Catalyst Says It's Prepared To Fill Payments Void
PLANO, Texas-With NCUA saying it will wind down the remaining components of U.S. Central Bridge Corporate, including payment services such as ACH and automated settlement, Catalyst Corporate issued a statement saying it will have no problems filling any void for its member CUs, as it began researching the offering of replacement services in 2010. Those member CUs will include credit unions that were previously served by Western Bridge Corporate FCU (Wescorp), San Dimas, Calif., which has been acquired by Catalyst.
"We know that credit unions will be especially concerned about ACH, as they have tens of thousands of natural person members' ACH activity running through the U.S. Central system-APEX ACH," Catalyst's Brad Ganey. "Catalyst Corporate has been operating a distinct ACH system in house for years. In fact, the members we have on APEX-ACH, which we also support, all came to us from mergers with other corporates that offered it."
FDIC Prepares To Focus More On Compliance
WASHINGTON-The FDIC, which has seen nearly 100 banks fail during 2011, is projecting that figure may rise again in 2012. Nevertheless, it is in the process of eliminating some 500 "failure-related" positions for 2012 as it reduces its overall budget by 15%. "We're still dealing with a very challenging environment with large numbers of problem banks, and although failing banks are declining significantly, we're still anticipating in the coming year a significant number," Martin Gruenberg, the FDIC's acting chairman.
The FDIC has overseen 92 bank failures in 2011, and has indicated that figure may rise next year. However, it is now adding positions dedicated to helping the FDIC implement all of its responsibilities under the Dodd-Frank Act.
The year's 92 FDIC takeovers were a 41% drop from 2010, the peak year for failures stemming from the 2008 crisis. Some 414 banks have failed in the past four years, but only one failure in 2011 involved an institution with assets of more than $2 billion, American Banker reported.
There were 15 credit union failures during 2011.
