Banking Wire articles from May 2005

Banking Wire archives from May 2005

Prsident Bush Signs Long-Awaited Bankruptcy Reform Bill Into Law.
May 2, 2005... WASHINGTON -- With a quick flourish of the pen, President Bush signed the bankruptcy reform bill last week, making the credit union-supported legislation law. The new law will take effect six months from the date of signing. "This bill...

The Oklahoma Tragedy, 10 Years Later: Bombing's Survivors Offer Personal Reflections.
May 2, 2005... OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Amy Petty remembers hearing an incredible roaring noise, then her own voice screaming out. The credit union where she was a credit card loan officer had suddenly gone dark and was collapsing around her. "I didn't...

CUs Escape During House Hearing On Tax-Exempt Groups.
May 2, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Credit unions successfully dodged the spotlight during last week's congressional hearing on tax-exempt organizations, while the focus shifted to not-for-profit hospitals and health organizations. But Rep. Bill Thomas,...

How HFCU Has Become One With Its Local Community.
May 2, 2005... HERMANTOWN, Minn. -- Call it Zen and the Art of Community Credit Unions, because Hermantown Federal Credit Union really is one with its community. When HFCU expanded its community charter to include all of St. Louis County, the credit...

On Deadline.
May 2, 2005... SECU Grant $2M To Fund Hospital Facility RALIEGH, N.C.-The Board of State Employees CU has approved a $2 million matching grant through the SECU Foundation to help fund a new facility at University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill...

Group In Congress Wants To Ensure Check 21 Benefits Are Returned.
May 2, 2005... WASHINGTON -- A group of bipartisan lawmakers said last week they will move to ensure that consumers share in the expected billions of dollars in benefits that will be created from the new Check 21 law that establishes electronic versions of...

Thirty CUs Exit Calif. League Over Campaign, Costs.
May 2, 2005... MONTEREY, Calif. -- Thirty credit unions have disaffiliated with the California Credit Union League over the Public Advocacy media campaign running in this state and Nevada. The $6-million underwriting the campaign was raised by a special...

Worth Noting.
May 2, 2005... HR Council Elects Execs MADISON, Wis.-The CUNA Human Resources, Training and Development Council has elected its new board officers. Tammy Trudelle, VP-HR for Fort Worth Community CU in Bedford, Texas, was elected council chair, replacing...

For One Company, Trend Is Pens; For Another, It's MOEs.
May 2, 2005... Credit union marketers now have the ability to pinpoint to the individual member who is most likely to be looking for a car loan. Or who has a child about to enter college. Or why the fourth guy in line is 10 times more profitable than the...

Calif. CUL Forms Search Comm.
May 2, 2005... RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- The California league has formed a search committee to find a replacement for CEO David Chatfield, who plans to retire April 1, 2006. Search committee members include the league's chairman, San Francisco Fire CU...

CUES, MACUMA To Partner.
May 3, 2005... MADISON, Wis. -- CUES has entered into a joint venture with the Metropolitan Area Credit Union Management Association (MACUMA) to enhance the educational offerings available to credit union professionals throughout Washington, D.C., suburban...

More Than 500 At Colo. Meeting.
May 3, 2005... COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- More than 500 representatives drawn from 70 credit unions across Colorado turned out for the Colorado league's annual meeting here. "1 in 3-The Power of Unity" was the theme of the 2005 annual meeting, a reference...

Johnson In Literacy 'Day of Hope'.
May 3, 2005... ATLANTA -- In recognition of Financial Literacy Month, NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson participated in a "Day of Hope" with government and national leaders involved in civil rights and economic empowerment here on April 12. In addition to...

Mica On Radio And On List.
May 3, 2005... WASHINGTON -- CUNA is reporting that "millions of consumers are being reached this month" through a radio outreach campaign promoting the trade group's "Thrive by Five" preschool financial education materials. CUNA President Dan Mica taped...

Las Vegas CU In Problem Gambling Initiative.
May 3, 2005... LAS VEGAS -- Nevada Federal Credit Union and the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling have combined forces to raise awareness of problem gambling for the credit union's members, employees and the community. Southern Nevada has been one of...

Johnson: Reg Flex Qualifying Net Worth Ratio To Be 7%.
May 3, 2005... WASHINGTON -- In remarks before a delegation of Texas credit unions visiting here, NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johson said she plans to move forward soon with plans on on lowering from 9% to 7% the RegFlex qualifying net worth ratio for...

Product & Service.
May 3, 2005... D. Hilton Supports CU Museum THE WOODLANDS, Texas-D. Hilton Associates Inc. has presented America's Credit Union Museum with a donation of $15,000. DHA President David Hilton and Executive Vice President Debbie Hilton made the...

Train & Strain: Inability To Quantify Cost Vs. Benefits In Training Is Reason For Many CEOs' Indifference, Says 1 Person.
May 3, 2005... INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Training often receives scant attention from credit union CEOs because the executives find it difficult to quantify cost versus benefit-at least according to one CEO. Glenn Strebe, president and CEO of Air Academy...

Train & Drain: One CU Exec's View On Why So Many Training Dollars End Up Going Wasted.
May 3, 2005... INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- According to one credit union executive, of the $51.4 billion spent last year on training by U.S. industry, an astounding $46.3 billion was wasted. Lee Alderman, training manager for the $1.2-billion Redwood Credit...

Card Balances Soar Following Promotions By Wescom Credit Union.
May 3, 2005... PASADENA, Calif. -- Wescom Credit Union said it grew outstanding credit card balances by 22% during 2004, thanks to a sieres of promotions. Balances stood at $107 million at the end of the promotion, up from $88 million when it began. ...

A Higher Calling.
May 4, 2005... From my conversations with bank brokers across the country, a compelling trend has become clear-transactional sales are on the way out; financial planning is the new face of the business. The difference? The former aims to sell product-any...

Small Banks Lead in Insurance Sales.
May 4, 2005... Banks-particularly the smallest ones-made waves in insurance sales last year, making up for lackluster brokerage sales. In 2004, banks earned a record $3.63 billion in insurance brokerage fee income compared to $2.97 billion the year before,...

Privatizing Social Security: Dubya Offers a Boom-and a Huge IT Bill: Servicing private accounts could cost billions.
May 4, 2005... Conversations about Social Security privatization usually revolve around the boon it would provide to the financial services companies that would have the opportunity to invest the public's money. But banks and brokerages, as well as the...

B2B payments: Auto Finance Gets Past 'Bureaucracy': PNC rolls out electronic claims software.
May 4, 2005... Consumers have been warming to electronic payment systems for years, partly in an attempt to save time and reduce clutter. But business-to-business transactions-with their elaborate methods of procurement-have actually lagged behind when it...

Fighting One Conversion Try...: Group Forms To Stop Texas CU's Plans.
May 4, 2005... PLANO, Texas -- A group of Community Credit Union members has banded together to oppose the $1.4-billion credit union's proposed conversion to a bank, which would be the largest credit union charter switch ever. The group is seeking to...

...Rebuilding After Another: 'Dissident' Group Set To Win Board.
May 4, 2005... VANCOUVER, Wash. -- A group of Columbia Credit Union members who helped defeat a bid to convert the credit union to a mutual savings bank last year is poised to win control of the credit union's board of directors in next month's elections. ...

Incomplete Reporting: Concern Over Data Quality On SARs, CTRs.
May 4, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The National Credit Union Administration is expressing concerns over the quality of Suspicious Activity Reports and Currency Transaction Reports. The filings are designed to provide law enforcement with lead information that...

House Passes Bill Allowing FCUs To Serve Non-Members.
May 4, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The House took another major step last week towards blurring the traditional common bond by passing a bill that would allow federally chartered credit unions to provide limited services to non-members within their fields of...

East West's Positive Energy.
May 4, 2005... I would like to point out that the paintings in the headquarters building of East West Bancorp ("Risk Aversion as an Art Form," March 2005) serve a different purpose than just decoration and investment. They have a lot to do with the Chinese...

Managing for Change, Mentoring for the Future: Executives who succeed in business often were influenced by those who had themselves been mentored. In the past, this rarely applied to women. That's what's different about business today.
May 4, 2005... When I talk with industry players who have achieved success, two things are apparent: They often were influenced by those who had themselves been mentored, and they learned to manage for change. In the past, this rarely applied to women. That's...

SEC Split Clarifies B-Share Bugaboo.
May 5, 2005... The B-share saga continues, a recent judicial decision providing financial advisers with some additional clarification about when it's proper to sell different classes of mutual fund shares and how to go about selling them. In what law...

Bank Annuity Sales Still Weak.
May 5, 2005... Higher CD rates and the negative publicity from regulatory probes of variable annuity sales practices have converged to hamper bank annuity sales. Overall sales fell 7% in January-the third straight monthly decline-and were about 6% below the...

Cross Border: Remittance Heats Up: New software offers quick confirmations.
May 5, 2005... Even in a border town like El Paso, TX, gaining share of the remittance service market isn't a top priority, says credit union executive Harriet May. "It's not the cherry on top of the sundae to bring [customers] in," admits the CEO of El Paso...

Nonbank Payments: Are Banks Green? Yes And No.
May 5, 2005... A recent conversation with a bank CIO sums up the banking industry's situation pretty succinctly: "If you take cash and payments out of the equation, who needs banks?" That's the question weighing heavily on many bankers' minds. While the...

On Deadline.
May 5, 2005... House OKs Bill To Raise Deposit Insurance Cap WASHINGTON-The House Financial Services Committee again approved a bill last week to reform the deposit insurance reform system by raising the coverage on all federally insured bank and credit...

CUNA Makes $211,000 In PAC Donations.
May 5, 2005... WASHINGTON -- CUNA said it made $211,000 in campaign contributions last month, the highest since the peak of last fall's elections. Much of the contributions went to help develop or cement ties with newly elected House members, including:...

Maine CUs Donate 16,360 Hours of Time.
May 5, 2005... WESTBROOK, Maine -- Credit union representatives in this state volunteered 16,360.25 hours of their time during 2004, an increase of 8% over 2003, according to the Maine Credit Union League, which coordinates the program "Maine Credit Unions...

Post-Tsunami Reconstruction Now Underway.
May 5, 2005... SRI LANKA -- SANASA, the national credit union association in Sri Lanka, has begun reconstruction of 28 primary societies (credit unions) and the regional credit union training center in the Galle district in the wake of the disastrous tsunami....

Community Bank Ownership: SOX Costs Prompt Switch From Public to Private: But is compliance savings worth the hassle?
May 5, 2005... Additional compliance costs of Sarbanes-Oxley, which can reach as high as $2 million annually, are pushing many public community banks to go private and avoid onerous reporting requirements to the Securities and Exchange Commission. "To...

Emerging Markets: Is Libya the Next Frontier for U.S. Banks?: As the nation passes reforms, profits beckon. But chaos abounds.
May 5, 2005... With a banking-reform law passed in January in Libya, and both U.S. and U.N. sanctions now lifted, foreign banks are tiptoeing into this former pariah state, whose 5.6 million people are largely unbanked. U.S., European and Middle Eastern...

Product News.
May 6, 2005... AIG SunAmerica Retirement Markets has introduced the Seasons family of variable annuities. The family features four Managed Allocation Portfolios, which are subadvised by Ibbotson Associates. (800) 445-7862, or www.aigsunamerica.com ...

Tools and Resources.
May 6, 2005... Affinity Networking Systems has introduced a free Sales Prospecting Blog for advisers. It is updated daily with prospecting strategies, success stories, and tactical selling opportunities. prospectingprofaol.com, or www.prospectingprofessor.com...

Heeling And Dealing: Sungard Aims To Recast Its Services Business: The largest private tech buyout comes as the firm shifts its strategy amid a changing outsourcing environment.
May 6, 2005... The $11.3 billion deal to take SunGard private is causing a lot of buzz in the financial services industry, particularly in light of the recent trend away from wide-ranging IT outsourcing agreements. Most industry reactions have focused on...

News Makers.
May 6, 2005... Paycom-MC suit tossed, Net policies upheld A federal judge threw out a lawsuit against MasterCard by adult Web site billing firm Paycom, which alleged antitrust and fraud violations over MC's charge policies for Net merchants. When it filed...

Product & Service.
May 6, 2005... Member Wins 10,077 VISA Points JACKSON, Mich.-Joseph Rumsey, a member of American 1 FCU here, was one of 156 national winners in a Visa ScoreCard sweepstakes, winning 10,077 points on his American 1 FCU credit card. Rumsey was one out of a...

Brand Wasteland: ESL Credit Union Believes Many CUs Miss The Important First Step When it Comes To Branding.
May 6, 2005... SAN DIEGO -- With so many credit unions attempting to build their brands in their communities, most are missing an important first step-measuring key factors such as member satisfaction and market share. That was the message from Roger...

Thinking Outside The Mill: How One Virginia CU Worked With Auto Dealers To Stretch Its Advertising Budget.
May 6, 2005... SAN DIEGO -- Brett Noll believes that most credit unions stage "run of the mill" marketing campaigns. And they generate "run of the mill" results. The reason, said Noll, VP with Langley FCU in Newport News, Va., is "marketing deprivation."...

Committee's Direction On Non-Profits Unclear.
May 6, 2005... WASHINGTON -- It's not clear what direction the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee is headed after its recent hearing on 501 (c) tax-exempt organizations; Committee Chairman Bill Thomas of California, admitted as much when asked by The...

Hits and Has-Beens.
May 6, 2005... PNC Financial Services Group named Michael N. Harreld, a 36-year veteran of the company and now regional president of its Kentucky banking operations, as regional president of its metropolitan Washington, D.C., franchise. Harreld will assume...

Fresh Ink.
May 6, 2005... 1. First Horizon National agreed to buy West Metro Financial in a $32 million cash and stock deal, enabling First Horizon to expand into Georgia. The bank said it hired a high-level executive in January to seek a takeover target in the state....

Calendar.
May 9, 2005... May 9-11 ABA/Forward Financial Sales Management Conference American Bankers Association Memphis, Tenn. (800) BANKERS, or www.aba.com May 12-14 Financial Advisors Forum International Association of ...

The Queen of Queens: At HSBC, Esther Luk's community spirit feeds her business in a changing neighborhood.
May 9, 2005... Esther Luk is a permanent fixture both at her bank and in her community. That commitment is getting her results, not only with her existing clients, but with their friends and their children, too. While Luk doesn't see many big-ticket sales,...

New Check Technology: Image Replacements Are Starting To Fall Into Favor: Some are asking if stopgap check replacement technology should now be viewed as a permanent answer. It appeals to banks but could put a crimp in electronic exchanges.
May 9, 2005... Image-replacement document technology is supposed to be a stopgap for Check 21 compliance in lieu of an industry-wide image exchange environment. But some bankers and industry watchers are starting to ask the question: why should IRDs only be...

Knowing Customers: Banks Battle The Image Of Social Insecurity: Unisys says nearly half of banks use Social Security numbers, an easily nabbed item, as authentication.
May 9, 2005... While politicians, pundits and ordinary citizens debate the virtue of privatizing Social Security, it's the apparent lack of privacy of Social Security numbers that's sounding an alarm in some corners. Market research from Unisys says...

Bankers Seek To Plant Anti-CU Questions.
May 9, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The nation's banking industry continues to work on the House Ways & Means Committee to ensure that the credit union tax exemption is at least studied, even if the committee members have shown little interest in it. Questions...

Sanders Expected To Run For Jeffords' Senate Seat.
May 9, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Independent James Jeffords, who foiled Republican plans when he defected from the party to hand brief control of the Senate to the Democrats four years ago, announced his retirement, paving the way for the only Socialist in...

People.
May 9, 2005... Merrimack Valley Federal Credit Union, North Andover, Mass., announced that Peter J. Matthews, Jr. was appointed the Massachusetts CULAC trustee, and John MacDonald to the executive committee of the CUNA marketing and business development...

The CU Journal Daily.
May 9, 2005... Phishing Detected At NCUA ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA said fraudsters have been sending e-mails asking for individuals' financial information that appeared to be from NCUA in classic phishing attacks. The phony e-mails asked for the recipient...

Pipeline: Insurance Fees Soar.
May 9, 2005... Banks increased their 2004 insurance brokerage fee income by 22.2 percent, from $2.97 billion in 2003 to a record $3.63 billion in 2004, according to a new report by Michael White Associates. The report, cosponsored by Financial Keyosk,...

Word Is...
May 9, 2005... An Affair to Remember: Morgan's Board Stands By Its Man...For Now Will the Morgan Stanley board blink? The brain drain at the white- shoe firm continued unabated last month as the firm's two top bankers departed. The exit of Joseph...

Making the Most of Your Marketing: Without much marketing support, banks' investment subsidiaries are finding novel ways to work smarter.
May 10, 2005... Retail brokerage is still a relatively new business for many banks, whose customers are still wising up to the fact that they can buy the same products at their bank branch that they can at a traditional Wall Street firm. One reason is that the...

Creating a Sales "Dream Team": Department heads at Webster Bank form exclusive clubs of sales reps to maximize cross-sell.
May 10, 2005... While many banks these days are talking about cross-selling, few have formalized their efforts to the extent that Webster Bank has. Besides revamping the team-based structure of its retail investment subsidiary last year, senior officers from...

ID Theft: Who's The Crime's Typical Victim? You'd Be Surprised.: Some 60 percent of survey respondents say they fear the crime, and six percent switched banks to avoid it.
May 10, 2005... Fears about ID theft are escalating, according to new research by Financial Insights, but not all consumers worry about the crime equally. And the level of fear depends on the respondent's age. For example, 60 percent of respondents say...

If It's New, ANB Financial's Interested in Adoption: Located in the land of Wal-Mart, ANB finds itself with a lot of competitors. It's tried to stay ahead by embracing innovation early, often developing the technology itself.
May 10, 2005... From its perch across the way from Wal-Mart's corporate headquarters in Arkansas, ANB Financial's plan to ward off its numerous competitors has been like a play on old school voting in Chicago-adopt early and adopt often. Since its...

One CU Gets Its ACT Together On Tracking.
May 10, 2005... ORLANDO, Fla. -- If a credit union has a strong SEG recruitment business development program, sometimes the hardest part is keeping track of all the business it's bringing in. That's why Spokane Teachers CU created its own database to...

For Community Chartered FCUs, Ability To Serve SEGs Comes Down To The Wording.
May 10, 2005... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- While credit unions that have converted to community charter have discovered that they abandon their SEG programs at their peril, federal credit unions that convert to community charter must be very careful about how they...

Biz Bites: One-To-One Marketing At The Heart Of Good Data.
May 10, 2005... ORLANDO, Fla. -- The king of one-to-one marketing is Amazon.com, hands down, according to Spokane Teachers CU Business Development Manager Jackie Wright. "They're who we all look to as a model," Wright told attendees of The Credit Union...

Adding A Little 'Lemon Zest' To Your Seminars.
May 10, 2005... ORLANDO -- If you think credit union seminars, like credit union newsletters, are stale, boring and no longer relevant, then maybe you are the problem, one credit union expert told attendees of The Credit Union Journal's SEG & Business...

Noted and Noteworthy.
May 10, 2005... It doesn't yet have the sting of Bank of America's recently lost data tapes-two of which contained the personal information of 1.2 million federal government credit cardholders-but give it time. The news from LexisNexis is getting worse by the...

Huh? What Conflict of Interest?: A new Senate report, fingering eight other banks besides Riggs, says money laundering in the case of Pinochet was endemic to the industry. But a new rule may curb future abuses.
May 10, 2005... Recent revelations that eight other banks besides Riggs helped former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and his family hide their wealth in a clandestine labyrinth of accounts-and that Riggs' involvement was deeper than initially...

ILITs in the Stream: Irrevocable life insurance trusts are an important part of estate planning for high-net-worth clients.
May 11, 2005... Then it comes to estate planning, there is one powerful tool that should never be overlooked: the irrevocable life insurance trust, or ILIT. As Jeffrey Daniher, a partner at Ritter Daniher Financial Advisors in Cincinnati, says: "I believe the...

Shopping Around: For bank brokerage, changing clearing firms is a major undertaking. Why are so many banks making the move?
May 11, 2005... "I'd just as soon have someone take a two-by-four and beat me with it-it would hurt a lot less." That was John Porter's assessment of having to change clearing firms. Porter, former chairman and CEO of SouthTrust Securities (which is now part...

Mortgage: Republic Hits Vegas With Less Paper: The lender's using imaging for customer delivery and secondary market sales in the fast growing Vegas market, making it one of many lenders using e-capture to shave paper and storage costs.
May 11, 2005... Las Vegas' real estate environment is much like the city itself- rapidly expanding, changing by the day and every bit the crapshoot. In an attempt to tame this volatile market-and score points with its tech-hungry portfolio investors, Republic...

Checking: Teller-point Exchange Gets A Test In Ohio: Huntington's an early adopter of a product that could vastly reduce paper By Shane Kite.
May 11, 2005... The devices aren't large, only about as big as a cigar box. But for firms like Huntington Bank, these tiny cameras can be a key to digitizing checks right at the point of presentment. The bank plans to test these digital exchanges in a...

12 Ecuadoran CUs Online With Shared Branching.
May 11, 2005... QUITO, Ecuador -- Twelve Ecuadoran credit unions have launched a real-time, web-based network of shared branches in this country. Members of participating credit unions now have access to any one of the 77 shared branches. The service, called...

More Than 11K Women In Savings, Loan Program.
May 11, 2005... QUITO, Ecuador -- More than 11,500 women in this country who have been identified as "resource-poor" by the World Council of Credit Unions are participating in solidarity savings and loan groups in Ecuador through four local credit unions. ...

How Kinecta FCU Uses Market Research.
May 11, 2005... SAN DIEGO -- Market research does not have all the answers, but according to one person, credit unions cannot and should not do anything without it. Nancy Tack, vice president of communications for Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based Kinecta...

Corporate One Rolls Out ACE Solution.
May 11, 2005... COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Corporate One FCU has rolled out Automated Capture & Exchange (ACE), an automated deposit solution that will allow credit unions to leverage Check 21 by imaging, archiving and collecting deposited items electronically. Three...

Modeling: JPMorgan, Bank One Marry Their Platforms: New software allows JPMorgan Chase to understand how its IT systems will interact with those of its new acquisition. That provides valuable insight for tough decisions.
May 11, 2005... While the Street last year debated how complementary the investment banking/retail wedding between JPMorgan Chase and Bank One would be, Tom Martin was analyzing a more difficult coupling prompted by the $58 billion merger. Martin, vp of...

From Toasters to Blackberrys: Promotional Gifts Go Modern: For consumers, it's not the thought behind the gift that counts-it's the bling itself. And with competition increasingly stiff, banks are offering a host of valuable giveaways.
May 11, 2005... This is not your father's toaster. Well, actually, maybe it is. With PNC Bank giving away Blackberrys and Citigroup doling out iPods, the age of the promotional gift has taken a new twist. PNC Bank's $30 million advertising campaign, which...

The Ripple Effect: You can avoid costly hiring mistakes by following a few basic rules of thumb.
May 12, 2005... Most sales managers find themselves in a constant search for new talent-that comes with the territory. Managers consistently rank recruiting among the greatest challenges they face, and that does not appear likely to change anytime soon. The...

Oh, Carolina!: North Carolina reps are busy expanding their fee-based products.
May 12, 2005... Bank Investment Consultant spoke with three Tarheel State denizens about their strategies to modernize bank brokerage in one of America's oldest states. Michael Bryant is a financial group manager and vice president of Southern Community...

Social Networking: M&A Matchmaker Gets Automated Help: Mid-market investment banking firm Edgeview Partners ramps up its IT bench to help sellers and buyers find each other in an increasingly busy corporate dealmaking marketplace.
May 12, 2005... Last year Edgeview Partners Inc., an investment-banking firm serving middle-market clients, did 18 deals. For each one, it contacted as few as five potential buyers and as many as 100 as it sought to help its clients sell all or parts of their...

Education: Wachovia Picks A Consumer Primer For Its Overhaul: Users can learn about the array of new billpay platform and home page redesign, with the goal of easier navigation and adoption.
May 12, 2005... A Web site isn't much good if people don't know how to use it, and even less effective when a long-standing look and feel changes, leaving customers confused about a redesign that may have more function, but is more difficult to navigate at the...