NCUA Approves Pilot To Aid Healthy CUs In Acquiring Sick CUs
ALEXANDRIA, Va.-The NCUA Board, facing growing losses from failed credit unions, agreed last week to launch a pilot program aimed at inducing healthy credit unions to acquire sick institutions by sharing future losses on the sick credit unions with the acquirers.
Under the pilot, an acquiring credit union will be allowed to purchase and service pools of loans, and NCUA will reimburse the acquirer a percentage of any loan losses.
"This pilot represents an innovative and sensible effort by NCUA to minimize losses to the NCUSIF and foster a lower-cost, market-based solution to the problems associated with failures," said NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz in a prepared statement.
The NCUA pilot is modeled after a program tried by the FDIC to limit losses on the growing number of bank failures.
Loss share agreements could potentially defer NCUSIF losses or even reduce losses if loan value increases. FDIC experience has also shown that loss sharing can add clarity about risk in an acquiring institution's loan portfolio. As part of its pilot NCUA will evaluate the cost benefits of overseeing loss share agreements that have 8 to 10 year time horizons.
Pentagon FCU Signs Deal With USAA For Insurance, Annuities
ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Pentagon FCU announced a deal last week with insurer USAA that will give its members access to auto and home insurance, annuities, life insurance and investment products from the cooperative insurer serving the military.The deal will also give members of USAA access to PenFed's jumbo mortgages.The arrangement will give USAA and PenFed members direct access to USAA staff at select credit union branches, either in person or through video phones.
San Antonio-based USAA provides insurance, banking, investment and retirement products to 7.8 million members of the U.S. military and their families.
Nature of Phishing Attacks Changes
TACOMA, Wash.-Internet security company IID is reporting there was a slight increase during the third quarter in phishing attacks against credit unions over Q2. But worthy of note, it reported, the number of credit unions targeted decreased, however, as particular credit unions were hit with concentrated attacks over a few days or weeks, rather than attacks spread over longer periods. The company reported that one targeted CU experienced 10 fraud domain attacks from July 2-4 and was hit again on August 12th with five more attacks. "The emerging pattern reveals criminals attacking a particular CU until it is able to squelch the attack," IID said. "This marks a change from the recent history of 'hit and run' type attacks." During Q3, the company said it tracked 48 phishing attacked against 11 CUs. In Q3 2009, by comparison, 20 CUs were hit with 46 attacks.
Iowa CUSOs Invest $1M In Platform
DES MOINES, Iowa-The Members Group (TMG) and The Veridian Group have collectively invested $1 million in Dwolla, an online and mobile platform which allows an individual to pay people, businesses and merchants. The investment was made as a means to fund the growth of the platform and to have the ability to offer the product to financial institutions, the companies said, adding that Dwolla allows cash payments to be transferred digitally between two users from more places, more quickly and at lower costs than most of the traditional services available today. With the investment TMG will be the primary distribution channel for the Dwolla platform as a product offering, and will also contribute development expertise, including counsel on processing and security procedures. TMG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Affiliates Management Company, which is owned by Iowa's credit unions. The Veridian Group is a CUSO of Veridian Credit Union, Waterloo, Iowa.
CUSO Gets Tax Credit In Michigan
SOUTHFIELD, Mich.-Member Driven Technologies, a technology CUSO owned by five area credit unions, was awarded a $557,000 state tax credit by the Michigan Economic Development Corp., one of 13 awards announced. The tax credit union, which is applied against the company's state business taxes, was awarded to encourage the company's construction of a $6.4 million expansion and second data center, which will create 101 new jobs. The project is expected to add as many as 230 jobs to the area through outsourcing and other related activities. The seven-year-old CUSO, which provides technology consulting and related services, is owned by Auto Body CU, Community Choice CU, E&A CU, LAFCU and Michigan Catholic CU.
