Banking Wire articles from May 2007

Banking Wire archives from May 2007

Eye On The Competition.
May 1, 2007... ING Direct Launches Mutual Funds WILMINGTON, Del.-ING Direct Securities Inc. launched six no-load mutual funds recently. The new funds include three asset allocation funds, a money market fund a global real estate fund and a global equity...

CUJ Q&A: As Enterprise Rent-A-Car Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary, Founder's Son Reminisces About The Company's Roots And What Enterprise Has In Common With CUs.(Company overview)
May 1, 2007... Fifty years ago, Enterprise Rent-A-Car (see how it got its name, below) was founded. Today it has more than 850,000 cars in its fleet. Below, Enterprise Chairman & CEO Andrew Taylor answers questions from the Credit Union Journal. CUJ Q1:...

Now In The Market.
May 1, 2007... Aimbridge Introduces CDs ENGLEWOOD, Colo.-Aimbridge, a provider of indirect lending solutions exclusively for credit unions, announced the national launch of Credit Desk Support (CDS), an underwriting service that enables credit unions to...

Eastern Financial Biz Loans.
May 1, 2007... MIRAMAR, Fla. -- Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union said it has now helped underwrite more than $200 million in business loans since launching its commercial lending program three years ago. The credit union's commercial underwriting and...

CDFI Receives 258 Grant Apps.
May 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Treasury Dept.'s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund said it has received 258 applications under the 2007 round of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program. These applicants requested an aggregate...

CUNA OpSS Unveils White Papers.
May 1, 2007... MADISON, Wis. -- The CUNA Operations, Sales and Service Council has released two white papers. "Converting Indirect Members" outlines strategies to convince new members to use additional services and products. "Small Business Services from...

CU Veteran Opens Consulting Biz.
May 1, 2007... TYLER, Texas -- A veteran of two decades of working in credit unions, including several of the nation's largest, has opened a strategic consultancy. Ted Thames, most recently with California's Technology Credit Union, has launched his new...

MSR Puts Stop To Double Billing.
May 1, 2007... JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- When a member of JM Associates FCU remarked to a member service rep that his Visa card showed he was being double-billed for AOL access, the MSR did more than urge him to switch to Yahoo. Member Service Representative...

Member Service Improves At CU.
May 1, 2007... BATON ROUGE, La. -- Neighbors FCU reports it set out two years ago to marketedly improve service levels to members and now reports that a mystery shopping program has shown the investment has paid off. When compared to 21 financial...

MFCU Launches Business Svcs.
May 1, 2007... LATHRUP VILLAGE, Mich. -- Michigan First Credit Union has introduced a line of business deposit and loan products. "As a progressive financial institution, we noticed an increasing number of requests from small businesses asking if we could...

TJ Maxx: How To Value Damage To CUs' Reputation.
May 2, 2007... FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- The Massachusetts CU League was expected last week to sign on to a lawsuit filed by the bankers asking that TJX pay expenses for the hundreds of credit unions and banks harmed by last year's data breach at the nation's...

Can This Guy Really Help To Attract 'Good' Members?: Strategies For Turning Indirect Members Into Full-Time Members.
May 2, 2007... AUSTIN, Texas -- Some have called it the Holy Grail of indirect lending: getting members who joined at the auto dealer through an indirect loan to become full-fledged members who don't leave when the car payments are finished. Indeed,...

Mo. CUs Await Bill They Hope Will Bring End To FOM Lawsuits.
May 2, 2007... ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Gov. Matt Blunt is expected to sign into law a bill that credit unions hope will bring an end to the field of membership lawsuits in Missouri. The bill is the result of more than six months of negotiations between banks...

Wings Financial Withdraws Merger Bid After NCUA Ruling.
May 2, 2007... APPLE VALLEY, Minn. -- Just two days after NCUA disqualified its $200-a-share offer to members of Continental FCU, Wings Financial FCU withdrew its effort to acquire the much smaller institution in what would have been credit unions' first...

On Deadline.
May 2, 2007... NCUA: Health Savings Covered By The NCUSIF ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA said last week that Health Savings Accounts qualify for deposit insurance coverage under the National CU Share Insurance Fund. In a new legal opinion letter issued to an...

'Little Guy' Heads To YouTube.com To Appeal To Hill Staffers.
May 2, 2007... WASHINGTON -- In an effort to reach young Capital Hill staffers, CUNA last week released a video featuring the updated "Little Guy" first introduced just before this year's Government Affairs Conference. CUNA representative Pat Keefe...

Alternative Payments One Way To Appeal To Underserved.
May 2, 2007... BOCA RATON, Fla. -- This is not your father's credit card. Paying by plastic isn't just about the traditional credit card anymore, and attendees of the 19th Annual Card Forum & Expo here explored a variety of alternative payment methods...

Worth Noting.
May 2, 2007... Johnson Visits Local High School WOODBRIDGE, Va.-In conjunction with "Financial Literacy Month," NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson visited Woodbridge Senior High School to talk about the importance of financial education, demonstrate the...

Do You Know What Message Your Front Line Is Sending?
May 2, 2007... SAN DIEGO -- Dick Ensweiler poses this question to credit unions: "If I were to mystery shop your credit union and ask the front-line staff why I should join a credit union, what kind of answer would I get?" Ensweiler, the president of...

CUNA Mutual Merger Moving Forward, Opposition Continues.
May 2, 2007... MADISON, Wis. -- CUNA Mutual Insurance Society (CMIS) policyholders have approved the merger between CMIS and CUNA Mutual Life Insurance Company, but an opposition group led by the union that has had a number of labor disputes with CUNA...

Credit Unions In The Media.
May 3, 2007... MyWebTimes.com, Illinois, ran a story about the Star Ratings issued recently by Coral Gables, Fla., BauerFinancial, which are based on bank and CU results reported in the fourth quarter of 2006. Analyzing a financial's call reports, Bauer...

Now In The Market.
May 3, 2007... Jack Henry Founder Dies MONETT, Mo.-John W. "Jack" Henry, co-founder of technology solutions provider Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., .has died. Henry was 71. In 1976 after the bank in which he worked as the data processing manager was...

Walls Ousted From NJCUL, Search Is On For New CEO.
May 3, 2007... HIGHTSTOWN, N.J. -- The New Jersey Credit Union League is again looking for a new CEO following the dismissal of Robert S. Walls, Sr. The league declined to comment on the departure beyond issuing a statement that Walls is "no longer in the...

CUNA Councils Release Two New White Papers.
May 3, 2007... MADISON, Wis. -- Two of CUNA's Councils have released white papers. The CUNA Operations, Sales and Service (OpSS) Council has released the "Balancing Sales and Operations" white paper that looks at how to successfully implement the shift to...

Police Smash Doors To Remove Striking CU Staff.
May 3, 2007... HAMILTON, ONTARIO -- Police here smashed open a door to gain entry to a branch of First Ontario Credit Union after 70 employees who are on strike locked themselves inside and padlocked the door. The employees had announced they would not...

Lots Of Worry Over Flat Growth, Lots Of Ideas On What To Do.
May 3, 2007... Before sharing the good news, I feel it only fair that a confession come first: I once played a pivotal role in organizing a conference that went so badly we expected at any moment that Mr. Murphy himself of Murphy's Law fame would arrive and...

What Lenders Should Know When Choosing A Recovery Agent.
May 3, 2007... When choosing a collateral recovery agency, lenders should know and understand the types of insurance coverages specific to this industry. Repossession insurance consists of insurance coverage that indemnifies the repossessor from for...

The Big Bad!
May 3, 2007... Editor's Note: The following is in response to comments by Paul Lucas at the CU Journal Business Development Conference that CUs should keep in mind their members are "consumers": Hiding out in the workplace, protecting our identities...

Research: Don't Try Strategic Planning Without Focus Groups.
May 3, 2007... The parent company of a fast-food chain requires its senior executives to work in one of the restaurants for a week to learn the business first hand and get in touch with customers. For credit union management, often detached from the impact of...

Biz Development Gets 'Reality Check'.
May 3, 2007... BOSTON -- In an environment where consumer expectations are steadily increasing, Chris Braccia gave attendees of the Credit Union Journal's Business Development & SEG conference a "reality check" on using Member Relationship Management...

Why Indirect Loans May Require A More Direct Approach To Collections Issues.
May 4, 2007... ELGIN, Ill. -- Relying on the much-vaunted loyalty of credit union members, credit unions frequently take a softer approach to collections, but they may need to rethink that approach when it comes to members who signed up via an indirect...

Special Certificates Fuels Growth At Southwest Corp.
May 4, 2007... PLANO, Texas -- Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union set a new record at the end of March when assets exceeded $13 billion. Southwest cited its "special" share certificate program as one of the drivers of this growth. During the first...

CUs Run Risk Of Driving Members Right Into Bankers' Arms.
May 4, 2007... AUSTIN, Texas -- Credit unions have been loathe to jump on the exotic mortgage bandwagon, but they run the risk of driving members into the bankers' arms if they don't have a strategy in place for helping members interested in these types of...

Credit Scoring Ignorance Is Bliss(ful) Opportunity For CUs.
May 4, 2007... AUSTIN, Texas -- It turns out ignorance really can be bliss for credit unions. American consumers are not educated about how their credit score is calculated, which gives CUs an opportunity to educate and differentiate. That was the...

Bankers Speak At TCUL.
May 4, 2007... AUSTIN, Texas -- The ongoing acrimony between bankers' associations and credit unions did not prevent two bank representatives from speaking at the Texas CU League's annual meeting here. Steven Wise, president of State National Bank in Ft....

Ensweiler Expects More.
May 4, 2007... SAN DIEGO -- Dick Ensweiler, president of the Texas league, told a group of credit unions gathered here that he supports the position taken by NCUA in opposing the attempt by Wings Financial FCU to go straight to members of Continental FCU...

Under Your Nose: CU Journal Conference: Best 'Member' Opportunities Are With Those You Have.
May 4, 2007... BOSTON -- Too much emphasis may be being placed on the stagnant membership growth at credit unions. Several experts at Credit Union Journal's Business Development and SEG Conference at the Hyatt Hotel here stressed that, with few...

NCUA Heeds Continental's Pleas, Bars Wings' Merger Bid.
May 4, 2007... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- After weeks of prodding by the credit union establishment, NCUA last week ruled that Wings Financial FCU's hostile takeover attempt of Continental FCU is illegal because the $200-a-member inducement to members of the much...

I Want My Branch TV: Now Management Can Tune In To Front Line.
May 4, 2007... TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Members rate the service at Tinker FCU here as "outstanding"-in part because management sees "exactly what lobby employees are doing at any time" at each of 17 branches. "We like to see real-time data of...

WesCorp, SunCorp To Merge.
May 4, 2007... WESTMINSTER, Colo. -- The consolidation trend among corporate credit unions continued with the announcement that WesCorp FCU and SunCorp FCU are planning to merge. SunCorp said the move will deliver value to its member credit unions. ...

On Deadline.
May 7, 2007... Check 21 Milestone: National Networks Connect NEW YORK-In an event that echoes America's transcontinental railroad hook-up, the two dominant national electronic check networks, Endpoint Exchange and SVPCO have agreed to exchange electronic...

Small Biz, Online Banking Offer CUs Growth Opportunities.
May 7, 2007... LAS VEGAS -- Knowing their members well and identifying small business owners could be a growth driver for credit unions, according to several representatives of Digital Insight and Intuit. With member and share growth virtually stagnant,...

Worth Noting.
May 7, 2007... FCACU Offers Ion Account FT. WORTH, Texas-First Class American Credit Union has introduced a new program for members age 18 to 23 called the Ion Account, designed to help them build a credit history. "The Ion Account will help our...

Desert Schools Shares Value Of Member Education.
May 7, 2007... PHOENIX -- What can a $3 billion credit union with 344,000 members, 1,700 SEGs, 59 branch locations and 1,100 employees teach about the value to both members and a CU's bottom line from financial education? In a word, plenty. Desert...

Put Capital To Work: Rethink How Much Capital Is Enough.
May 7, 2007... ONTARIO, Calif. -- Credit unions frequently seek growth by looking to capture walletshare. And it's in that wallet, believes CO-OP Financial Services, where an underutilized opportunity lies: cards. Both credit and debit cards are not...

Recommit To Cards: Plastic Is Powerful Magnet.
May 7, 2007... BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Location, location, location isn't just for real estate anymore: it can also be a primary driver of a CU's growth. "The No. 1 way to grow deposits is through physical branch distribution," said Steven Reider, president...

As Fiserv Prepares For Its Future, CUs Questioning Theirs.
May 7, 2007... If you're a Fiserv exec you can count on at least one of two comments being made to you by a credit union CEO: "Man, I wish I had gotten in on the ground floor with your stock," and "How long before you merge all those credit union business...

Postcards From Growthville.
May 7, 2007... BOSTON-Paul Lucas has done marketing and re-branding work for credit unions in 32 states and mailed the postcards to prove it. The former marketing guru of First Advantage CU boosted numbers there then formed his own company to do the same...

Small Biz: 'Unprecedented Opportunity'.
May 7, 2007... BOSTON -- "You fill a vital gap that is still unmet," Bert Bryan told a group looking for gaps to fill during the Credit Union Journal's Business Development & SEG Conference here. Bryan was referring to what he said is a need small...

Waggoner Shares Tricks Of The Trade.
May 7, 2007... BOSTON-When George Waggoner became the business development officer at Hanscom FCU in Massachusetts after a successful banking and software sales career, he was looking to learn some new tricks. He found them when attending the Credit Union...

The Credit Union Journal Hosts A Night At The (Credit Union) MUSEUM.
May 8, 2007... MANCHESTER, N.H. -- They were in town to learn strategies for future growth, but that had to wait. First had to come a very special evening of looking back. The Credit Union Journal, with sponsorship from CUNA Mutual Group and CO-OP...

NCUA Clears Northern FCU's Dividend Rewards Program.
May 8, 2007... WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- In a market that is forever rewarding shoppers for their behavior, why not a rewards program for checking accounts? That's what Northern FCU has been offering its members for the past six weeks, a premium 6.01% rate on...

Merger Mania: CU Giants are GobblING Up the Small.
May 8, 2007... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- NCUA reported last week it approved 29 mergers in March, including an unusual number of huge credit unions acquiring much smaller ones, five involving billion-dollar credit unions. That included: Eastern Financial Florida...

CUNA Outlays show how It Pays to be a CURIA Sponsor.
May 8, 2007... WASHINGTON -- CUNA reported last week it made contributions to 58 different House members last month, nine of whom would subsequently sign on as co- sponsor of CURIA, the CU Regulatory Improvements Act. Among those receiving CUNA...

Connecticut CUs offered guidance on UBIT issues.
May 8, 2007... HARTFORD, Conn. -- Credit union representatives met here earlier this month with state regulators to get some guidance on the Unrelated Business Income Tax. More than a dozen of the state-chartered credit unions received guidance recently...

Dynamic Card Solutions Wins Patent.
May 8, 2007... ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Dynamic Card Solutions has been granted a U.S. patent for its instant card issuing service, known as CardWizard. The patent covers CardWizard's enterprise server component which powers all workstations and card...

CashEdge Patents Data Aggregation.
May 8, 2007... NEW YORK -- CashEdge Inc. has been awarded a patent for 'Multiple Trust Modes for Handling Data,' technology that allows credit union and bank customers to the degree of how their user information is stored. The company's system allows...

CU Central Falls Is Now Navigant.
May 8, 2007... CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. -- Credit Union Central Falls, the state's biggest credit union, has changed its name to Navigant CU. The $1-billion credit union spells out its intention with a new multi-media marketing campaign with the tagline,...

Now In The Market.
May 8, 2007... Auto Management Suite Released ROSEVILLE, Calif.-Blue Oak Analytics announced the general release of the newly developed Auto Portfolio Management (APM) Suite. The APM Suite is a comprehensive set of online monitoring and reporting...

Auto Lending Biz Intel Report Finds CUs Still Holding Onto Auto Loans.
May 8, 2007... RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- Credit unions held on to an 18% share of the auto lending marketplace during 2006, with CU members paying lowest average monthly payments on new vehicles, according to a report from Credit Union Direct Corp....

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Federal Preemption.
May 10, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court last week reinforced a long-standing legal precedent in support of federal preemption of state banking laws for nationally (federally) chartered institutions. In a ruling widely anticipated by both banks...

NCUA Takes Over Obelisk FCU, No Reason offered.
May 10, 2007... NEW ALBANY, Ind. -- NCUA took under conservatorship Obelisk FCU, a $55-million credit union. The federal regulator would not give a reason for the takeover, but emphasized that service to the credit union's 13,800 members will continue...

Think Cleared for Bank Charter.
May 10, 2007... ROCHESTER, Minn. -- NCUA has approved the conversion of former IBM employees credit union, Think FCU to mutual savings bank. At $1.2 billion, the credit union giant once known as IBM Mid- America FCU, is one of the biggest credit unions to...

Innovation Grants Offered CUs.
May 10, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The National CU Foundation announced it is now accepting applications for its annual innovation grants. The foundation hopes to award as much as $500,000 in innovation grants, part of its REAL Solutions program. The...

Maine CUs Air New Ad Campaign.
May 10, 2007... PORTLAND, Maine -- Credit unions hit the air waves this morning with a new statewide advertising effort that will encompass print, radio and television spots. Four television spots will run until November, an estimated 9,300 times across the...

Tech Pioneer, Jack Henry Dies.
May 10, 2007... MONETT, Mo. -- John W. 'Jack' Henry, one of the pioneers among credit union outsourcers and a co-founder of well-known credit union vendor Jack Henry & Associates, died April 13, at 71, of natural causes. Henry and his partner Jerry Hall...

7-Eleven Roll-Out Planned For June.
May 10, 2007... SAN DIMAS, Calif. -- Financial Services Centers Cooperative has delayed the introduction of its self-service kiosks in 7-Eleven convenience stores, one of the largest expansions of the credit union switch ever. The roll-out had been...

READER RESOURCES.
May 10, 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...

Will Check 21 Technology Go The Way Of Betamax?
May 10, 2007... PHOENIX -- As fewer people write checks in favor of moving money through the ACH network or paying with plastic, some credit unions continue to question the industry's investment in bringing Check 21 technologies in- house to create, exchange...

FOR MORE RESOURCES.
May 10, 2007... Read more about lending technology and strategies at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive: Payments Technologies Are On Display At BAI Show, for a story on how vendors put the spotlight on Check 21 technology...

IRS's Bad News for Credit Unions.
May 11, 2007... Banks have long griped that credit unions are competing for the same business without adhering to the same rules. Now, the Internal Revenue Service is giving banks something to cheer about. The IRS is forcing state-chartered credit unions...

Wachovia Tops the List in Mutual Fund and Annuity Sales.
May 11, 2007... Banking giant Wachovia generated slightly less than $1.9 billion from mutual fund and annuity sales in 2006, according to a new report by consultant Michael White Associates and financial services firm Symetra. Wachovia's income from mutual...

Mortgage Lending: New E-Standards Expand: Wolters Kluwer, Adobe combine workflow, document strengths.
May 11, 2007... Although the mortgage industry has stalled in the wake of a once- white-hot housing market, the momentum for expanding electronic mortgage servicing and delivery capabilities is showing signs of peaking. Voluntary standards for PDF...

In the U.S., Privacy Isn't Always Convenient, Or Wanted.
May 11, 2007... Privacy is a mixed blessing in America. In the wake of The TJX Companies' breach, in which the personal information of 45.7 million credit and debit cardholders was stolen, market watchers expected consumers to vote with their feet. They did,...

CUs Use 'Quicken-lite' To Turn Average Members Into 'Financial Savants'.
May 11, 2007... CHATWORTH, Calif. -- Personal FinanceWorks -the hybrid between Quicken personal finance software and online banking and the biggest news in years in online banking platforms-could turn any armchair Internet banking user into something of a...

Tech Allows Smaller CU To Become Aggressive Mortgage Competitor.
May 11, 2007... LISBON, Maine -- Just three months ago, Lisbon Community FCU offered a scant array of mortgage products. The small CU's hands were tied from selling mortgage loans to the secondary market and accepting simplified applications from members...

CUJ Q&A: You've Hired The Best IT People. You've Invested In The Best Security Technology. So Why Are Your Members Still Being Phished? Expert Dr. Markus Jakobsson Says You've Forgotten 'The Human Factor'.
May 11, 2007... Editor's note: This is the second part of a BankInfoSecurity.com interview with Dr. Markus Jakobsson, a professor at Indiana University who is conducting research on phishing, and was originally conducted by Linda McGleeson, editor of...

Under the Microscope: Virtualization' Will Reduce IT Costs.
May 11, 2007... CUPERTINO, Calif. -- According to information technology giants Symantec and Intel, "virtualization" technology will play a large role in the financial services sector this year. Virtualization empowers a single IT administrator to manage...

Hits and Has-Beens.
May 11, 2007... Royal Bank of Scotland has named Ellen Alemany, a former Citigroup executive, as chief executive of RBS America. Lawrence K. Fish, chairman and CEO of Providence-based Citizens Financial Group was named chairman of RBS America, and will...

Fresh Ink.
May 11, 2007... 1. Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts agreed to buy electronic-payments firm First Data Corp. for $29 billion. KKR said First Data is in front of a worldwide electronic-payment trend. First Data's IPO, generated 18 percent compound...

Virtualization: Add Server Resources, Hold the Hardware: Banks are among the leading adoptees of an architecture strategy pooling virtual capacity from unused processing power for provisioning, operations and disaster recovery.
May 14, 2007... When IXIS Capital Markets planned its relocation from a Big Apple operations center last year, IT managers didn't worry about the risks of transferring dozens of servers to Jersey City. And that's not because they hired good movers. Each...

News Makers.
May 14, 2007... REMEMBERING 'JACK' SOFTWARE PIONEER John W. "Jack" Henry, who died of natural causes April 13 at age 71, was noted for co-launching a banking software empire with a borrowed computer, hands-on input and very little pretension. One...

Under the Microscope: Branch-Building Getting Expensive.
May 14, 2007... ST. LOUIS -- A new white paper from design/build and retail services firm NewGround examines why the cost of building financial institutions is on the rise. Bob Mannion, the company's senior vice president, design and construction, said:...

CMG Invests In New Trading Room.
May 14, 2007... MADISON, Wis. -- CUNA Mutual Group has launched its state-of-the-art trading room as part of the firm's effort to develop its investment capabilities. The 1,700-square-foot trading room is home to traders, analysts and portfolio managers,...