Banking Wire articles from March 2008

Banking Wire archives from March 2008

Now In The Market.
March 3, 2008... Corporate CUSO Now Profitable JACKSONVILLE, Fla.Three years after launch, Member Business Solutions has reached profitability. The CUSO, owned by Southeast Corporate and Georgia Central Credit Union, serves 45 credit union partners in 12...

Now In The Market.
March 3, 2008... Corporate Realigns Management MIDDLETOWN, Penn.uMid-Atlantic Corporate FCU announced a realignment of its senior management. Jay R. Murray, who will assume the role of CEO in August 2008, has been appointed president and COO, while Edward...

SDCU CU Absorbs Four CUs.
March 3, 2008... EVERGREEN PARK, Ill. -- South Division CU merged four small area credit unions in 2007, adding three branches and expanding its services into the downtown Chicago area. The mergers involved Eastern FCU (serving NICOR employees), the VA...

Plans For Latino CU Underway.
March 3, 2008... ATLANTA -- What could be Georgias first credit union geared specifically to the Latino market is under development. According to local news reports, NCUA has been working with organizers of the proposed credit union, to be called Georgia...

Robbery Suspects Caught In Traffic.
March 3, 2008... DAYTON, Ohio -- What started out as a routine traffic stop led to the arrest of two men suspected of two armed robberies, including one at Wright-Patt Credit Union. After officers pulled over a car for traffic violations, 36-year-old...

Home Heating Helper Loan Launched.
March 3, 2008... FITCHBURG, Mass. -- IC FCU has introduced a special low-rate loan to help members finance rising heating costs this winter. The Home Heating Helper Loan offers members up to $2,000 at 7.99% for 10 months. IC FCU is a $340-million...

OCFCU Taps UBS Banker as CEO.
March 3, 2008... GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Ohio Catholic FCU, the states largest faith-based credit union, has hired Randall Trimm, most recently a wealth manager with United Bank of Switzerland, as its president and CEO. Before working at UBS, Trimm ran...

As Losses Mount, NCUA Is Adding Examiners, Looking To Tighten Its Supervision.
March 3, 2008... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- NCUA said last week it has added full-time examiners and is conducting additional supervision to some credit unions in the face of huge losses being reported for 2007. Given that some of the credit unions causing concern...

What Do The Cards Hold?
March 3, 2008... PETERBOROUGH, N.H. -- The good news for credit unions in 2008 is that credit card usage by members will increase, and in some cases, credit unions will see better growth than their banking peers. The bad news is that some of that growth may be...

Refis Begin To Boom: CUs In Markets Across Country Report Surge In Mortgage-Related Apps.
March 3, 2008... RALEIGH, N.C. -- The crisis in the housing market is far from over, but in many areas of the U.S. a quiet mortgage boom is taking place. The Federal Reserves campaign to cut interest rates to spur the national economy has had a sometimes...

Exposure To Mortgages Leads S&P To Downgrade U.S. Central.
March 4, 2008... LENEXA, Kan. -- In another offshoot of the meltdown in the mortgage market, Standard & Poors said last week it downgraded its ratings for U.S. Central FCU, from its top AAA (Triple A) to AA+, citing the corporate credit unions exposure to the...

Won't You Be My Valentine?*: *Provided You Follow All The CU's Policies & Procedures.
March 4, 2008... OGDEN, Utah -- It happens all the time. Two people work together side-by-side every day. A friendship develops. But what happens if it turns into more than a friendship? With Valentines Day just around the corner, Credit Union Journal...

On Deadline.
March 4, 2008... Trial Opens For Former National CDCU Leader SPRINGFIELD, Mass.Federal prosecutors opened their case last week against Carol Aranjo, the one-time national spokesperson for community development credit unions, by saying they will show that...

Loan Growth Outpaced Savings In 2007; Expect Reversal In '08.
March 4, 2008... MADISON, Wis. -- Credit unions closed out 2007 with loan growth exceeding savings growth and the loan-to-share ratio rising to 84.6% from 83.9% one month earlier, according to data released by CUNA. But dont look for that trend to continue...

Ties That Bind.
March 4, 2008... If there's a unifying theme to most of our stories this month, it's the need for brokerage to come in from the cold and take its rightful place among banks' traditional business units. It's increasingly clear that banks need brokerage...

A Poll Shows What Keeps Advisors Happy.
March 4, 2008... Although the number of advisors who are considering leaving their investment firms almost doubled to 9%, from 5%, in 2006 and 2005, the vast majority of advisors are still happy where they are, according to a National Financial survey. ...

Bedeviled by Regulation? It Cuts Both Ways.: Bankers have long complained about the costs and burdens associated with regulation. Given these challenging times and the backlash for shareholders, it may be that regulation contributed to the problem.
March 4, 2008... When I think about bank regulation lately, I find myself quipping, A penny for Sandy Weills thoughts. Indeed, many industry players might like the chance to talk to the man responsible for the merger of Travelers and Citibank in 1998, a deal...

M&A: Recession or Not, BofA Deal Recommits to Consumer: Countrywide deal nicely timed with rate cuts.
March 4, 2008... Theres an old saying that its better to be lucky than smart. Kenneth Lewis, Bank of Americas acquisitive-minded chairman and CEO, may have the good fortune of being both. Just weeks after BofA agreed to purchase Countrywide Financial for a...

Product Development: Agile Dev: Programming Bit by Bit: Teams trade comprehensiveness for speed.
March 4, 2008... Within the product development labs of an institution like Key Bank, much of the work is half-baked. And thats the point. Banks and financial services companies like Key are deploying new products and services quicker, cheaper and generally...

Cash Management: Finding Middle Ground: In New Jersey, a retail power looks to catch up online with a small-business hook.
March 4, 2008... Commerce Bank made a name for itself in recent years by extending banking hours through Sundays and assaulting bureaucracy, but until recently its on-line services felt retrograde. The New Jersey firms now turned its attention to technology...

Charge-offs Expected To Rise.
March 5, 2008... NEW YORK -- Credit rating agency Fitch, Inc. is forecasting that credit card charge-offs will increase by at least 35% during 2008 and that auto loans losses will increase by at least 50%. Losses rose in the last half of last year, ending a...

Bush Is Calling For Huge Cut To CDFI Funding.
March 5, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The president is asking for a $28.6 million appropriation for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, a 69.6% slashing of the fund from last years appropriation of $94 million. The CDFI Fund is aimed at...

Post Card from the CU Past.
March 5, 2008... TEXARKANA, Tex. -- Credit Union pioneer R.C. Morgan (right) presented a Texas-shaped plaque in appreciation of support of credit unions to Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, who went on to become president of the United States. The plaque, from the North...

Worth Noting.
March 5, 2008... NAFCU Backs Savings Campaign ALEXANDRIA, Va.NAFCU said it will support America Saves Week and Military Saves Week, Feb. 24--March 2, two national campaigns that encourage consumers to save and build wealth, and is urging its member CUs to...

SunTrust Pushes CRPC Designation.
March 5, 2008... SunTrust has struck a deal with the College for Financial Planning to offer its advisors a rate cut on the CFP's chartered retirement planning counselor (CRPC) program. So far, 109 of SunTrust's 550 advisors have enrolled in the course,...

Banks Are Missing 401(k) Rollover Business.
March 5, 2008... With trillions of dollars at stake, investment firms have muscled their way into the retirement market over the past decade, leaving banks in the dust. They have been so effective at convincing consumers that they are "their" retirement hubs...

Mortgages: Citi Revamping Links Origination, Securitization: Industry rivals are closely watching the reorganization.
March 5, 2008... The ramifications of CitiGroups $18 billion in losses in subprime-mortgage-related exposure has forced a sweeping corporate reorganization that tightens the risk-management relationship between origination and capital-markets activity. By...

Wall Street Banks Go Greener with Principles on Power Sector.
March 5, 2008... Urged on by shareholders and customers increasingly green attitudes, three of the worlds top financial institutions have released The Carbon Principles: climate-change guidelines for advisors and lenders to U.S. coal and other greenhouse...

Payments: Is it Time for Tix by Cell?: Contactless phone payments trials roll amid uncertain demand.
March 5, 2008... If Dominic Venturo gets his wish, a future in which people routinely pay for cans of soda and movie tickets by brandishing a mobile phone will bloom this spring in Spokane. People are doing more things with their mobile devices, says...

Everyone's For Going Green. But Does It Work?
March 5, 2008... Few would argue the merits of going green. But two questions loom large for financial institutions: Just how green is green, and where does your institution stand in its efforts? Certainly, the green movement is gaining traction in the...

Focus On Competitive Earnings-And Getting More Of Them.
March 6, 2008... ORLANDO -- How are credit unions going to differentiate themselves from other financial institutions in a way that will boost household and market penetration in 2008? The answer lies in competitive earnings, according to Peter Duffy,...

Now In The Market.
March 6, 2008... CUNA Mutual Group Ranked No. 6 MADISON, Wis.CUNA Mutual Group ranked sixth in the 2007 InfoWorld 100 awards, which annually honors 100 IT organizations that have made the best use of technology in pursuit of business goals. CUNA Mutual was...

Credit Union Facilities, Staff Largely Escape Damage From Cluster of Tornadoes.
March 6, 2008... JACKSON, Tenn. -- A number of credit unions lost power but were reporting no other damage after a powerful cluster of tornados swept through the South killing more than 50 people last week. At presstime, the Tennessee CU League said there...

Missouri League To Vote On A Dues Reduction.
March 6, 2008... ST. LOUIS -- Missouri credit unions will vote on a proposed dues cut at the Missouri CU Associations annual meeting April 1. The leagues board voted last week to change the dues formula, which will result in up to a 17% reduction for some...

Advisors Eye International Funds, REITs: A MassMutual study of 401(k) participants found that 79% of "high savers," those contributing more than 8% of their salaries to their company's retirement plan, are eager for advice on managing their investments.
March 6, 2008... For financial advisors looking to broaden their product menus, recent research says, international mutual funds and real estate investment trusts are the most attractive additions. Bruce Harrington, a managing director at Cogent Research in...

New Software Tools Can Empower Time-Strapped Advisors.
March 6, 2008... The world of a wealth management advisor is not an easy one, given the seemingly endless amount of information to consider, the need to constantly evaluate new financial products and a tax environment always in flux, but there is hope. ...

Noted and Noteworthy.
March 6, 2008... A lawsuit against Wachovia claims it continued to offer banking services to telemarketers, who used those services to steal as much as $400 million from victims, many elderly, since 2003, even after the bank was warned about the fraud. Filed in...

Is the OTS Obsolete?: A perennial question returns to the forefront with BofA's bid to buy Countrywide Financial, one of the nation's largest thrifts. And the cynics sigh: "Let the agency-bashing begin.".
March 6, 2008... In the growing groundswell to reorganize the six federal financial-services regulators, the Office of Thrift Supervision is the smallest and the agency most vulnerable to elimination, particularly with Countrywides acquisition by Bank of...

e-Discovery: Defensive Posturing: Subprime Suits Aloft: Call them opportunists or ambulance chasers, electronic policy management firms are cashing in on the post-bubble litigation woes for banks.
March 6, 2008... Like the New England Patriots, many subprime-whacked financial players had a cruel fourth quarter. Citigroup reported a $9.8 billion loss; Merrill Lynch checked in at $9.91 billion in the red; and UBS was down $11.22 billion. But there...

News Makers.
March 6, 2008... FOR NOW, THE DEVIL YOU DONT KNOW IS BEST Looking for dependable non-prime customer yield? LexisNexis research shows lending to the underbanked may pose lesser risk than with thick-file credit customers with shaky bureau histories. Regular...

Down-To-Earth Problems, Outer Space Themes, & Global Issues.
March 7, 2008... Should the credit unions that have been reporting losses for the fourth quarter be required to disclose that promptly to their members? As Credit Union Journal has been the first to report in both this issue and several recent issues, a...

CUNA To Do Due-Diligence On CU Due-Diligence.
March 7, 2008... WASHINGTON -- CUNA has established a Due Diligence Task Force to explore a variety of due-diligence responsibilities, in particular those related to third-party vendors. Henry Wirz, CEO of SAFE CU, North Highlands, Calif., is chairing the...

Comm. Development Fund Sets Several Records.
March 7, 2008... NEW YORK -- The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions said it set several new records for its Community Development Investment Program, with nearly $8.8 million invested in CDCUs and/or low-income credit unions in 2007. ...

Something About Mary, And Other Issues With Uncivil Behavior.
March 7, 2008... Often we frame our view of civility in terms of anothers uncivil behavior. In our own shops we may have encountered irate members employing coarse language, or witnessed an occasional board member tirade. Employees occasionally lose their cool...

Fledgling Programs Hunger for Fees: Small banks are struggling to create business models that will help them bring in recurring revenue sources.(Company overview)
March 7, 2008... It isn't easy being small. While the big regional and national banks can support their reps through a transition to fees, the margins at community banks are shaved closer to the bone. Yet for many program managers and advisors, there are...

Married to the Office: How husband-and-wife advisors keep their home and work lives harmonious.
March 7, 2008... Some advisors may shudder at the thought of working with their spouses, but Pam and Joe Malara combined their married and professional lives to build a successful joint practice in rural Louisiana. Advisors for third-party marketer IPI at...

Risk Management: The Complex Role Of CRO Is Reexamined: Chief risk officers are overseeing a sea change in risk strategies at institutions across the nation, redefining their roles and challenging institutions like never before.
March 7, 2008... Being a chief risk officer isnt easy these days, considering the mix of credit, security and regulatory woes that would give any official heartburn. It feels worse right now because its been so, so good for the past few years, says Suzanne...

Would Rewards Help Your Client Feel Better?: The subprime debacle has left many consumers antsy. Some banks are trying merchant-funded-rewards programs to tempt clients into loving their banks again.
March 7, 2008... You cant pick up a major daily without stumbling over at least one article about credit woes and bank losses. But rather than run away from the overwhelmingly negative news, bank-marketing firms are trying to spin an upside message, using...

Data Storage: It Fell Off the Truck, Again. Now What?: It's been five years since data breach laws went into effect, and tapes are still going missing now and then. What's stopping the migration to more secure storage?
March 7, 2008... It was a rocky end to 2007 for data-storage leader Iron Mountain. The Boston-based company had two high-profile cases of tape loss to close out the year, including one that required GE Money to notify 650,000 potentially exposed customers. Five...

Top Tech Deals.
March 7, 2008... Number One PayPal says it will acquire Israeli security vendor Fraud Sciences in a $169 million cash transaction. San Jose, CA-based PayPal will use Fraud Sciences technology to beef up identity verification measures for both PayPal and...

Now In The Market.
March 11, 2008... LAFCU Investment Srvcs. Launched LOS ANGELESLos Angles FCU has launched LAFCU Investment Services (LIS), which will offer a variety of investment products through CUSO Financial Services, L.P. Services include retirement accounts, estate...

A CU Journal Series On Diversity.
March 11, 2008... January 21 Part I: National CU Leadership January 28 Part II: Focus On Hispanics February 4 Part III: Focus On Women Subscribers can access the stories in this special reportand the original report from June 2000at...

Member's Idea The Next Google? New Tool Offers Ways To Know.
March 11, 2008... MADISON, Wis. -- Pet Rock or rocky proposal? A new tool has been developed to help credit unions determine if a members idea for a new business is most likely to go boom or bust. Noting that millions of Baby Boomers are preparing to retire...

Fate Of Norlarco Participations Unknown.
March 11, 2008... FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- With the sale of Norlarco CU and the remnants of the once-$360 million credit union, NCUA has left as many as two-dozen credit unions wondering what will become of the almost $200 million in loans Norlarco sold off as...

Esoteric ETFs: ETFs are increasingly covering investing in narrower and more diverse market niches.
March 11, 2008... "It's a bit like your cellphone. There are all these bells and whistles, but the real value of it is being able to call people," says Louis Hughes a certified financial planner, who works out of the Taylor, Texas, office of Investment Centers...

Gliding Into Retirement: Target-date funds are the new retirement investment solution for the everyman.
March 11, 2008... Ernest Hemingway once famously responded to F. Scott Fitzgerald's observation that "The rich aren't like you and I," with, "Yeah, they've got more money." Wealthy clients can hire a fund manager who will typically invest aggressively for...

2007: The Year Of the Silent Scream: The banking sector's biggest players remain stuck in the muck. The path out to solid ground is going to require a long hard slog.
March 11, 2008... The banking-sector recession showed up clearly in U.S. Bankers annual ranking of the top 100 institutions by three-year average return on equity. The numbers are stark: 83 percent of the top 100 banks showed a decline in ROE in 2007 from 2006,...

Peer Pressure: Best of the Biggest.
March 11, 2008... {Ranked by 3-Year Average ROE} Rank/Institution Total Assets ($000) Market Value ($M) Closing Price($) ROE (%) 2007 ROE (%) 2006 ROE (%) 2005 3YR Avg. ROE (%) Net Interest Margin (%) Net Income ($000) Total Non-Interest Income...

Surviving The 2007 Financial Crisis: Countrywide, Merrill, UBS, Morgan, Citi. The marquee names hit hard by the credit-market storm prompted the SNL Bank Index's 25 percent slide from its historic high in late 2006. Where does the industry go from here? Here's an action plan to survive the challenges and capitalize on market opportunities.
March 11, 2008... One can hardly pick up a newspaper or watch a business news program today without seeing mention of the subprime-mortgage problem or the collateralized-debt-obligation meltdown and their impact on U.S. banks, consumers and the U.S. economy....

Access Governance: Too Much Access and Not Enough Governance: According to the results of a recent Ponemon Institute survey, the industry still does a terrible job enforcing barriers between employees and information.
March 11, 2008... Societe Generales January announcement that it lost $7.2 billion due to insider fraud shows how critical access governance issues have become. Yet according to a Ponemon Institute survey released in February, there is confusion over who is...

The Mobile Future That's Already Here: Mobile finance carries with it a fair amount of hype, but in one form or another, it will happen. Does that place Gemalto, and firms like it, in the payments stream?
March 11, 2008... Gemalto is a small Dutch digital security firm thats just cut a big deal: cellphone maker LG is collaborating with it to built smart card Web server-compatible handsets. Two other big device makers are poised to follow suit. Do not confuse the...

Prime Alliance Reports Mortgage Surge.
March 12, 2008... TUKWILA, Wash. -- While mortgage production nationally was down 15% in 2007, Prime Alliance Solutions Inc. is reporting an increase of 20% in mortgage transactions during 2007 over 2006. Even the last two months of 2007, typically some of the...

Hearing On Diversity In Financial Services.
March 12, 2008... WASHINGTON -- On the heels of Credit Union Journals ongoing special report on diversity in the credit union movement, U.S. Rep. Melvin L. Watt (D-NC), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said his subcommittee will hold...

Country Star Voice Of Georgia's CUs.
March 12, 2008... DULUTH, Ga. -- Singer LeAnn Rimes is the new voice and face of Georgia credit unions, as the country-western star is featured in a new series of television commercials throughout the state which debut today. The commercials, targeted at...

Bankers Negative On Economy.
March 12, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The nations banks believe the United States is entering a recession and are pessimistic about Washingtons plans to get the economy back on track. The Federal Reserve board released its periodic survey of senior loan officers...

Get Relevant: As markets sputter, bank wealth management teams need to prove their worth as core to the institution as a whole.
March 12, 2008... It's the best of times and the worst of times for the heads of bank wealth managers. While their profits are more than double the corporate average, earnings growth often straggles at half the corporate pace. The subprime mortgage fiasco and...

Bankers Bemoan Elimination Of Popular Merit Program: Community bankers can't understand why the popular Merit program has been scrapped, but the FDIC says the program was no longer useful and sometimes tied examiners' hands.
March 12, 2008... If one has timea good amount of timeask any community banker about his last federal examination. Chances are he has a horror story to tell, unless his bank is part of an elite group examined under the so-called Merit program. Given the...

Reverse Mortgages Move Into the Mainstream: Paltry savings, impending retirements and huge equity buildups-yes, even with the housing slump-mean more seniors will be tapping their homes for income. Banks are stepping in.
March 12, 2008... Whether as a last resort to keep ones house or to finance a Mediterranean trip reverse mortgages are increasingly enticing seniors in want of additional income. Reverse mortgages, otherwise known as home-equity conversion mortgages, are on...

Wealth Management: A Nerve center for the very, Very rich: BNY Mellon is expanding portal functionality for its high-net-worth clients in a bid to gain an edge over fierce rivals like Northern Trust and U.S. Trust. But any Web-based competitive advantage might be only temporary.
March 12, 2008... The most euphemistic among us would call the current wealth management environment challenging. That means everybody wants to know whats up with their money at all times, and they want to be ready to make changes on the fly. BNY Mellon...

Collections: If The Going Gets Tough, Automate: Defaults are a sensitive subject. Banks aim to make recovery as painless as possible for customers, without accumulating charge-offs. New Web tools improve the odds of seeing a potential long-term customer through a tough spot.
March 12, 2008... One result of the foundering mortgage marketplace is a turn to using more self-servicing productsor self-curing, as some like to call itto help the homeowner and the bank avoid foreclosure and potentially return the loan to good standing. ...

CU Seeking Private Insurance.
March 13, 2008... PORT NECHES, Texas -- Members of MCT CU are voting whether to convert from federal deposit insurance to private insurance under the banner of ASI Inc., of Dublin, Ohio. The $160-million MCTCU would be the first to convert from federal insurance...

CU To Move To Old Bank HQ.
March 13, 2008... LIVONIA, Mich. -- Community Choice CU is moving its headquarters to nearby Farmington Hills, where it has purchased the former Citizens Republic Bancorp office. The credit union has more than $410 million in assets and serves more than...

Would-Be Pipe Bomber Convicted.
March 13, 2008... COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The last of four suspects charged in a scheme to plant pipe bombs at a school in order to create a diversion during a robbery of Founders CU has been convicted for his role in the scheme. According to local news reports,...

Market Conditions, Opportunities Affect Portfolio Sale Debate.
March 13, 2008... DALLAS -- To sell or not to sell? Credit unions grappling with the question of whether or not to sell their credit card portfolios in 2008 will need to take a long hard look at their bottom line and reasons for selling, according to...

Northern Exposure.
March 13, 2008... BIC: What new opportunities are in your territory? Finn: I've been in this business for 30 years, always in a bank and always working with older, conservative clients. My main growth opportunity is through ongoing service, which brings in...

Customize Fees and Make Customers Feel Special: National City has adopted an SOA-enabled, silo-busting pricing strategy based on a customer's total business with the bank to deepen the relationship. Guess what? It works.
March 13, 2008... Bank fees have long been a one-size-fits all jacket, but some institutions now offer a custom-tailored experience to differentiate themselves and grab wallet share. Weve been moving away from a product and line-of-business focused culture...

Bringing the Customer 'Onboard' in the Early Days: By using onboarding techniques, banks are not only keeping their small-business customers, but making them ultra-profitable. But they only have a limited time to cross sell. Tick tock. Tick tock.
March 13, 2008... In any relationship, the first three months are crucial. Mess something up early and there is little chance of long-term success. Thats just as true for a newly dating couple as it is for another partnership: a bank and its new customer. ...

How Green Is Green?: The Green movement is gaining momentum in financial services, but executives are finding that it's far easier to cut off the financing of dirty industries like coal-fired power plants than it is to get their own houses in order. A progress report on what financial institutions are striving to achieve and where they're coming up short.
March 13, 2008... Lorie Wigle, the general manager of eco-technology at Intel, laughs when she is asked if there are enough computer industry executives with eco or green in their title these days to make up a whole new peer group. But going green is no...

ID Theft: Thwarted On-Line, Crime Looks to Past: In this data age, think tanks and federal agencies are increasingly finding a return to old-style phone-based fraud and reliance on "friends and family" for effective scamming.
March 13, 2008... The payoff from reducing identity theft crimes through electronic channels is not what weve expected. In a new identity theft report survey, Javelin Strategy & Research found a continuing overall decline in fraud numbers and victimsno doubt due...

Money Laundering: Bankers Taking On Goods-Based Fraud: A new anti-money laundering tool incorporated by SAS charts irregularities on clients' import/export invoices and improves the overall compliance infrastructure.
March 13, 2008... Asking banks to track potential anti-money laundering activity through traded goods is easier mandated than done. Since 2005, the FFIEC exam manual has required institutions to have a policy or process to monitor letter-of-credit or...

A Look At How Analysts See Cards Repricing In Light Of Fed Moves.
March 14, 2008... WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Credit Union Journal asked several credit card experts how quickly they think credit card interest rates will move in light of the recent Fed rate cuts. Heres what those experts had to say: Timothy Kolk, managing...

What's In The Cards.
March 14, 2008... USFFCU Switches To CO-OP FS RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.USF Federal Credit Union (USFFCU) is switching to CO-OP Financial Services for debit and ATM processing. The five-year agreement is the Tampa, Fla.-based credit unions initial venture...

AmEx Launches Platinum Co-Brand Card.
March 14, 2008... MARKHAM, Ontario -- Amex Bank of Canada and the AIR MILES Reward Program have teamed up to launch the American Express AIR MILES Platinum Credit Card, designed to give consumers the fastest way to earn AIR MILES reward miles on a credit card....

What's IN THE cards.
March 14, 2008... CO-OP Signs Pennsylvania CUs... RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.The $1.4-billion Members 1st FCU and the $1-billion Citadel FCU have joined CO-OP Network. Both credit unions members will have access to 626 CO-OP Network ATMs in Pennsylvania and...