Banking Wire articles from October 2006

Banking Wire archives from October 2006

State Court Orders Five Expelled Volunteers To Be Reinstated At Columbia: If they (the Columbia board) get away with this, then others will follow suit. -Doug Schafer.
October 2, 2006... VANCOUVER, Wash. -- The annual elections at erstwhile credit union-convert Columbia CU were thrown into disarray again last week when a state court ordered the credit union to reinstate two directors and three members of its supervisory...

Ford CUs Prepare To Help Thousands Of Workers Leaving Jobs.
October 2, 2006... DETROIT -- Credit unions across the country are gearing up to assist members impacted by Ford Motor Co.'s announcement that it will speed up downsizing efforts as part of its restructuring plan to cut annual costs by $5 billion. Ford...

CUs To Be On Display At Realtors' Conference.
October 2, 2006... LAS VEGAS -- Credit unions must get more involved with real estate agents if they wish to break past the 2% wall of mortgage penetration, and the American Credit Union Mortgage Association is trying to make that happen. In addition to...

Former CU, ViewPoint Bank, Reschedules Meeting.
October 2, 2006... PLANO, Texas -- ViewPoint Bank, formerly known as Community Credit Union, which converted to a federal mutual savings bank has rescheduled a special meeting for Sept. 28 to vote on becoming a mutual holding company. A Sept. 19 meeting to...

Product & Service.
October 2, 2006... Clarke American Goes Disney SAN ANTONIO-Clarke American is offering new designer checks featuring the cartoon characters of Walt Disney. Each check is a little showcase of each character's evolution through the years. The Mickey Through...

State Regulators Survey CUs On Member Service.
October 2, 2006... ARLINGTON, Va. -- Following up on concerns expressed last year by members of the tax- writing House Ways and Means Committee, state regulators will begin collecting data on member service by state-chartered credit unions. The state...

Deadline Looming For Multi-Factor Authentication.
October 2, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of credit unions are scrambling to meet a year-end deadline for implementation of a multi-factor security system for authentication of online users. NCUA Board member Gigi Hyland told those credit unions that are...

Pentagon Is Seeking Caps On Payday Lenders.
October 2, 2006... WASHINGTON -- A top Department of Defense official urged lawmakers earlier this month to enact an interest rate ceiling on all loans to military personal to help stem the cycle of debt afflicting thousands of soldiers and seamen. David Chu,...

Branch Openings Fuel Promotion.
October 2, 2006... WORCESTER, Mass. -- The morning gas line stretched around the corner here as area motorists were treated to 99-cent-a gallon gas last week, courtesy of Digital Employees FCU. The cheap gas, less than half-price, was provided at a local...

Convicted Robber Stikes Again.
October 2, 2006... EL PASO, Texas -- A convicted bank robber waiting to serve a three-year sentence is suspected of robbing three area institutions, including two credit unions he hit several months ago. Jesus Hernandez, 27, who is scheduled to surrender to...

Study: ATMs Are A Losing Proposition: By Ed Roberts, Washington Bureau Chief.
October 3, 2006... BOSTON -- Rising costs and expanding competition have made deployment of ATMs a money loser for most financial institutions, but especially so for credit unions, according to a new study released last week. In fact, credit unions have by...

CO-OP Pilots ATM Of The Future.
October 3, 2006... ONTARIO, Calif. -- CO-OP Financial Services and Ensenta Corp. announced last week they have unveiled a new self-service kiosk that combines ATM and shared branching technology with electronic deposit capability. The new product is an...

Missing The Cha-Ching?: Margin Squeeze Leads CUs To Seek Out Hidden Opportunities In Cash Management.
October 3, 2006... SAN DIMAS, Calif. -- The pressure on margins is refocusing attention on an oft-overlooked aspect of credit union operations: cash management. "Cash management as a whole, even in the banking industry, is the easiest understood but has the...

CUISPA Warns Of 450 Possible Threats Of Typosquatting.
October 3, 2006... AUSTIN, Texas -- Little more than a month after a CU Journal story detailing the potential threats of "typosquatting"-the practice of setting up websites at addresses very close to legitimate credit union websites in order to cash in when a...

Columbia CU Directors' Suit Over Expulsions Is Heating Up.
October 3, 2006... VANCOUVER, Wash. -- The three-year fight over the failed conversion to mutual savings bank at Columbia Credit Union returned to the courts last week when directors and supervisory committee members who were expelled from the credit union over...

On Deadline.
October 3, 2006... Study Finds Passwords Create More Problems BEDFORD, Mass.-The proliferation of computer passwords is creating bigger security problems than the passwords are meant to solve, according to a new study conducted by RSA Security. Despite...

Credit Card Bank Reorganized To Avoid Controversy: We are no longer affiliated with any credit union entities, and the Wal-Mart controversy is taken out. -Wallace Jenkins.
October 3, 2006... SALT LAKE CITY -- Organizers of a credit card bank for credit unions have reconfigured their plans in order to circumvent an ongoing controversy over Industrial Loan Companies which could have killed the project. As a result, Union...

CU Trust Companies To Merge.
October 3, 2006... TAMPA, Fla. -- MEMBERS Trust Company, here, plans to merge with Members Trust Company of Colorado to provide credit unions and their members greater access to trust services. The merger resolution has been approved by the Boards of...

Managed Accounts Program Tops $1B.
October 3, 2006... MADISON, Wis. -- CUNA Mutual Group's Managed Accounts Program has topped the $1 billion milestone in assets. Managed accounts are professionally managed investment portfolios offered through specially trained and registered financial...

CUNA Mutual Trims Paper Usage.
October 3, 2006... MADISON, Wis. -- CUNA Mutual Group, which has been retrenching over the past year in an effort to reduce expenses, has hired K/P Corp. and Raine Media to rations its document management operations. Plans call for the reduction of as much as...

Play It Forward.
October 4, 2006... It may not seem like it as you go to work each day, but there's a change coming to bank brokerage. It's going to be a challenge at first, but ultimately bank investment consultants should see it for what it is: the recognition that brokerage is...

LPL and Uvest to Merge.
October 4, 2006... LPL and Uvest are planning to merge to create the largest third-party marketer in bank brokerage. The deal is expected to go through before the end of the year, provided they get the go-ahead from the National Association of Securities Dealers...

Service-Oriented Architecture: Banks Tune In, Turn On: SOA the New Mindset: One-third of CIOs prioritize service architecture plans.
October 4, 2006... Compared to Wachovia's Jupiter, Middlesex Savings Bank is Pluto. Not only in size, but in orbital pace: the $3.3 billion mutual savings institution, which doesn't have shareholders breathing down its neck, has been content to grow at a modest...

Data Management: One Screen, Many Uses: Small FIs upgrade systems to improve information access.
October 4, 2006... Small banks have many of the same challenges as the largest institutions when it comes to managing enterprise-wide data-namely that it's hard to get at. Data resides on a variety of systems, making universal access difficult and use of the...

Worth Noting.
October 4, 2006... NCUA Hosts Budget Briefing, Forum ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA will hold its sixth annual Budget Briefing and Public Forum Oct. 18, where the proposed 2007 budget will be unveiled and the public is invited to attend and provide input. The...

Evaluating Conversions: Insert 'American Democracy' Here.
October 4, 2006... If you want to put into perspective the extraordinary, important issue now before NCUA-and before every reader of this publication-follow this simple exercise and exchange the words "credit union" with "American democracy." Formally,...

Hill Putting The Spotlight On The Banks For A Change: Instead of fighting with credit unions, (banks) should ease up on their greed. -Rep. Bernie Sanders.
October 4, 2006... For years, credit unions have endured attacks by the banking industry aimed at the "unfair" tax benefits credit unions receive from the government. Banks and thrifts have tried to put credit unions under a spotlight, hoping some reason will...

CU Offers Vision Of Appropriate Investments To NCUA.
October 4, 2006... Editor's Note: The following is the text of a comment letter written by Visions FCU CEO Frank Berrish on NCUA's proposed rule on Part 703, Repurchase Transactions First Lien Mortgages. On Behalf of Visions FCU of Endicott, N.Y., I would...

A CEO's Public Domain: Big Thinking, Challenges: Becoming CEO of a public company once held nothing but allure for those fortunate enough to ascend. But today's CEO must shun conventional wisdom and wade through myriad complex regulations. It's no picnic.
October 4, 2006... Recent CEO successions are shining a bright light on a crop of talented individuals who will have to steer their public companies successfully through choppy economic, legal and regulatory waters. To do so, this generation of leaders will be...

Architecture: Building 'Green' Saves Banks Even More Green: Industry emerges as leader in movement.
October 4, 2006... Bankers are all about the money-and saving money can be just as good as earning it. That's why banks like PNC Financial Services and Bank of America are at the forefront of the green-building construction craze, which proponents claim can cut...

LIMRA Buys Kehrer's Data Business.
October 5, 2006... On Aug. 22, LIMRA International, a trade group serving the insurance and financial services industries, acquired Kenneth Kehrer Associates' research and training practices for an undisclosed amount. The new Kehrer-LIMRA unit is intended to help...

Mutual Funds Start Strong, Yield to Annuities.
October 5, 2006... Mutual funds started the year strong and set a high watermark for sales in the first quarter, but in the second quarter, while sales remained strong, they dropped sharply by June, due to choppy markets. Fixed annuities, long-standing laggards...

Security Cards: Finger-Proof Way To Shop Online: Biometric smart card in talks for bank deployment.
October 5, 2006... The idea hit Colin Hendrick while developing technology in the federal government's efforts to shore up identity technology as part of homeland security. "We saw the potential for this kind of thing in the banking and finance industry,"...

Performance Of Small Banks Tells Only Part of Their Story.
October 5, 2006... The performance of community banks is often an afterthought when talk of what makes the banking industry tick gets going. Recognition is no simple matter in an industry known for its talent. Consider some of banking's CEO headliners: there...

Research: Without Checking You Are Invisible.
October 5, 2006... Why does marketing to indirect lending (IDL) members usually fall on deaf ears? Why are response rates so low when institutions market to members who maintain their primary checking account elsewhere? When consumers are asked to name their...

NACCU Board Recommends Dissolution Of Trade Group.
October 5, 2006... LAS VEGAS -- The board of directors of the National Association of Community Credit Unions has recommended the organization be dissolved and its duties shifted to CUNA, NACCU announced at its annual conference here. A membership vote on...

Product & Service.
October 5, 2006... MCUN Earns Award From ILCUS NAPERVILLE, Ill.-The Minnesota Credit Union Network took top honors with the Outstanding Partnership Award 2005 Total Apollo Sales through the Illinois Credit Union System (ILLCUS) for excellence in credit card...

Centrix Financial Is Acquired By Investors, But Lawsuits Are Looming.
October 5, 2006... CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Centrix Financial LLC, the subprime loan processor to credit unions here announced that it would sell its operations to a group of inside investors, allaying rampant rumors that it would file for bankruptcy. Centrix...

Hits and Has-Beens.
October 5, 2006... Christina Favilla has been named president of Discover Bank, focusing on marketing and new product initiatives. Capital Corp., the parent company of County Bank of West of Merced, CA, has named David Heaberlin as evp, CFO and treasurer. ...

Fresh Ink.
October 5, 2006... 1. Bank of America plans to sell its Asia retail and commercial franchise in Hong Kong and Macau to China Construction Bank for about $1.25 billion. Its corporate banking and wholesale franchise, including treasury services and investment...

A Lift for Community Bank Brokerage.
October 6, 2006... Brokerage revenue at community banks grew 4% in the second quarter, to $442 per $1 million in deposits, over first-quarter figures, according to the recent Kehrer-Invest Community Bank Brokerage Study. This figure represents 15% growth over the...

Banks Grow Fee Income.
October 6, 2006... Bank mutual fund and annuity fee income was up by 8.6% in the first half of 2006 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a recent report by Michael White Associates. Fee income was $2.74 billion over the first two...

Site Authentication: Making Sites Spoof Proof: An interoperability project by the FSTC aims to standardize how banks validate their sites to users.
October 6, 2006... That head-butting episode during this summer's World Cup did more than floor a mouthy Italian soccer player. It also spawned gobs of Web traffic to the official World Cup 2006 site by users looking for an explanation of what set French star...

News Makers.
October 6, 2006... 'Clear' Tech: More Green For Amex? Four years after introducing its "clear" card technology to the U.S. market, American Express has inked a licensing deal with card manufacturer Versatile Card Technology allowing Illinois-based Versatile...

Data Security Effort Fades In This Congress.
October 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The multi-pronged effort to enact legislation addressing the growing incidents of data security breaches appears dead for this Congress. There are at least 12 bills pending in the House and Senate and little will to move any...

Mich. CUs Weigh In On Critical Governor's Race.
October 6, 2006... LANSING, Mich. -- Dozens of executives from area credit unions and from CUNA Mutual Group turned out for last week's credit union-sponsored fundraiser for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who is in a tightly contested campaign for reelection. ...

New CDCUs Take Shape In Calif., Md., And Del.
October 6, 2006... EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Organizers of a low-income credit union announced they have obtained preliminary approval by NCUA for a proposal to serve residents of this impoverished community, which is located adjacent to the wealthy city of Palo...

Ex-CEO Wins $3.4M Settlement.
October 6, 2006... INDIANAPOLIS -- A state judge ordered a now-defunct credit union to pay its former president $3.4 million, ruling the CU illegally froze the executive's accounts after accusing him of financial improprieties three years ago. The judgment...

Court Fight Gives Banks Nothing, But Better Card Resolution For All.
October 6, 2006... The final resolution of a grueling two-year-old lawsuit brought by Banknorth of Portland, ME, and Sovereign Bank of Philadelphia against BJ's Wholesale Club, and its card-issuer, Fifth Third, has prompted Visa and MasterCard to modify their...

Noted and Noteworthy.
October 6, 2006... Talk about team spirit. Columbus Northern Little League of Columbus, GA, won its first World Series game, 2-1, on August 26, beating the international pool winner from Kawaguchi City, Japan. Hometown companies Synovus, TSYS and CB&T together...

Who Gets The Top Dollar?: Banks struggle to integrate trust and brokerage before infighting drives business away.
October 10, 2006... Sabers clashed at SunTrust whenever a wealthy prospect walked through the door. "A high-net-worth client would cause backstabbing and infighting between brokers and trust," says David Couk, a former employee who is now a vice president and...

Ready For The NASD Exam?: Preparing in advance is your best offense and defense.
October 10, 2006... It's a toss up as to which would be more of a nightmare: Coming in on Monday morning to find the crew of 60 Minutes waiting outside your door, or finding SEC or NASD examination staff waiting to perform a regulatory inspection. The truth,...

Top Tech Deals.
October 10, 2006... Number One Fiserv acquired InsureWorx, a provider of core processing software for workers' compensation, commercial property and casualty and risk administration organizations. Fiserv hopes the deal will bolster its insurance and workers...

Brand Security: Safety Can Be a Selling Point for Consumers: New research suggests the traditional notion of not advertising on security measures may be a mistake.
October 10, 2006... Companies that don't tell consumers what they're doing to safeguard transaction and identity information against theft and mistaken loss are doing so at their peril. In what might be one of the largest studies ever made of the link between...

AFFCU 'Nails' Free Checking Offer, Nabs 200 New Accounts.
October 10, 2006... SCHERERVILLE, Ind. -- Advance Financial FCU successfully went after the coveted "young adult" member with a promotion that went beyond the typical "free checking" offer. The Better Than Free Checking promotion offered interest-bearing...

GoodMoney Is Good Model For Payday Loan Alternative.
October 10, 2006... APPLETON, Wis. -- A year since introducing an alternative payday loan program to its community, Prospera Credit Union has saved 1,500 participants more than $75,000 in fees for the combined $550,000 that they've borrowed. The program...

Product & Service.
October 10, 2006... Enterprise Thanks CU Employees ST. LOUIS-Enterprise Rent-A-Car will sponsor "Credit Union Employee Appreciation Month" during October to show its gratitude for the 30 years' of business the company has done with credit unions. It plans to...

Massachusetts League Launches CU Community Hope Initiative: ...[C]redit unions in Massachusetts have dedicated time, money and energy to battling homelessness and the lack of affordable housing. -Dan Eagan.
October 10, 2006... MARLBOROUGH, Mass -- The Massachusetts Credit Union League has created an umbrella identity to help better define its mission to address affordable housing and homelessness issues in its state. "For years, the credit unions in Massachusetts...

Compensation Rule Clouds Horizon: Full disclosure of executive compensation at publicly held firms is required by 2007. That new SEC rule has prompted more controversy than any other in the commission's history.
October 10, 2006... Banks are closely eyeing the slugfest in New York Supreme Court as the New York Stock Exchange defends itself against charges that it violated state nonprofit law when it paid former chief Richard Grasso $188 million. New York attorney...

Email Archiving: Banks' New Quandary: Retain or Destroy?: Storing relevant email is no longer irrelevant. In a recent survey, 24 percent of firms said they were legally required to produce employee email. Banks need to be prepared.
October 10, 2006... Morgan Stanley's whopping $15 million fine last summer for email retention failures and Merrill Lynch's $2.5 million punishment earlier this year for not promptly producing requested emails have put banks on notice. And just about every month...

Channels: Customer Interest Missing In Service Channel Wars: Retail consumers aren't concerned with choosing their favorite way of banking. But they are predisposed to preferences for particular activities.
October 11, 2006... The service options chosen by banking customers aren't determining which delivery channel is ultimately going to be the game/set/match winner for institutions. They are only settling on the ways each model is mapping out niche strengths for...

Banks Must Master ABCs Of AML/BSA Regulations: Evolving regulations and best practices can sneak up on an institution if it's not adequately prepared.
October 11, 2006... Ellen Zimiles CEO, Co-Founder Daylight Forensic & Advisory Just a year after the FFIEC agencies compiled their first AML/BSA exam manual, the 300-page volume ballooned to 450 pages in its second edition published this summer. That...

Small Is Big: Recently appointed managing producer, M&T's Dennis Finch is taking his team into new territory-small-business owners.
October 11, 2006... M&T rep Dennis Finch had a dream: To increase his fee revenue, he wanted to get into small business in a big way. So he left a lucrative practice in rural Cumberland, Md., to tackle Philadelphia's business community. Finch had been...

New HSA Play: Assets are up for grabs as health savings accounts grow in popularity.
October 11, 2006... The day is fast approaching when a bank-based broker or financial advisor may have to start doubling as a healthcare consultant. That may sound daunting and a little strange, but it may not be a bad thing. You could end up doing good and doing...

Encryption: Protecting Laptops Is Now Affordable, Easy: The risk assessment is in: encryption costs a few hundred dollars per laptop. That's a bargain, given that one data breach can cost millions, not to mention a career.
October 11, 2006... If the "don't want to end up on the front page of The Wall Street Journal" syndrome isn't enough to motivate chief information security officers to encrypt laptops, how about the fear of getting fired? Pedro Cadenas Jr., former CISO of...

Citi Lives Richly, With Ad Push for Second Half: The banking industry is closely watching its largest player - Citigroup - as its advertising budget ebbs and flows. But will its peers follow the leader?
October 11, 2006... Citigroup, which trimmed its print advertising budget in the first and second quarters, is now ramping up its spending in the second half of 2006, though officials decline to say whether that represents an increase in this year's overall media...

Southeast CUREN Reaches Out To New Members.
October 11, 2006... MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The Southeast Credit Union Real Estate Network Group is seeking new members in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee among CUs and CUSOs, mortgage insurance companies, secondary market investors and technology companies working...

Product & Service.
October 11, 2006... Floyd Unveils Exec Search Service BAYTOWN, Texas-John M. Floyd & Associates, Inc., which has primarily been known for its overdraft protection product, is introducing an executive search service. "In effect, we have assembled our top...

A Look at Whats New: MATCU Extends Contract With FundsXpress.
October 11, 2006... MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Memphis Area Teachers' CU has signed a multi-year extension of its online banking deal with FundsXpress Financial Network. Under the deal, FundsXpress will provide the $510-million credit union with its fxEnhanced...

A Look at Whats New: Synergent Signs GPM CU For Data Processing.
October 11, 2006... WESTBROOK, Maine. -- Synergent, a subsidiary of the Maine Credit Union League, has signed South Portland, Maine-based GPM CU for the firm's data processing and technology support services. The 10-year agreement will begin Nov. 1,...

Analysts See Surge In Access To Credit Unions.
October 13, 2006... SAN DIMAS, Calif. -- The credit union community is ready for a surge in the number of retail outlets and points of contact available to members, according to experts. The growth of shared branching is a primary driver of this burgeoning...

Checking In, Cashing Out: Opposition To Lafayette Conversion Mounts.
October 13, 2006... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "Given the economic impact of this war, this is not the time to affect the savings and loan rates of members who are serving in Iraq," said Tom Carter, a member of Lafayette FCU opposed to its planned conversion to a mutual...

Checking In, Cashing Out: Former CU Takes The Stock Market By Storm.
October 13, 2006... WALL STREET -- Credit union- convert Viewpoint Bank was a rousing success on its initial foray as a publicly traded company last week, giving impetus to future credit union conversions. Shares in the $1.5-billion bank, known until January...

CU Paddles Out Unique New Name.
October 13, 2006... LONGVIEW, Wash. -- Thousands of credit unions have changed names in recent years, many creating generic amalgamations of other words as their new monikers. Not Weyerhauser Employees CU here. Effective Jan. 1, it will change its name to Red...

Consumer Snag: How to Make Account Openings Easier: Most banks are not sufficiently integrated with health plans to make the process of creating an health savings account a convenient experience for customers. But that can change.
October 13, 2006... For all the rosy scenarios regarding health savings accounts as a way to build bank deposits and help employers and consumers combat rising healthcare, they are running into an unexpected obstacle. Consulting firm Aite Group expects the...

New Industry Index Aims to Quantify The Progress of Corporate Payments: Companies still make most of their payments with paper checks, but new VICOR-commissioned research suggests a major change is afoot. Restless bankers are more than ready.
October 13, 2006... Corporate payments are on the cusp of a major evolution, one that will prompt that part of the business to finally join its retail brethren in the electronic world. For many sources, the progress is long overdue. While most industry...

Golden Opportunities.
October 13, 2006... Stephen Crawford Financial Consultant for Uvest at Point Loma Linda Credit Union in San Diego Karen Lindberg Senior Advisor for Investment Centers of America at Bank of Sierra in Visalia Marc Pearl Rep for Raymond James...

Wakeup Call.
October 13, 2006... The combined effects of several terrorist plots in various countries and heightened awareness among U.S. and EU regulators have solidified anti-money-laundering technology as an important way of tracking the flow of funds financing such...

Top Ten Community Bank IT Initiatives.
October 13, 2006... Even though community banks are smaller than their regional and national brethren, the competitive pressures are similar. What is different? Their much smaller IT staff and budget. This month, BTN examines 10 community banks that have overcome...

Retirement Planning: When Social Security, Pensions Retire...: Social Security is waning, and employers are getting out of the pension game. That leaves an open retirement market for brokerages, particularly the Web-savvy.
October 13, 2006... Elected officials may alter Social Security, and even if they don't, it likely won't be nearly enough for future retirees. Add to that the increasing number of corporations that are dumping their pension plans, and it's clear that retirement...

Site Security: Will Authentication in Reverse Become the New Norm?: Sources say SiteKey-style site-to-user Web site ID platforms are set to become the standard.
October 16, 2006... There was more than a smattering of snickering when Bank of America launched PassMark's SiteKey mutual authentication technology last year, those who derided the picture-based approach as cutesy and simplistic, and those who worried that it...

Business Continuity: 1st Metropolitan Fights the Flames: The mortgage firm used Web-based software to keep a burned-down branch in New Jersey humming, not to mention protecting deals that were in the pipeline.
October 16, 2006... When one of 1st Metropolitan Mortgage's branches burnt to the ground earlier this year, there was a danger that the figurative flames to its reputation could have been fanned much farther than the literal fire. "We had customers that had...

FFIEC Compliance is Possible in One-Stop Solution.
October 16, 2006... The approaching FFIEC deadline requires fast action to upgrade online security, but institutions shouldn't rush into adopting a "point" solution and overlook the potential for more lasting value and more flexible security. Savvy financial...

Think FCU Joins Ranks Of Would-Be Converts.
October 16, 2006... ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Yet another billion-dollar credit union-Think FCU-is asking members to approve ditching the credit union charter in favor of becoming a mutual savings bank. Officials of the 45-year-old CU formerly known as IBM...