role in real estate lending and small business lending in the province. According to a survey released by Credit Union Central of...

People.
January 3, 2005... Sterlent Credit Union, Pleasanton, Calif., named Dan Kygar vice president of lending and collections, Diane Buckley corporate sales manager, and John R. Rodriguez director of training. AltaOne Federal Credit Union, ridgecrest, Calif., named...

Illinois CU League, Banks Join To Sue State For Raiding Dedicated Funds.
January 3, 2005... The Illinois CU League filed suit in state court here last week challenging the state's raiding of the previously dedicated CU Fund for general purposes. "Our members are very interested in seeing that the funds we pay to the state stay...

CU Message To Air During Hula Bowl.
January 3, 2005... It will be hard to miss the credit union message when college football's Hula Bowl airs Jan. 22. The game, which pits college all-stars from around the U.S. against each other, will be broadcast on ESPN2 and will be referred to by announcers as...

Campaigns Win Awards, Business.
January 3, 2005... The $275-million SSA Baltimore FCU won a Trailblazer Award for Best Marketing Campaign in its asset category from the Maryland league. It was recognized for its "Looking for Something Better" campaign, which primarily utilized direct mail and...

Entertaining Checks Highlight Special FOM.
January 4, 2005... First Entertainment Credit Union has introduced a check series featuring graphics related to its primarily entertainment industry field of membership. The check backgrounds, designed by Hollister, Calif.-based Redbeard Communications,...

Lessons The Wind Blew In: Three Credit Unions That Experienced Recent Hurricanes Offer Insights On Data Back-Up.
January 4, 2005... Tim Beeson is convinced that backup-to-disc solutions-not conventional backups-to-tape-are the way to go for disaster and data recovery. That's just one of the technology practices the Data Processing Manager at $4.4-billion Suncoast...

Technology News: TowerGroup Notes 5 Myths In Biller-Direct.
January 4, 2005... TowerGroup said it has identified five myths associated with the success of biller-direct websites. Among those myths: the belief that these sites immediately credit consumers' accounts for online payments; that consumers can pay by credit...

CubicsPlus Seen As Way For Small CUs To Act Big.
January 4, 2005... Small credit unions can afford the advanced, in-house architecture used in larger CU core processing systems with the wider release of the CubicsPlus platform. The CUBICS offspring will bring up to speed approximately 260 IntegraSys credit...

Two Years After Conversion From A Legacy Platform...
January 4, 2005... VyStar Credit Union employees are in a groove with their current data processing system, two years after it converted from a legacy platform. And yet there's still much to learn, according to Terry West, CEO at the $2.9-billion CU. ...

Technology News.
January 4, 2005... 4 More CUs Move To USERS VALLEY FORGE, Penn.-Four more credit unions have selected USERS, Inc. to provide core data processing services. The $115-million Amarillo Community FCU in Amarillo, Texas has selected USERS' DataSafe In-House...

Waging War on the Wait: How Some CUs Are Handling Never-Ending Task Of Updating The Website.
January 4, 2005... Life online is changing, and credit unions are trying to keep up. A decade after the first credit union launched a website, this year for the first time more than half of U.S. credit unions have websites, according to Callahan & Associates....

ID Check: Two CUs Credit PATRIOT Act With Helping To Cut ID Fraud.
January 4, 2005... The US PATRIOT Act has pushed two credit unions to better protect their members from fraud, according to CU representatives. "Even though the PATRIOT Act is controversial, it has given us the opportunity to tighten our identity verification...

The Technology Choices Credit Unions Are Making.
January 4, 2005... LA Financial Members' Questions Are Answered LOS ANGELES, Calif.-The $292-million L.A. Financial Credit Union has selected Fuze MemberLink to provide answers for both members and staff about its products. Available from Fuze Digital...

Firm Reaching Out To Credit Unions With Solution For Managing ATM Fleet.
January 4, 2005... For many credit unions, automated teller machines are a necessary evil. Few CUs have the internal resources to design the member-facing screens, monitor the machines for trouble and fix problems, which forces them to rely on third-party...

CECU Adds Layer of Security.
January 5, 2005... The $240-million San Antonio City Employees FCU (CECU) has added an additional layer of security to its laptop computers through a biometrics and user keystroke recognition solution provided by BioNet Systems and its BioPassword product. ...

GalaxyPlus Offers CUs Turn-Key Marketing.
January 5, 2005... GalaxyPlus Credit Union Systems, a unit of Fiserv, Inc., has introduced SMS, a turn-key marketing solution for credit unions. SMS, based on SEDONA Corp. CRM technology, allows GalaxyPlus to offer customers a complete view of their members as...

Four Move To Integrasys; ID Verification Debuts.
January 5, 2005... IntegraSys, a unit of Fiserv, Inc., has signed four new credit union customers to its Premier credit union service bureau core processing solution. In addition, 26 credit unions renewed their agreements for Premier in 2004 through the third...

Members Group Rolls Out 'Revolutionary' Vault.
January 5, 2005... The Members Group has developed an Internet-based reporting solution that is now available to credit unions that offer credit, debit or ATM card products. "The Vault is a revolutionary product," said Jeff Russell, CIO and vice president of...

Open Tech Solutions, uMonitor In Partnership.
January 5, 2005... Open Technology Solutions, LLC, a CUSO, said it has partnered with uMonitor to automate new member enrollment, cutting the time it takes to open new accounts from 40 minutes to around seven minutes. The system automates such new account...

Tinker FCU To Integrate Dozen WRG Solutions.
January 5, 2005... Wescom Resources Group (WRG), a provider of cost-effective and comprehensive technology solutions to credit unions and a CUSO of Wescom Credit Union, said that Tinker Federal Credit Union will integrate a dozen WRG software solutions upon...

Kraft Foods FCU Selects Digital Insight.
January 5, 2005... Digital Insight Corp., an online banking provider, said that Kraft Foods FCU has activated a full suite of multi-channel integrated consumer lending solutions from the company, including AnyTimeLender, DeskTopLender, ContactCenterLender and...

The ABC's of E-Statements: What To Consider When Making The Move From Paper.
January 5, 2005... Online loan approvals, bill payment and check reorders...like many areas of credit union service that have undergone technological revolution in recent years, monthly account statements, the most basic service of them all, also has taken to the...

Help, I'm Online And I Can't Get Off: E-Mail, IM Addictions Create New Problems For CUs.
January 5, 2005... Many things affect productivity in the workplace, either for the better or for worse. As managers we are trained to pickup on clues and behaviors that can have adverse impacts on productivity, and we most often focus on tardiness, absenteeism,...

Community Page.
January 5, 2005... GPNECU Celebrates 75 Anniversary ATLANTA-Georgia Power Northeast Credit Union is celebrating its 75th anniversary and recently broke ground for its first freestanding main office in Athens. CU One Donates To Cancer Fund Credit...

Thinking Outside the Box.
January 6, 2005... In a recent story in BIC's sister publication American Banker, Robert Reid, an executive vice president and director of Wachovia Corp.'s strategic retirement initiative, talked about the Charlotte, N.C., banking giant's plans to grow retirement...

Technology Spurs Banks to Switch Clearing Firms.
January 6, 2005... Brokerage firms typically view any change in clearing firms with horror, given that conversions rarely go smoothly and almost always result in disruptions to accounts and the potential for irate customers. And yet at least five brokerage arms...

Disaster Recovery: How Banks Faced 'ivan The Terrible': A lively hurricane season put plans to the test.
January 6, 2005... Disaster recovery can often seem like a very theoretical problem, the perception often being that the most likely real-world disaster will be a power outage lasting a few hours. But tell that to the bankers of Florida and the Gulf Cost, which...

Payments: PNC Renews the Virtual Debit Card: An old idea looks for a receptive environment.
January 6, 2005... PNC Bank rolled out a new program in time for the holiday shopping season, which is designed to alleviate consumers' security concerns on on-line commerce. The program, a "virtual debit card" called eSpend, is more of a recycled idea with...

The CU journal Daily.
January 6, 2005... Pressure Builds To Check The Float WASHINGTON-A group of Democratic lawmakers, following in the footsteps of Republican leaders, called on the Federal Reserve to adjust its permitted hold times on checks in light of the expedited clearing...

20% Of 'Premier Members' Making Deposits Online.
January 6, 2005... eCU Technologies, a provider of automated financial service technology solutions to credit unions, said that since Southland Credit Union installed its Upost@Home solution, some 20% of "premier members" have been using the technology to make...

Conversion Attempt By Michigan CU Fails.
January 6, 2005... The $1.1-billion Lake Michigan Credit Union here will not convert to a mutual savings bank after it failed to gain the necessary two-thirds vote from members. In the wake of the vote, one person was describing Michigan's laws on...

Shutting The Doors In Utah: Court Ruling On FOM Has CUs Turning Away New Members.
January 6, 2005... NCUA directed three Utah credit unions to virtually cease taking new members because of a federal court ruling invalidating their community charters. The federal regulator also directed Tooele FCU to revert to its previous one-county...

Toeing the Party Line.
January 6, 2005... After reading Karen Krebsbach's article entitled "The Next Four Years" (Inside Track, December 2004), I am amazed by her slant. Could she possibly be any more of a Democrat? "Let's create a workable plan to payoff the deficit in four years. And...

MasterCard. Visa. Amex. Welcome to the Sandbox.: MasterCard and Visa have long held banks' feet to the fire for even dreaming of taking "the customer always comes first" approach by issuing American Express cards.
January 6, 2005... American Express struck yet another blow against MasterCard and Visa when it revealed that Citibank had agreed to issue credit cards in the U.S., accepted on Amex's global merchant network, beginning in late 2005. Says Amex chief executive...

Complexity Stunts 529 Plan Growth.
January 7, 2005... Sales of 529 college savings accounts continued to lag in the third quarter of 2004 as some analysts began to worry that the once-hot product's complexity and regulatory uncertainties are sapping its momentum. In the quarter ended Sept. 30,...

Advisers Mull Newly Registered Hedge Funds.
January 7, 2005... Hedge funds will soon be required to take the first big step toward becoming more transparent and easier for financial advisers to discuss with their clients. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) passed a rule in October 2004 requiring...

Can IT Investments Sustain Growth Across FIs?
January 7, 2005... As CEOs and CFOs become more involved in how technology investments will shape the growth and operational efficiency of their financial organizations, CIOs across the industry are finding that what they bring to the table is vital to ensuring...

Processing: BB&T Cashes In Its CHIPS For a Better Backstop: Concerns over disaster recovery spell a need for a second STP location.
January 7, 2005... The need to have safety backup is pervasive, touching all aspects of a financial institution's business-and BB&T is among those finding that payments processing is no exception. That's one of the major reasons why the institution is adding...

Deere In The Headlines: American Icon Asks Affiliated CUs To Change Their Names.
January 7, 2005... Deere & Company, the iconic American manufacturer of farm and lawn equipment, has asked three of the four credit unions using a portion of the John Deere name to change their names by the end of 2007. The company, which stressed was not...

Firings Of Fannie Mae Execs To Effect Washington Agenda.
January 7, 2005... The secondary mortgage markets, the underpinnings of the nation's housing finance, were roiled again last week when the board of Fannie Mae fired the company's Chief Executive Franklin Raines and Chief Financial Officer Timothy Howard over the...

On Deadline.
January 7, 2005... Union Sends Santa To Visit CMG Chairman COLUMBUS, Ind.-A not-so-jolly Santa look-alike visited CUNA Mutual Group Chairman Loretta Burd at her Centra CU office here last week to deliver a Christmas card urging Burd to get the CMG board to...

Banks Have Another Strong Qtr.
January 7, 2005... The U.S. banking industry continues to report strong operating results. During the third quarter of 2004, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reported that the larger, federally chartered banks showed an annualized return...

Compensation: The Compliance Officer Rises to the C-Suite: His growing clout is prompting salary spikes.
January 7, 2005... Who's the most valuable person in your bank? Not the CEO, not the COO, not the CFO. Today that lofty designation most likely belongs to another: the compliance officer, whom recruiters say has become the hottest commodity in the industry. ...

Performance: Big Banks Claim Decent '04, But Expect '05 Challenges: Damning banks with faint praise last year.
January 7, 2005... Take your pick of expressions that convey mediocrity: solid accomplishment; mixed bag; decent but not great; improving but more work to do. If you talk to industry analysts about the performance of large U.S. banks in 2004, you'll hear all of...

Product News.
January 10, 2005... Colorado's CollegeInvest division is now offering the Direct Portfolio 529 College Savings plan. Managed by Vanguard, it consists of three age-based options and eight individual portfolios. CollegeInvest has also added Multiple Discipline...

It's the Company You Keep: Bremer's Randy Birkenbine builds his book--and the bank's--by targeting commercial clients' employees.
January 10, 2005... Randy Birkenbine found himself in a difficult position when his longtime employer, financial services firm Lutheran Brotherhood, merged in March 2001 with local competitor Aid Association to Lutherans to create Thrivent Financial for Lutherans,...

News Makers.
January 10, 2005... Finance execs Prepping for spending hikes Nobody's waiting for the booming '90s to return, but CFOs do expect accelerated growth in capital and technology spending in the next 12 months. According to the December "CFO Outlook Survey" by...

Top Tech Deals.
January 10, 2005... Number one Oracle signed an agreement to buy PeopleSoft for $10.3 billion in cash, ending a long and controversial acquisition battle. Oracle says the deal is expected to increase its earnings per share by one cent in fiscal 2005. ...

Worth Noting.
January 10, 2005... MCUL To Reduce Fees $500K PLYMOUTH, Mich.-The Michigan Credit Union League (MCUL) approved a one-time $500,000 reduction in membership fees-an estimated 24% reduction for Michigan credit unions in 2005. The MCUL board followed a...

The Christmas Gift 104,000 People Don't Know They Got.
January 10, 2005... Considered extremely rare, The Credit Union Journal has nonetheless obtained a copy of a letter from Santa. We're not saying who leaked the letter to us, other than it was someone who is stature-challenged and is employed in a workshop, but...

Why Directors' Statements Were Unsettling.
January 10, 2005... It is almost always dangerous to comment on something when your knowledge is limited to an article published about the subject. But the article that appeared in The Credit Union Journal (CU Journal, Nov. 8) documenting the negative reactions of...

How To Take The Longer View.
January 10, 2005... When credit unions get the results from a survey, they often wish they had several years' worth of data against which to compare them. Yet even today they're not collecting certain types of information that could supply the baseline for future...

FreshInk.
January 10, 2005... 1. Community Banks plans to buy PennRock Financial Services for $326 million in stock. Officials say the deal merges two fast-growing, community-minded banks to create a $3 billion institution in central Pennsylvania. Penn Rock CEO Melvin...

Customer Service: Fending Off Consumer Rage: Most don't want their money back, just to be heard.
January 10, 2005... In a recent survey of customer service among a field of industries, financial services distinguished itself by making customers consistently angrier than any other industry. The Customer Care Alliance survey sought information about an...

Planning For The Really Long Term: Target-date funds eschew risk tolerance criteria for a strategy dependent on time-and they're starting to make waves in the bank channel.
January 11, 2005... As financial services become more complex, some banks are starting to notice an unusual phenomenon: A growing number of clients don't want to have to think about their investments; instead they would rather set it and forget it. In part a...

Banks Shift Gears in 2005.
January 11, 2005... As the new millennium enters its fifth year, 2005 looks like it will be an eventful one for bank-based financial advisers and their parent institutions. If the market moves upward instead of sideways, squeamish investors may finally embrace the...

Paper-Less: The March of E-Payments Hits a Big Milestone: The Fed says Americans are using electronic channels more than checks for the first time.
January 11, 2005... There was no ceremony to mark the occasion, but there's no question the changes in American payment habits have hit a substantial symbolic marker; the use of credit cards, debit cards and e-billing passed paper checks for the first time ever in...

Compliance: Insurers Should Focus on: Strategic, Not Tactical, Fixes Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, HIPAA, The USA Patriot Act. This alphabet soup is tough on a budget.
January 11, 2005... The compliance department's main function, according to Celent Communications analyst Matthew Josefowicz, is to "step on the brake, pester everyone with demands, and, generally make it difficult to get things done." If so, insurance companies...

D'Amours Still Finds Way To Ruin Lunch.
January 11, 2005... As I sat for my 10 minutes of lunch, I read the article titled "In Remarks Before Bankers, Ex NCUA Chair D'Amours Critical of Credit Unions" (CU Journal, Nov. 15). It is scary to think that we had such an ignorant person at the helm of NCUA. I...

Banks One-Up CUs On PR In Utah.
January 11, 2005... There is a phrase that rattles around in my head on occasion that I heard as a child during the Vietnam War: "We are working to win their hearts and minds." I had heard that statement, or statements to the effect, many times during that...

Solar Power To Generate 60% Of SBCFCU's Electricity Needs.
January 11, 2005... Santa Barbara County Federal Credit Union had money burning a hole in its pocket, and it saw solar energy not only as a sound investment for itself, but also for its members. Teri Zanini, Santa Barbara County FCU's CEO, credited board...

Product & Service.
January 11, 2005... HRCU Selects MortgageClick ROCHESTER, N.H.-The $100-million Holy Rosary Credit Union here has selected Woburn, Mass.-based MortgageClick to expand its mortgage lending initiatives. MortgageClick's web-based platform, created by Prime...

Pipeline.
January 11, 2005... Lenders Pessimistic on Loan Demand For the second quarter in a row, lenders' expectations for domestic loan demand dropped, according to Phoenix Management Services' quarterly survey on the lending climate in America. Only 32 percent of...

Near-Shore Outsourcing: With Low Costs, Belfast Lures U.S. Financial Firms: Can ex-terrorist hotspot overcome its past?
January 11, 2005... Northern Ireland is proof positive that capitalism trumps terrorism. Ten years after the cease-fire between the British government and the outlawed Irish Republican Army, Belfast is ready to reinvent itself, game to take on its tech-savvy...

Getting Emotional About Sales: FTC Methods' training program hinges on awakening the inner producer in branch staff.
January 12, 2005... Training sessions get reps and bank staff up to speed on how certain products work and how they benefit the customer, but can they actually teach people to want to sell? Dennis Budinich and Eric Laurens, founders of training firm FTC Methods,...

Cashing In on Dividends: President Bush's tax cut is making dividend-paying stocks fashionable again among wealthy investors.
January 12, 2005... One of the great windfalls for investors among the tax cuts passed during President Bush's first term was the reduction to 15% of the dividend tax from ordinary income tax rates of as high as 35%. Now that Bush has been elected to a second...

Is Instant Messaging Worth The Trouble It Poses?: Firms still aren't sure how to utilize IM firmwide. Growing security concerns add to the situation's complexity.
January 12, 2005... New technology that protects networks from instant messaging related infection is just like the pioneer days of Internet filters-the originally stated focus is to keep employees from wasting time using new technology for personal reasons. But...

Business Strategy: technology and the bottom line: Assessing the business value of existing technology and new investments has always been a thorny issue. But it must be done. After all, that which cannot be measured cannot be controlled.
January 12, 2005... IT's value is based solely on its direct contribution to profitability and shareholder value, accomplished by supporting a company's strategies and improving its operations. By extension, the underlying management principle is simple: a company...

EFFCU's 'Unbeatable Deal': 100% Financing For 1st Time Buyers.
January 12, 2005... Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union has expanded its mortgage loan options to now include a 100% financing product for first-time homebuyers. The offer on loans up to $333,700-up from its previous cap of $225,000-has an added lure: no...

Rep Takes 1,000 CU Names On Cards To Afghanistan.
January 12, 2005... U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) carried more than 1,000 handwritten holiday greetings from credit unions during his latest visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Indiana league officials, who personally hand-signed and wrote messages on 232 Riley...

WHATEVER HAPPENED 2004: An Update On Some Of The Stories The Credit Union Journal Reported This Year.
January 12, 2005... Families Start Moving In Along Border YUMA, Ariz.-In less than three months since it began participating in the "Arizona Border Initiative"-a program designed to increase home ownership along the Arizona-Mexico border-AEA Federal Credit...

Events At Fannie Mae Have Bearing On CUs.
January 12, 2005... As The Credit Union Journal went to press on Christmas Eve, the jobs of two top executives at Fannie Mae-CEO Franklin Raines and Chief Financial Officer Timothy Howard-were hanging by a thread. The board of the secondary mortgage market...

Marketing 101: As Simple as a Chat With a Favorite Business Professor.
January 12, 2005... The Financial Services Marketing Handbook By Evelyn Ehrlich and Louis "Duke" Fanelli Bloomberg Press, 256 pages, $39.95 The Financial Services Marketing Handbook is an ambitious, encyclopedic resource for bank marketers...

Maybe Those Computer-Game Zombie Kids are on to Something.
January 12, 2005... It may well be the panoramic software scenes played out in Myst or the riot explosions from Grand Theft Auto that are responsible for bringing the $200 computer into the world-an incredible boon for the developing world, sure, but also a tool...

Making Unwanted Life Policies Pay: When clients outgrow their life insurance policies, life settlements are one way to get out.
January 13, 2005... Many clients come to bank reps with questions about their life insurance policies. When assessing policies, bank reps need to know about life settlements. They are a way of extricating a client from a policy that is not needed, performing...

Brokers Vary Style in Washington: Evergreen State reps share their strategies for helping clients save for a rainy day.
January 13, 2005... This month, BIC talks to Washington-based bank reps Sean Gross, team leader at Freedom Financial Advisors in Wenatchee, a division of Cashmere Bank, and a Raymond James branch manager; Mike Silvernagel, a financial adviser at Key Bank's...

Customer Profitability: To Boost sales Banks Try to Be Mr. Fix-its: Banks and brokers are trying to tune up loyalty outreaches and boost walletshare by finally moving away from episodic cross selling to a long-term troubleshooting approach.
January 13, 2005... CRM pros see promise in an evolving change in how institutions reach out to customers, with the use of data and service enhancements large and small to gain customer intimacy finally winning out over quick product-focused selling. Ramesh...

The People(soft) V. Larry Ellison: The contentious battle between Oracle and PeopleSoft was always more about money than customers. But now that Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has achieved a hard-won and expensive victory, he and his team must convince clients to stick around.
January 13, 2005... The conclusion of the Oracle-PeopleSoft saga was, paradoxically, startlingly sudden and also rather anticlimactic. Though PeopleSoft shareholders had tendered a majority of their shares to Oracle on November 19, signaling the takeover would...