Banking Wire articles from July 2007

Banking Wire archives from July 2007

HAPI Can Turn To CUs For Financial Literacy Efforts.
July 2, 2007... AUSTIN, Texas. -- NCUA Vice Chairman Rodney E. Hood told the Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute (HAPI) credit unions are an excellent means to the financial education ends being championed by the group. He told the group currently,...

New Trade Association Formed To Serve Health Care-Based Credit Unions.
July 2, 2007... JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Maury Pilver first had the idea to create a trade association representing credit unions that serve the healthcare industry about 15 to 20 years ago, but the busy CEO of the HealthAmerica Credit Union here had trouble...

Mission Fed Responds To 2nd Anonymous 'Employee' Letter.
July 2, 2007... SAN DIEGO -- The chief executive of Mission Federal Credit Union said allegations that the credit union is financially troubled contained in a letter purportedly from employees of the CU are half-truths or "very old news." The letter,...

Why Don't All Deposits Leave?: Analysis Suggests Pricing & Rate Just One Driver Of Member Behavior.
July 2, 2007... ORLANDO, Fla. -- It's simple: rates drive deposits. Right? Not completely, according to one analyst, who is challenging some basic assumptions about deposits, pricing and consumer behavior. After all, notes Dr. William J. McGuire, president...

Is It Credit Unions' Rainy Day?: Trying To Stave Off The Margin Squeeze, Boost Revenue And Still Do Right By Members, CUs Are Turning To Insurance.
July 2, 2007... MADISON, Wis. -- Credit unions seeking revenue boosters during the ongoing margin squeeze need look no further than a reliable standby many have had for years but may not have paid much attention to: insurance offerings. "There is no...

Wal-Mart Launches Massive Incursion Into Retail Banking.
July 2, 2007... BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Just months after abandoning its bid for a banking charter, Wal-Mart Stores unveiled plans last week to expand its chain of bank-like MoneyCenter financial service facilities to 1,000 of its stores by the end 2008. The...

Feeling The Squeeze: CU Trades Confront Consolidation Head On.
July 2, 2007... DUBLIN, Ohio -- As the number of credit unions continues to wane, the trade associations that serve them are having to reevaluate everything from affiliation rates, their dues structures and even their very role in the credit union movement....

On Deadline.
July 2, 2007... NJ CUs Team With Banks On Data Breach Bill HIGHTSTOWN, N.J.-The New Jersey CU League said last week it partnered with the state's Community Bankers Association to get a data breach bill introduced in the statehouse. Assembly Financial...

Media Campaign Targets Non-Member With Message Focused On Value Of Belonging.(Website overview)
July 2, 2007... HARRISBURG, Penn. -- The Pennsylvania Credit Union Association has unveiled its new statewide marketing campaign that puts the emphasis on one major point of differentiation between credit unions and banks: belonging. "A 'sense of belong'...

Cardtronics Expands Deeper Into CU Market With Co-Brand Deal.
July 2, 2007... HOUSTON -- In the first deal of its kind, Cardtronics Inc. announced last week it signed with State Employees CU of Florida to co-brand nine ATMs in the Tallahassee area. It is the first co-branding deal by a credit union with Cardtronics,...

Cat-Like Marketers Unite: Stand Up For Your Right To Be Loud.
July 5, 2007... I absolutely loved Kelly Parks' opinion piece in the June 4th issue of the Credit Union Journal. My favorite part is where she likened marketers to cats, "if you give us attention, understand our needs, respect what we offer, and give a little...

Some CU CEOs Actually Have Dual Venus, Mars Citizenship.
July 5, 2007... Some of us marketers are lucky enough to have CEOs that are from Mars, but they originally came from Venus (referencing your 5-28 issue opinion that "Marketers are from Venus, CEOs are from Mars"). We have the privilege of having a CEO that...

Now In The Market.
July 5, 2007... FSCC Announces Globe Awards SAN DIMAS, Calif.-Financial Service Centers Cooperative, Inc. (FSCC) has released the list of honorees for its 5th Annual Globe Awards. The awards were presented during FSCC's 2007 Annual Shared Branching...

What To Do Now To Boost Loans This Year And Next.
July 5, 2007... LAS VEGAS -- Several untraditional loans, as well as at least one old standby will help credit unions looking to ramp up their lending for the rest of this year and into 2008. Driving these trends: members' desire for some of these...

Develop Right-Brain Abilities To Save Job.
July 5, 2007... LAS VEGAS -- Is your job ripe for outsourcing? It is if it's "routine." Any job that can be accomplished in a series of written steps that leads to a "right" answer has the potential to be outsourced, and that trend is driving "routine"...

Now In The Market.
July 5, 2007... Wash. CUs Offer Prepaid Cards SEATTLE-Three credit unions in this state are rolling out a prepaid card program. Connection CU, Verity CU and Waterfront CU said the cards are a particularly effective way of reaching out to the unbanked...

How CUs Can Turn Death & Disability Into A Positive Dialogue.
July 5, 2007... SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The thing about selling insurance is, everyone knows they probably ought to have it, but it's hard to get excited about talking about things like death and disability. But credit union loan officers who are squeamish...

CUNA Opposes NCUA's Bid for More Transparency.
July 5, 2007... WASHINGTON -- CUNA called on NCUA last week to reject a proposal to open up the merger process to more disclosures on the exchange of compensation among participating executives, one of several proposals NCUA has made to increase the...

Congress Eyes Adding New Credit Reporting Reforms.
July 5, 2007... WASHINGTON -- One thing was sure last week after watching congressional hearings into the credit reporting protections, and that is the recent practice of consumers checking their credit reports has opened up a whole new can of worms. In...

People.
July 5, 2007... Air Force Federal Credit Union, San Antonio, Texas, elected to its board: Col. Sam Farace Jr. USAF (retired), chairman; James Goodgion III, vice chairman; Melvin Moczygemba, treasurer; Joan Lopez, secretary; Tech. Sgt. Michael Buecher USAF...

CU Campaigns to 'Go Branchless'.
July 6, 2007... HARRISBURG, Penn. -- Pennsylvania State Employees has always touted its ability to conduct the vast majority of its member business electronically, now it is calling on its members and potential members to "Kiss Your Branch Goodbye." The...

FHLB Awards Grants to Four CUs.
July 6, 2007... SAN FRANCISCO -- Four credit unions will share almost $1.1 million in affordable housing program grants awarded by the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. The grants went to: Arizona State CU ($600,000) to help finance construction of...

Legacy Lives on for CDCU Figure.
July 6, 2007... ITHACA, N.Y. -- Even though he recently retired from the community development credit union he helped charter, Bill Myers name will live on at Alternatives FCU as an internship for young people who want to promote social and economic justice....

READER RESOURCES.
July 6, 2007... Credit Union Journal Subscribers can access all content from the print edition every Monday simultaneously with its publication at www.cujournal.com. Additional resources include: * Front-page news stories are accessible by clicking on the...

Internet Rates Part Of Puzzle.
July 6, 2007... ORLANDO, Fla. -- There's a piece missing for most credit unions when it comes to setting rates. In addition to ALM drivers, most credit unions also price according to their competitors-but not all competitors, according to Dr. William J....

Call For Best Practices Entries.
July 6, 2007... The Credit Union Journal is announcing its Call for Entries for its Best Practices awards. It's easy to enter! Nominations may be submitted by credit unions themselves, a CUSO, or even another CU. Nominations can also be submitted by...

How One Exec Has Turned Tragedy To Joy With Help From CU.
July 6, 2007... BREA, Calif. -- Longtime Evangelical Christian CU employee Mark Jones says that in many ways his life is better now than it was before the bicycle accident and spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the middle of his chest down almost...

CA Senate Committee Examines CCUL-Backed Data Breach Bill.
July 6, 2007... SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Legislation designed to hold retailers responsible for protecting consumer information is scheduled for a June 26 hearing by the California State Senate's Judiciary Committee. The data security bill began in the...

Now In The Market.
July 6, 2007... ABFCU Chooses Digital Dialogue AUBURN HILLS, Mich.-Arkansas Best FCU in Fort Smith, Ark. teamed with Digital Dialogue to offer its wide ranging membership loan applications by telephone. Long haul truckers are part of the $86-million CU's...

NFCDCU Helping Hands Awards Are Announced.
July 6, 2007... NEW ORLEANS, La. -- Two credit union managers who demonstrated leadership in easing the pain of poverty were awarded with this year's Annie Vamper "Helping Hands" Awards, the highest honor bestowed by the National Federation of Community...

Rocket Science.
July 9, 2007... Several of the articles in this issue deal with new developments-or the need for new developments-in an industry that is in a state of flux. Everybody knows what's driving it: gazillions of baby boomers hitting retirement without...

New Client Pricing to Increase Loyalty.
July 9, 2007... Leading banks are mulling a new pricing model designed to reward wealthy clients who buy multiple products by discounting fees across the board, according to a May 30 Celent report. In it, senior analyst Jacob Jegher, predicts that 48 of the...

Online Banking: Mellon Plots Its Merger of Wealth Services: Single platform bridges retail, business, advisory divide.
July 9, 2007... As the lines blur between the needs of institutional investors and individual high-net-worth portfolios, so do the retail and commercial distinctions for Pittsburgh-based Mellon Financial. Mellon in June announced it will be consolidating...

Wholesale Banking: Client Demands Force B2Bank Integration: Need for real-time capabilities prompt industry change.
July 9, 2007... Over the years, Russell Investment Group developed an internal expertise to handle data interchange with its clients and partners. IT teams for the Tacoma, WA-based company would patiently work through the tedium of syncing protocols and...

Space Coast CU Receives Lender Of The Year Award.
July 9, 2007... MELBOURNE, Fla. -- Space Coast Credit Union (SCCU) has been awarded the Fannie Mae Prime Alliance Credit Union Lender of the Year award in the large credit union category. The award honors SCCU as a Fannie Mae Alliance member credit union...

Card Portfolio Sell-Off Continues In First Quarter.
July 9, 2007... PETERBOROUGH, N.H. -- Seventeen credit unions with credit card portfolios of over $1 million in outstanding balances sold their portfolios in the first quarter of this year, according to analysis by Brookwood Capital. Total balances sold...

Could We Be Heading For Regional Leagues?
July 9, 2007... ARLINGTON, Va. -- Credit unions aren't the only ones that are merging-so are their state leagues. Could we some day reach a point when we have regional leagues instead of state leagues? Not likely, according to a number of credit union...

AACUL Task Force Explores Issues.
July 9, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The American Association of Credit Union Leagues has created a task force that will be exploring how consolidation among credit unions is affecting the state leagues. The task force will be led by Ohio CU League CEO Paul...

Split Citi Up? The Merger Was Fated from the Start.: The intense scrutiny that Charles Prince has been under in the past four years is something few bank CEOs will ever know. None of them runs institutions as complex as Citigroup.
July 9, 2007... "To the victor belong the spoils" is likely something not emblazoned on a wall plaque in Citigroup chief Chuck Prince's office. No one can blame him for not identifying with such sentiment. It's hardly been a victory lap since Prince was...

Fraud: Mutual Bank Scams Point To Flaws in IPO Process: Authorities have no plan to fix the problem.
July 9, 2007... A fraud case in New Jersey has ended a 10-year crime spree involving initial public offerings at mutual banks in 20 states, and prosecutors say they will aggressively pursue other cases. However, regulators say they aren't weighing changes in...

Kiddie Tax Opens Doors for Advisors.
July 10, 2007... The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has raised the applicable age of its "kiddie tax" to 24 years of age, effective next year, making it harder for the wealthy to gift assets to their offspring in lower tax brackets. Last year, the kiddie...

Oversight of Insurance Sales: Coming a Baby Step Closer.
July 10, 2007... Banks and providers of life insurance and fixed annuities are optimistic that seperate bills-soon to be put forth in the House and Senate-could finally create an optional federal insurance charter. A collective of banks and trade...

Emerging Markets: Finding the Channel: Standard Charter's custom Web delivery fills overseas gaps.
July 10, 2007... In the race to win business in emerging markets, it could turn out that the winner won't be the first to get there, but the first to meld Western technology and communications needs with disparate local communications standards. "To customize...

The Politics Of Lending Loom Large Over the Unbanked.
July 10, 2007... Bankers are no strangers to the politics of lending, and they have been accused often of breaking their social contract with Americans. Recently, though, the social contract debate has taken on new meaning, one that centers on loan...

CUs Reject NCUA Bid For Increasing Transparency: One Member Rights Group Applauds Proposal.
July 10, 2007... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Credit union executives overwhelmingly oppose NCUA's recent efforts to increase transparency for members, putting the federal regulator at odds with the industry. The two proposals-one that would set clear standards for...

LGFCU Seeks To Help Members At Risk Of Losing Their Homes.
July 10, 2007... RALEIGH, N.C. -- Homeowners across the country are at risk of losing their homes as adjustable rates are ticking up, which is why one credit union is trying to do something about it. Before mailing out letters to the 20,000 members who may...

The Comeback Loan: Lending Experts See New Opportunities Ahead For The Signature Loan.
July 10, 2007... PHILADELPHIA -- The signature loan, the long-time credit union mainstay that has faded to a niche offering for most, may make something of a comeback. Market factors ranging from stiff competition to declining housing markets have chipped...

CUNA Hails Latest IRS Rulings As Victory In UBIT Debate.
July 10, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The IRS has released a new set of Technical Advice Memoranda (TAMs) ruling that credit union interchange fees are not subject to unrelated business income tax (UBIT). The set of 12 TAMs follow a previous series issued by IRS...

Microfinance: America's Bank to the Poor Teams Up With H&R Block: For-profit Grameen will target underbanked.
July 10, 2007... Grameen America, modeled after the 24-year-old Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, is teaming up with H&R Block to bring the lending techniques that are helping the Third World's poor prosper to the hypercompetitive U.S. market. A pilot program in New...

Hits and Has-Beens.
July 10, 2007... Bank of America's chief investment officer Ian Banwell started an alternative-investments firm, Round Table Investment Management, taking with him Bob Miller and Jason Osier. BofA is taking a stake in Banwell's firm. BofA also announced a new...

Rapid HSA Growth Lies Ahead, But More Education Is Needed.
July 11, 2007... The number of Americans using health savings accounts (HSAs) is poised to grow quickly, recent research suggests, but more work is needed to help people understand how the accounts and their accompanying insurance plans work. Mintel...

Wachovia's Bright Ideas: Already near the top of the heap, the bank is launching new initiatives to push its brokerages further ahead.(Company overview)
July 11, 2007... Wachovia Corp.-long a securities industry powerhouse-is becoming even more powerful. When the nation's fourth largest banking company announced in late May that it would acquire A.G. Edwards for almost $7 billion, industry insiders and...

ACH Fraud: Clearing House Aims To Clean House: Chronic sources of bad ACH originations-including fraud-may be nearing the end of their privileges on the network.
July 11, 2007... Stepping up the pressure on third-party processors to police their ACH users, NACHA member institutions may decide later this summer on new network rules to strengthen fines or even ban originators with excessive unauthorized items. The...

News Makers.
July 11, 2007... BANKS AND BIRD FLU: TESTING AMID TERROR A tuberculosis patient's unfettered, intercontinental journey showed the country's panic reflex is working. The U.S. Treasury wants to find out if banking's ability to handle an actual outbreak is a...

On Deadline.
July 11, 2007... Data Breach Legislation Moves Forward In Calif. SACRAMENTO, Calif.-Legislation designed to hold retailers responsible for protecting consumer information was approved by a 3-1 vote by the California State Senate's Judiciary Committee during...

Cap Com FCU Scores Unique Naming Rights To Radio Facility.
July 11, 2007... ALBANY, N.Y. -- When Clear Channel first approached Capital Communications Federal Credit Union earlier this year with a unique marketing concept, the credit union's decision was made easily. Less than two months later, Capital...

NCUA Outlines Proposed Changes To Prompt Corrective Action Rule.
July 11, 2007... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- NCUA has put together a "Q&A" explaining its proposed amendments to the Prompt Corrective Action rule on its website at www.ncua.gov. Here are excerpts from that document. Why is this a good time to change PCA? Many...

Worth Noting.
July 11, 2007... TDECU Loans Surpass $1B Mark LAKE JACKSON, Texas-Texas Dow Employees Credit Union has surpassed the $1 billion threshold in loans. "TDECU highly prioritizes affordability in its loans," Paul Perdue, vice president risk management said....

After Estonia Cyber Attacks, U.S. Frets Over Potential Cyber War.
July 11, 2007... The U.S. Treasury Department's decision to sponsor an industry-wide exercise this fall for the financial-services sector to test its ability to respond to a pandemic crisis, such as a bird flu outbreak, is taking on a different, and more...

Noted Noteworthy.
July 11, 2007... What's next, the Nicotine Card? The Arriva card, the first credit card designed specifically for use in casinos, has initiated a "bounty" program to reward casinos for signing up applicants. The card, not even a year old, has extended more than...

Wachovia Doubles Up on Private Bankers.
July 12, 2007... On the heels of announcing its A.G. Edwards deal, Wachovia said on June 7 that it plans to more than double its private banking staff within three years. The banking company says it plans to add 300 private bankers to its roster of 240 by...

Golden Globe: How one advisor crossed continents to bring borderless financial advice to wealthy international clients.
July 12, 2007... Jules Mbogi, now a financial advisor at Raymond James's office at the United Nations Federal Credit Union, is an internationalist who followed his dream all the way from Moscow to Wall Street. During his journey, Mbogi found that wealthy...

Techies.
July 12, 2007... Robert Alexander, evp for Internet and Enterprise Customer Management at Capital One, will assume the role of CIO and head of ECM. He replaces Gregor Bailar, who is leaving to pursue philanthropic pursuits, according to the company. * Instinet...

Marketing: Targeting Women is Tricky; Better to Gauge Abilities: New research says mutual funds are ham-fisted when marketing to women via the Internet. The lesson: what counts is investor sophistication, not gender.
July 12, 2007... When it comes to reaching out to women investors in cyberspace, mutual funds are coming up short, and it could be costing them business in more ways than one. Corporate Insight says that most mutual funds don't provide any information or...

'Little Guy' Gets Florida Makeover, Takes His Show On The Road.
July 12, 2007... MIRAMAR, Fla. -- CUNA's "Little Guy" is taking his show on the road. Eastern Financial Florida CU and the Michigan Credit Union League are joining others in the industry in taking on CUNA's "Little Guy." CUNA first introduced "Little...

CUs Share How Being Named 'Great Place To Work' Has Paid Off.
July 12, 2007... LAS VEGAS -- It's not just an honor to be named to the Great Place To Work Institute's list of top employers-it also helps attract the best employees, and in turn boosts member service. That was the message from several credit unions that...

Now In The Market.
July 12, 2007... Nationwide Marketing Wins Awards Redlands, Calif.-Nationwide Marketing Solutions won two awards at this year's Marketing Association of Credit Unions annual conference in Seattle, Washington with a Bronze and Silver Award in the Annual...

Great Place To Work Calls For Entries.
July 12, 2007... SAN FRANCISCO -- Great Place to Work(r) Institute, Inc. is currently seeking nominees for its 2008 "Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America" list, published annually by Society for Human Resource Management in HR Magazine. To...

Next for Top Court: Securities Fraud: Whether banks that help public firms commit fraud are also liable soon will be a question before the Supreme Court. Its decision will affect litigants in the still-simmering Enron case.
July 12, 2007... In what legal observers are calling the most important securities-law dispute to reach the Supreme Court in two decades, a hot-button issue is poised to be resolved soon: Are secondary parties like banks culpable if they remain silent after...

Email Security: Convincing Boards To 'Get' Portal Technology: This workflow-management tool promises to cut the time of assembling the board book, plus comes with two-factor authentication and encryption. Is this the Holy Grail?
July 12, 2007... It's tough to imagine a situation as unseemly as HP's boardroom scandal coming from a major financial institution, but Citigroup's Todd Thomson-Maria Bartiromo debacle certainly had its share of salacious insider details that CEO Charles Prince...

The SMA Club: Many separately managed accounts are sold merely on their sizzle. But are they really worth the high fees and minimums?
July 13, 2007... Separately managed accounts (SMAs) aren't a big deal in the bank channel-yet. There, they make up only 8% of the total SMA pie. But that percentage should grow as baby boomers start rolling over their fairly substantial IRA and 401(k) funds....

The New, New Deal: Bank reps need strategic support now to keep growing their retirement income business.
July 13, 2007... Things have certainly changed as far as the investment habits of baby boomers are concerned. There was a time when clients focused mostly on the best investments to grow their assets, says Randy Spears, head of financial planning and regional...

Mobile Banking: Mobile Banking is Finally Almost Here. Really.: An adoption surge, fueled by user technology and industry convergence, is expected to propel mobile banking's march to the financial services mainstream within three years.
July 13, 2007... When industry researchers put mobile banking under a microscope, they truly need one. Users of cell phone and Blackberry-based banking services represent just one-third of one percent of all banking customers, according to analysis from Celent....

The New BITS President Discusses Group's Agenda: With a new risk industry veteran at the helm, the executive-level industry group shows signs of a stronger focus on security issues, while continuing established programs.
July 13, 2007... BITS recently named industry risk policy expert Leigh Williams, a longtime BITS advisor, to take over for retiring CEO and founder Catherine Allen. Williams, who is a former chief risk and privacy officer of Fidelity Investments and senior...

How Fitting That Independence Day Is Coming This Week.
July 13, 2007... As if the summer of 1787 were not hot enough in Philadelphia, the men meeting there wore wool clothing, jackets, long sleeves and in some cases, wigs. Simple fans were a century away; the undreamed of air conditioning nearly two centuries. As...

CUs With 'Excess' Capital Have Become Merger Targets.
July 13, 2007... Editor's Note: This article first appeared in Digest, the magazine of the California/Nevada CU Leagues. Thankfully, Wings Financial FCU has withdrawn its proposal to merge with Continental FCU. Now that the entire credit union movement has...

Graduate's Goal To Change Lives One Community At A Time.
July 13, 2007... Editor's Note: The following comments were shared by Joshua Kurtz of Millstream Area CU following his graduation from the Credit Union Development Education (DE) program in Madison, Wis. For info: www.ncuf.coop. Prior to going through my...

Time To Engage In Taboo-Free Strategic Thinking.
July 13, 2007... Already this year the credit union industry has seen tangible illustrations of compelling change. In response, every credit union must engage in no-fear, taboo-free strategic thinking in 2007. Anachronistic concepts like "movement unity" and...

Core Systems: Metavante, Temenos Get to Core on Offering: In a technology market rumored to be ripe for consolidation, banks will have to survey the landscape carefully.
July 13, 2007... Core-system swapouts are of increasing interest to banks, which need to support new products like health savings accounts and technologies like remote deposit-image capture, but find that layering these new functions on top of siloed legacy...

Customer Feedback: In-Store E-Surveys Or Mystery Shoppers?: Banks once relied heavily on mystery shoppers to gauge customer-service levels. Customer e-surveys could change how banks obtain feedback-and provide a better idea of the real quality of client interaction.
July 13, 2007... Mystery shopping helps financial institutions measure teller/product awareness and service acumen, but one Tallahassee, FL-based regional bank found it mainly exposed the limits of using faux customers. With scripted questions and...

How To Manage Generational Culture Clash At Work.
July 16, 2007... ORLANDO, Fla. -- At long last, it's not just about the Baby Boomers anymore. After having reigned supreme as the largest generation with an equally enormous impact on our culture, the Baby Boomers are finally being overtaken-at least in...

Stave Off High Turnover By Hiring Right In First Place.
July 16, 2007... ORLANDO, Fla. -- What is a good hire? What are the costs involved in hiring a new employee? What is a behavioral interview? These questions were answered during the "The Art of Hiring Smart" session at the Florida Credit Union League's 73rd...

Survey Says: Bank Call Centers Earn High Marks.
July 16, 2007... ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Banking call centers rank second only to those of catalog retailers in customer satisfaction, though more than half of bank customers say they would defect over a bad phone experience, according to a new survey. The...

NCUF, LCUL Host Grant Writing Workshop For CUs.
July 16, 2007... BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Louisiana Credit Union League and the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) co-hosted the first National Grant Writing Workshop here. Steve Bosack, deputy director of the NCUF, led the session, along with Michele...