Banking Wire articles from June 2005

Banking Wire archives from June 2005

Cutting Costs: Analysts, Credit Union Leaders Talk About What They Are Doing To Manage Expenses And Reduce Costs.
June 1, 2005... 'Ingrained' Efficiencies WesCorp Staff Always Watching Ratios SAN DIMAS, Calif.- Amid widespread anticipation of more short-term interest rate hikes that would put more pressure on revenue, many are striving to do all they can to keep...

Product & Service.
June 1, 2005... Two Turn To FSCC For Support AUBURN HILLS, Mich.-Two of the nation's top 100 credit unions initiated custom call center services in the first quarter, an option available through the San Dimas, Calif.-based Financial Service Centers...

NCUA Reps Cover The Hill With Testimony.
June 1, 2005... WASHINGTON -- NCUA was all over Capitol Hill last week. First, NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday to ask for another $950,000 for the agency's Community Development Revolving Loan...

Federal Regulators Issue Warnings On HELOCs.
June 1, 2005... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- NCUA joined the banking regulators last week in issuing a warning letter that credit unions may not be fully assessing the risks associated with home equity loans and lines of credit and loans, which have become an...

Credit Card Industry Gets Senate Warning.
June 1, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Members of the Senate Banking Committee were threatening representatives of the credit card industry with new rules on card disclosures after consumer advocates testified during a hearing last week that card issuers are piling up...

People.
June 1, 2005... CUNA, MADISON, Wis., named the first 25 people to be honored with the Certified Credit Union Financial Counselor (CCUFC) designation are: Lauren Bethea, Heston Charlton, Stephanie Corey, Michael Dyer, Janet Fasnacht, Bertha Foxford,...

The CU Journal Daily.
June 1, 2005... Cop-Killer Heads Back To Prison WAUKESHA, Wis.-Twenty-nine-year-old Ted Oswald is headed back to jail-perhaps for the rest of his life-after a state jury ruled the then-19-year-old was not criminally insane when he committed a violent...

Though It Doesn't Have To, State Employees CU Complies With Sarbanes Oxley Act.
June 1, 2005... RALEIGH, N.C. -- Though not applicable to private companies or non-profits, State Employees Credit Union said its board has voluntarily committed to adopt the full intent and core provisions of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX). "While many public...

California League To Host Campaign Schools; Does A Little Schooling In PAC Fundraising.
June 1, 2005... RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- To educate credit union professionals and volunteers-as well as members of the general public-about the intricacies of planning, organizing, and running an effective campaign for elected office, the California league...

Carolinas Financial Council Meets To Discuss ALM Concerns, Among Other Issues.
June 1, 2005... CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Nearly 50 credit union CFOs and other staff with financial responsibilities met here as part of an event hosted by The Carolinas Financial Council. The CFC was organized in 2004 by First Carolina Corporate Credit Union, and...

NCUA Invalidates Two Texas Conversion Ballots.
June 2, 2005... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- NCUA delivered a major blow last week to efforts by two Texas credit union giants to convert to mutual savings banks when the federal regulator ruled that hundreds of thousands of ballots Community CU and OmniAmerican CU...

The Co-Op Drop: Number Of CUs Shrinks To Pre-World War II Level.
June 2, 2005... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The number of federally insured credit unions has fallen below the 9,000 mark for the first time since the advent of the National CU Share Insurance Fund. "I don't think there any significance to this as a trigger...

Retirement Short As Crear Named CEO At WOCCU.
June 2, 2005... MADISON, Wis. -- Pete Crear thought he was going to go play round of golf and catch the new "Star Wars" movie, right up until he announced he was coming out of retirement to head the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU). "I really had...

Congress Begins To Reshape The Secondary Market.
June 2, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Congress began the final steps last week in recasting the vast secondary mortgage market with a proposal for a new regulatory scheme for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the market's two biggest players, as well as the 12 Federal...

Deadline.
June 2, 2005... Strong Quarter, But CUs Posting Low Avg. ROAs ALEXANDRIA, Va.-The low-rate environment for loans and interest- earning assets maintained its grip on credit unions in the first quarter, squeezing profitability to another lackluster...

DC, Md. Leagues Take Case For Merger On The Road.
June 2, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The Maryland and Washington credit union leagues will be hosting a number of town hall meetings starting this Wednesday to make the case to their respective members for a merger that would create a brand new regional...

22 Card Portfolios Sold In 1Q; Penetration Rate Down.
June 2, 2005... PETERBOROUGH, N.H. -- The the first quarter of this year, 22 credit unions with card portfolios of more than $1 million in outstanding balances have sold those portfolios, with four being greater than $10 million. According to analysis...

Worth Noting.
June 2, 2005... Four-Way Merger Is On Hold BOULDER, Colo.-A four-way merger among credit unions here is on hold after the majority select employee group (SEG) of Premier Members FCU rejected the plan. The $224-million Premier Members FCU said a SEG that...

Bad Boys, Advancing Women, And Poor Spokesmen.
June 2, 2005... I have no intention of again using this space to address credit union-to-mutual-savings-bank conversions, except... If everything's on the up and up with conversions, as their proponents suggest, and if the conversion is purely to benefit...

'Do-Or-Die' Situation In Wichita As CDCU Races To Raise New Capital.
June 2, 2005... WICHITA, Kan. -- Kansas stands to lose its only community development credit union if Communities United CU here doesn't raise $50,000 in the next 30 days. "We've got a do-or-die situation here," CUCU Vice Chair Milford Adams told The...

Financial Partners CU Aims To Bolster Local-Anti Gang Efforts.
June 3, 2005... DOWNEY, Calif. -- Gang activity dates back decades in this suburb of Los Angeles, and fighting back against such criminal behavior is one reason why Financial Partners CU has donated $1,000 to an anti-gang program. Gangs Out Of Downey, a...

Pennsylvania CUs Form Real Estate Brokerage CUSO.
June 3, 2005... PHILADELPHIA -- A dozen Pennsylvania credit unions have formed a consortium with the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association to create a real estate brokerage service. CU Realty provides a Web-based Multiple Listing Service (MLS) search tool....

Product & Service.
June 3, 2005... Cheq-IT 5-70C Makes Its Debut LAS VEGAS-Cheq Information Technology Inc. has released a new model, designated the Cheq-IT 5-70C, which is capable of capturing grayscale images and reading the MICR information from standard checks at over...

Pentagon FCU Analysis Of Conversion Finds No Value.
June 3, 2005... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- One multi-billion-dollar credit union that investigated what a conversion to a bank charter would mean to its members said it could not find any value in doing so. "Pentagon Federal Credit Union has no intention to...

What Regulators Want.
June 3, 2005... The regulatory pendulum perpetually swings. When the market is good and everyone's making money, calls for retribution are rare-I remember analyst reports in Enron's heyday basically saying, "We don't know how it works, but it does!" Now,...

Fee Accounts Trigger Suitability Concerns.
June 3, 2005... As the brokerage industry moves from a predominantly commission-based business to a more fee-based financial planning business, the rules are constantly changing. Bank reps need to stay alert to these changes to know when and how to handle...

By Day, Man of Steel. At Night? Sweating Bullets.: Philip Purcell's public assault by the Group of Eight, former Morgan execs who also wield shareholder clout, is about more than just the investment bank. It's about power, pride and the price of bad leadership.
June 3, 2005... It's the question on everyone's mind: How much sleep do you think Morgan Stanley chief Philip Purcell is getting these days? While he publicly has shown barely a crack in his veneer, Purcell must be sweating bullets at night. His fight to...

Stock Exchanges: Opposition Swells Against The Two Proposed Mergers: Detractors say valuations are out of whack.
June 3, 2005... Two lawsuits. A surprise inside takeover bid. Not to mention stock downgrades, grumbling brokers and floor traders worried they'll soon belong in the Smithsonian. In the wake of April's stock- exchange merger announcements by both the New York...

Security And Authentication: Internet IDs Are Getting More Beef: Increasing theft means a new look at user safety.
June 3, 2005... About 30 percent of T. Rowe Price's new accounts are opened on-line, and in a bid to tighten security in the Internet channel, the mutual fund company has teamed up with GeoTrust to implement a real-time identification tool that validates the...

Automating Forex: E-FX Gains Ground: Big players are eyeing array of new platforms.
June 3, 2005... Currency options are the latest products being added to electronic foreign exchange (FX) platforms amid an overall rise in the cash market's volume, and it's causing the likes of ABN Amro, Bank of America and HSBC to take notice. GFI...

Time To Reexamine An Assumption About Profitability.
June 6, 2005... A few years back, one seemingly reputable industry consulting company stated that members with only one relationship (single service) have a 35% chance of leaving a financial institution, while those members with more than three relationships...

Research: Attracting New Members Through Attention Research.
June 6, 2005... A Credit Union Journal article published earlier this year listed closed account surveys as one of the five most critical vehicles for improving member service. While it is true that credit unions can sometimes stress growth goals too...

Mass. Task Force To Investigate Fair Lending Practices.
June 6, 2005... SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass. -- The Massachusetts Credit Union League, along with state and federal regulators and local community and financial institutions, has formed a task force "to promote and ensure fair and equitable lending to all...

Volume Leads Stanford FCU To Turn To MBL Participations.
June 6, 2005... PALO ALTO, Calif. -- After a sluggish start, Stanford Federal Credit Union's business lending program is growing at a torrid pace-20% per month in 2005, according to the CU's management. Brian Thornton, Stanford FCU's vice president of...

Johnson Stresses Need For Better IT Controls.
June 6, 2005... SAN FRANCISCO -- NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson told credit unions meeting here that enhanced due-diligence of all third-party vendors and compliance should be a top safety and soundness priority. Speaking to the Information Technologies...

Risk Management Banks' Counterparty Risk: Indirect lending to hedge funds prompts concern.
June 6, 2005... Credit risk managers are scrambling to keep track of multifaceted exposures to hedge funds. The industry's torrid growth has propelled assets past an estimated $1 trillion, but that's just equity capital. Most funds leverage their portfolios...

Hits and Has-Beens.
June 6, 2005... KeyCorp has named Linda A. Grandstaff (pictured) and Pamela A. Carson to top management posts. Grandstaff was named chief bank secrecy act officer and evp of the Risk Management Group, responsible for the development and enterprise-wide...

FreshInk.
June 6, 2005... 1. Boston Private Financial Holdings made its first move into the Florida market with a $245 million acquisition of Gibraltar Bank. Boston Private said its goal is to have a major presence in the nation's fastest-growing regions. It's now in...

Outsourcing: Philippines Situates Itself as Alternative: 'Don't just think, India,' it says.
June 6, 2005... The Philippines is becoming a global hub for outsourcing for U.S. banks and credit card companies, and the nation isn't shy about asking more firms to come on over. According to Eugene Reyes, trade representative at the Philippine Trade &...

Pipeline: Fifty percent of small Banks to add Branches.
June 6, 2005... More than half of community banks are planning to add one to five new branches in 2005 and 2006, according to a research project funded by NewGround, which also says 39 percent will maintain current branches, and two percent will decrease...

Analyst Sees 'No Dire Need' For CCU To Convert.
June 7, 2005... CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- A comparison to their peers of two billion-dollar credit unions in Texas that plan to convert to mutual savings banks shows no "dire need to convert," according to the financial analyst who compiled the numbers for The...

Worth Noting.
June 7, 2005... Blaine Featured On 60 Minutes II RALEIGH, N.C.-Jim Blaine, CEO of State Employees Credit Union here, was featured during a segment on the CBS news magazeine 60 Minutes II last week. The segment highlighted the fast-growing payday lending...

Product & Service.
June 7, 2005... Cheq-IT 5-70C Makes Its Debut LAS VEGAS-Cheq Information Technology Inc. has released a new model, designated the Cheq-IT 5-70C, which is capable of capturing grayscale images and reading the MICR information from standard checks at over...

Pending SEC Rule Forces Many To Move In-House.
June 7, 2005... LAS VEGAS -- A pending rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission on broker-dealer subsidiaries has prompted the vast majority of credit union-owned investment CUSOs to abandon the CUSO model and bring their broker-dealer programs in-house....

Banks Eye Registered Hedge Funds.
June 7, 2005... Hedge funds are the elixir of the world of alternative investments, which high-net-worth investors use to diversify their portfolios and, they hope, to bolster returns. Given the typically conservative nature of bank customers, bank...

Product News.
June 7, 2005... American Express Financial Group has launched the Accumulation Protector Benefit rider for use with its Select variable annuity. At the end of 10 years of investment, clients who purchase the rider will receive the greater of their original...

Solving a Conundrum.
June 7, 2005... When it comes to oration, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan is no Winston Churchill. So perhaps his memorable lines are so memorable because there have been so darn few of them for a man on the public stage for a couple decades now. His "irrational...

Noted and Noteworthy.
June 7, 2005... When it comes to dream jobs, turns out that some banks are, well, just dreamy. A recent survey of more than 4,700 MBAs at 50 U.S. schools conducted by Universum Communications, found that four financial institutions are in the top 10: Citigroup...

Starting A New Bank: The Market's Tough. So Is The IT Curve.: The tech battle is a challenging one for de novos.
June 7, 2005... Between them, William Nethercott and John Rockwell have 51 years of experience in extending credit, but virtually none in managing technology. That meant the two top executives of Tri-Valley Bank had plenty to learn before the expected opening...

NYSE Versus NASDAQ: Great Minds Think Alike. Eventually.
June 7, 2005... For CIOs keeping score as to how technology is redefining financial services, the New York Stock Exchange's decision to acquire Archipelago amounts to one big "I told you so." It should also serve as a key indicator of the price of maintaining...

Calling All The Very Best: CU Journal Invites Entries Into 'Best Practices'.
June 8, 2005... WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The most admired "Best Practices" typically aren't borne that way. They begin as ideas, are implemented, and then evolve as lessons are learned, new ideas added, and revisions made. Case in point is The Credit...

What Lies Ahead?: Economists Tell CUs What To Prepare For.
June 8, 2005... INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- It's rare for two economists to agree on what lies ahead, much less for almost a half-dozen to agree. Such was the case when WesCorp hosted its Future Forum here last week. But there were some points on which some of...

NCUA Won't Certify Ballots: But Community CU Continues To Move Forward.
June 8, 2005... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- While NCUA has pledged not to certify the membership vote on the conversions of two Texas credit unions to bank charters until the CUs reissue their disclosure statements, the state regulator has declined to intervene with...

NCUA OK's Broad TIP Charter Along Mid-Atlantic Coast.
June 8, 2005... LANHAM, Md. -- In one of the broadest fields of membership ever granted a federal credit union, NCUA announced last week it has approved a new TIP charter for IR FCU to serve all civilian federal government employees and their family members...

Tools and Resources.
June 8, 2005... The American College and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors have created the Financial Services Specialist designation. The curriculum for the program consists of six courses and covers topics such as understanding the...

The Million-Dollar Woman: Bank of the West's Sara Aujla on her plans to become her bank's first female seven-figure producer.
June 8, 2005... Sara Aujla has big plans. She wants to be the first female financial consultant at Bank of the West's brokerage subsidiary, BancWest Investment Services (BWIS), to break the $1 million production barrier. Only two other BWIS reps, both male,...

Bad Apples? Where's the Rot, Really?: The new bankruptcy law will likely halt some consumer abuse, but that is hardly where all the trouble lies. The credit card industry should take a hard look in the mirror.
June 8, 2005... Mothers are fond of dusting off the old aphorism that one bad apple spoils the whole bunch, and the new bankruptcy law is a warning to all McIntoshes and Granny Smiths: Those seeking to easily wipe out their debts-and serial offenders-will no...

Business Management: BofA Tackles Six Sigma: The quality-based statistical measurement has finally invaded financial services. But is it making the same difference that it did in manufacturing?
June 8, 2005... With its origins deep in the shop floor of Motorola, Six Sigma is not immune to the misconception it is a process improvement program only a manufacturing company could love. But try telling that to Bank of America, which credits its 2001...

Data Safety: Heritage Hires A Watchdog For Laptops: The California bank deploys software that erases information when external hardware is lost or stolen.
June 8, 2005... Heritage Bank of Commerce is worried about what can happen to the reams of sensitive customer and corporate data if its laptops are lifted by crooks, so much so that it's setting a trap that destroys the vital information in the case of a...

Payments: CheckFree Seeks to Seal an ARC Loophole for Crooks: NACHA says there's a crack in check processing rules that's potentially exposing corporate checks to electronic crime and fraud. CheckFree aims to plug the ARC hole.
June 8, 2005... There's a loophole in ARC that's causing some corporate checks to clear-in violation of industry rules and without going through fraud detectors. It's an emerging safety breach that has the clearing industry examining possible changes to the...

After 1st 100 Days, CUNA Mutual CEO Forms Impression.
June 9, 2005... MADISON, Wis. -- As he promised more than 100 days ago, CUNA Mutual Group's new CEO Jeff Post has been doing a lot of listening and learning over the last few months. And while there's still much more listening and learning to do, he's ready to...

On Deadline.
June 9, 2005... Rates On Guaranteed Student Loans Jump WASHINGTON-The Department of Education announced last week that rates on federally guaranteed student loans will jump by a record amount on July 1. Because of an increase in Treasury bill rates-which...

Ex-SEC Chairman Urges CUs To Comply With SarBox.
June 9, 2005... INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- In a time when many credit unions are clamoring for regulatory relief, the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission advises federal CUs to voluntarily adopt some of the strenuous audit, transparency and...

Worth Noting.
June 9, 2005... Wegner Award Applications Sought MADISON, Wis.-The National Credit Union Foundation is calling for nominations for the 18th Annual Herb Wegner Memorial Awards. The Herb Wegner Memorial Awards are the credit union movement's highest honor,...

Reaching out to Small Businesses: Small-business owners are a lucrative but underserved market for bank reps.
June 9, 2005... The U.S. Small Business Administration says there are 25 million small-business owners nationwide. And financial advisers who target them say they're an excellent source of business across many products and services. One reason? A lot of...

Zions' Bold New Mission: The bank puts its reps on salary, offers products with lower fees, and launches aggressive online services.
June 9, 2005... At the beginning of this year, Zions Bancorp adopted a strategy that may send shivers down the spines of the industry's commissioned brokers-the successful ones, at least: The bank dropped commissions for its financial consultants in favor of a...

Banks are Quietly Wooing Undocumented Immigrants: Many illegal aliens are hard-working, tax-paying U.S. citizen wannabes-and banks are banking on their desire to be homeowners, too. And why not? There's no law against it.
June 9, 2005... As Washington signals a more lenient immigration policy toward the nation's eight million to 11 million undocumented aliens, U.S. banks like Fifth Third, North Shore Bank and Second Federal Savings & Loan, are quietly courting this group for...

AD Beat: Key Plays to Aspirations With Inspiring Campaign: Traveling with Key's new ads is like riding a cliche-mobile. They're making consumers smile, but will they enjoy the ride enough to choose Key for their banking needs?
June 9, 2005... When GSW Worldwide took over KeyBank's "achieve anything" campaign in 2001, it had a definite 1990s feel, says Kurt Richards, creative director at the agency. It had been pegged to "big lofty dreams" underscored by a '90s sentiment of wealth...

Volume: Trading Gets Busy, So Exchanges Look At Hardware: Nasdaq, the NYSE and European bourses are worried about absorbing spikes, so they're considering a wide array of tech options. And vendors are lining up to give pitches.
June 9, 2005... A big spike in message traffic recorded at Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year has underlined the importance of upgrading systems to handle data influxes expected because of the boosts in electronic trading. To handle...

Unsafe Info: Despite Protections, Data Remains At Risk: Experts say storage practices are still faulty, leaving sensitive information vulnerable to exposure.
June 9, 2005... Fortiva CEO Paul Chen managed to find yet another lesson that big business can learn from Enron, though this one has nothing to do with insider trading, cooked financial books or alleged ties to the Bush Administration. "We downloaded the...

Brazilian Technology Companies Flock to U.S.: Government initiatives have helped drive the increasingly successful forays.
June 10, 2005... Backed by their vast experience with sophisticated banks at home, new government initiatives and the growing trend towards offshoring, Brazilian technology vendors are scurrying to provide solutions to U.S. financial institutions. They also are...

Politec: Providing Your Nearshore Outsourcing Solution.
June 10, 2005... With economic globalization, offshore IT outsourcing is set to grow rapidly. In fact, as a percentage of U.S. IT spending, offshore outsourcing is expected to increase from 5% to 23% by the year 2007. Many financial institutions decide to...

Filling the Revenue Gap: Indexed annuities offer bank reps an opportunity to boost flagging sales of fixed and variable products.
June 10, 2005... Indexed annuities could be a godsend for bank investment reps. Sales are declining on fixed annuities because of low interest rates, and on variable annuities because of regulatory scrutiny. Indexed annuities, which offer customers some upside...

Mastering the Basics: IMCA lays the foundations for its 12-part series on industry best practices.
June 10, 2005... The Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA) is now offering its Certified Investment Management Analyst designation through the bank channel as well as through brokerages, and has teamed up with BIC to provide our readers with a...

Why It's Better To Measure Loyalty Than Satisfaction.
June 10, 2005... Have you ever been faced with this situation? You conduct regular member satisfaction surveys and your scores are high, but you know your members don't give you all of their business, and you have members defecting when you have a slight...

How To Participate In The Credit Union Journal's Best Practices issue.
June 10, 2005... 1. Identify a program implemented at your credit union (or for suppliers, at a client CU) since May 1, 2004 you believe is worthy of being recognized as a best practice. 2. In 500 words or fewer, describe what it is you did and why you...

Understanding Reasons For Selling Loans Can Help CUs Achieve Goals.
June 10, 2005... Does your credit union originate single-family, fixed-rate mortgage loans and sell them in the secondary market? If so, why? Credit unions that sell their loans may have different reasons for doing so. Understanding the reasons your institution...

WesCom Says It Has Hit In Tie-In With MLB's Angels.
June 10, 2005... PASADENA, Calif. -- When the many red-clad fans of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim left Angels Stadium May 25, they had Wescom Credit Union's name on their backs. The community CU with a large field of membership-Los Angeles, Orange,...

Purcell's (Very Public) Predicament: The bruising power struggle at the Tony Wall Street shop is taking its toll, as Morgan Stanley's stock price stalls and talent walks. The escalating conflict is weakening the No. 2 investment bank, making it ripe for a takeover. Even if CEO Philip Purcell survives, the war has rocked the firm to its core - and could signal the demise of the 1997 merger.
June 10, 2005... The rumbling of war drums circling Morgan Stanley's Philip Purcell is deafening. Since lackluster stock performance sparked a group of dissident alumni in late March to publicly agitate for corporate change, the embattled chairman and CEO has...

Holding on to Those: Banking California's wineries can be both profitable and glamorous. It's Small wonder why banks are pouring into this business. Newcomers are pushing the pricing envelope, but luring business is no guarantee of Success in a niche requiring specialized know-how.
June 10, 2005... Robert McMillan admits that he balked when Silicon Valley Bank's management dispatched him to the Napa Valley in the early '90s to launch a wine lending business. Brought up in the Santa Clara, CA-based bank's hard-driving tech culture, an...

Going Private: Public community banks, facing an expensive and growing raft of regulations, are rethinking their trading status. As the CEO of Nicolet Bankshares says, the analysis leads to one inescapable conclusion: reverse course.
June 13, 2005... It seemed like a good idea at the time. Like many community banks, when Nicolet Bankshares was founded in 2000 it decided to go immediately public, and did so for basically two reasons: to create a sense of ownership of the bank within the...

For the Enterprising, Health Savings Funds Are Anything But Bitter Medicine: The number of health savings accounts could hit 6.3 million by 2008, but only a few banks are making a genuine effort to cash in on the boom. Is yours?
June 13, 2005... Health-savings accounts are expected to grow 1,500 percent over the next three years-and banks are scrambling to get a piece of the pie, though with mixed results. Such accounts are projected to hit 6.3 million by 2008, up from today's...

Chance To Drive Race Car Helps Speed Up Lending.
June 13, 2005... BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- America's First FCU posted record loans in March thanks to a promotion that gives borrowers both a chance to drive a racecar and a shot at winning a new, customized Ford Mustang. Kathy Dunlap, marketing specialist at...

Product & Service.
June 13, 2005... Training Solution Is Selected ST. PAUL, Minn.-Deluxe Financial Services (Deluxe) and Integrated Data Systems, Inc. (IDS) have formed a strategic alliance to provide credit unions with access to DeluxePort, a browser-based check order...