CU Trades To Intervene In Utah FOM Lawsuit
WASHINGTON-CUNA and NAFCU will team up again to intervene in the recent field of membership lawsuit filed by the American Bankers Association and the Utah Bankers Association, which challenges NCUA's approval of several Utah CUs' conversions to federal charter.
CUNA reported it is doing the preliminary work to get involved the case and has had extensive discussions with NCUA, the Utah League of Credit Unions, and the three credit unions involved in the case: Tooele FCU, America First FCU and Goldenwest FCU.
NAFCU's John Zimmerman said the two trade associations are still determining what is the best course of action. Both groups will be working together, resurrecting the Oversight Task Force of the CU Campaign for Consumer Choice that helped bring HR 1151 to fruition five years ago.
According to the suit filed July 15 in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, the ABA and the UBA claim that field of membership changes approved by the NCUA Board last spring for Tooele (Utah) FCU; America First FCU, Riverdale, Utah; and Goldenwest FCU, Ogden, Utah were "arbitrary and capricious."
VyStar Makes Its Way
Across Sunshine State
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.-Credit union giant VyStar CU said it has obtained approval from state regulators to serve residents in three more counties-Columbia, Marion and Union-and has requested permission to serve another 500,000 residents of nearby Volusia (Daytona) County. The $2.7 billion credit union, formerly known as JaxNavy FCU, has been making its way across Florida and was previously approved to serve more than three millions residents in nine counties.
Corporate CU Adds ATMs To CO-OP
DALLAS-Southwest Corporate FCU said it has signed with the CO-OP Network to join its ATM program, with 100 machines, with the CO-OP's.
Southwest FCU's 100 ATMs in Texas will become part of CO-OP's network of 17,000 ATMs that are surcharge- free to CO-OP members.
CO-OP Network, which is based in Ontario, Calif., last year opened a regional office in Dallas to expand its corporate presence in the Southwest and Southeast.
NYCE Expands ATM Fleet
MONTVALE, N.J.-NYCE Corp., a unit of First Data, said it signed with E*TRADE Bank to add the company's 15,000 ATMs to the NYCE network. The move will expand the NYCE fleet by 14% to 120,000 machines nationwide.
NYCE serves more than 2,200 financial institutions, including more than 1,000 credit unions. E*TRADE's 15,000 ATMs is the largest non-bank owned fleet in the nation.
Diebold Turns To Voting Machines
NORTH CANTON, Ohio-ATM maker Diebold Inc., saying an increasing amountsof its business is moving towards electronic voting machines, reported a 4% rise in earnings for its second quarter to $41.3 million, or 57 cents a share, up from $39.8 million, or 55 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.
The company said it closed a $55.6-million order for electronic voting machines with the state of Maryland in the second quarter, and a $54-million deal with Georgia in last year's second quarter.
Second quarter revenues slumped slightly to $480.9 million, compared to $43.5 million in last year's second quarter; while revenues for the first six months rose slightly to $891 million.
Net earnings for the first six months doubled to $67.2 million, or 93 cents a share, from just $33.1 million, or 46 cents a share, for the first half last year when the company wrote off major tax liabilities.
Profits Soar At MBNA
WILMINGTON, Del.-Net earnings at credit card bank MBNA Corp. surged 20% in the second quarter to $543.3 million, or 42 cents a share, from $457.8 million, or 35 cents a share, for the second quarter last year, as the credit card giant continued to carve out a large segment of the market. MBNA, which has been buying up credit union portfolios, expanded its own portfolio by $10.5 billion, or 11%, in the quarter, to $110.5 billion. Loan losses continued to rise for the company, to 4.91% of loans receivables, from 4.53% at the end of last year's second quarter; and to 5.35% of managed loans, from 5.09%. For the first six months of the year MBNA reported an 18% rise in net income to $975.9 million, or 76 cents a share, compared to $827.8 million, or 64 cents a share, for the first half last year.
Earnings Flat At Certegy
ALPHARETTA, Ga.-Cards processor Certegy Inc. said second quarter earnings rose slightly to $22.97 million, or 35 cents a share, from $22.94 million, or 33 cents a share, for the same quarter last year. The company's core card services operations reported a 7% drop in revenues to $160.3 million, accounting for the company's 3% fall in second quarter revenues to $247.4 million. Revenues from check services also declined 5% to $87.1 million. For the first six months of the year Certegy reported a slight drop in revenues to $429.3 million, and a 10% drop in earnings to $35.2 million, or 53 cents a share, from $39 million, or 56 cents a share, for the first half last year.
United Nations FCU Implements System For HMDA Compliance
NEW YORK-United Nations FCU said it signed with QuestSoft, of Laguna Hills, Calif., to install the company's Instant Geocoder and HMDA RELIEF software to track and verify compliance with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The systems merge into the company's existing loan origination system, FICS' Loan Producer. Instant Geocoder combines demographic information with HMDA RELEF to verify a potential loan's low/moderate eligibility before the credit union issues a quote.
First Data To Tap The Debt Markets
DENVER-Payments processing giant First Data Corp. sad it plans to issue as much as $1 billion in long-term debt to replace repay commercial paper maturing within 30 days and having a weighted average interest rate of 1.02% at July 21. The new debt will include $500 million of 3.375% notes due 2008, and $500 million of 4.70% notes due 2013. Some of the proceeds from the debt may be used to finance the company's stock buyback program, authorized by the board in May to repurchase up to $1.145 billion in common shares.
