ALEXANDRIA, Va. - (04/05/06) -- A former teller and later branchmanager of Utah Copper Employees CU, involved in one of thelongest-running fraud scheme in credit union history, was barredfrom the credit union industry by NCUA, the federal regulatorannounced Tuesday. Barbara Coward was sentenced to almost fouryears in prison and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution tothe credit union for a sophisticated loan-kiting scheme sheoperated over 40 years, from 1963, when she was hired as a teller,to 2003 when the scheme was uncovered after she worked her way upto branch manager. Also banned from the industry was Connie Morris,a former vice president at Federal Building FCU, Memphis, Tenn.,who embezzled more than $800,000 over four years from the creditunion, most of which she used to pay off credit-card bills for herand her family. Also banned were: Lisa Bramble, former bookkeeperof Sierra Central CU, Yuba City, Calif.; Latisha Davis, formerteller at Weststar CU, Las Vegas; Denise Hill, former bookkeeper atPort of Houston Warehouse FCU, Houston; Al Kinsey, Jr., formerchairman of the board at First Hialeah Community CU, Hialeah, Fla.;Anthony Staccone, former treasurer/manager Lonza FCU, Williamsport,Pa.; and Douglas Wild, former president of Garden Savings FCU,Parsippany, N.J.
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Synovus Financial demonstrated at an industry conference how it is using Microsoft's Copilot to help its staff address customers' concerns.
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The U.S. arm of Spanish banking giant Santander has hired Swati Bhatia to oversee retail banking and its digital transformation efforts. Bhatia joins at "an inflection point" for the company, which aims to be "a digital bank with branches," CEO Tim Wennes said.
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Mariya Rosberg is named Americas head of banking and financial services at Marsh McLennan's Oliver Wyman unit; startup ZayZoon raised $15 million in a new funding round; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.
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Last year, the Raleigh, N.C.-based Integrated called off a deal to sell itself to MVB Financial after bank stocks took a hit in the aftermath of the regional bank failures. Capital hopes to expand its government-guaranteed lending with the transaction.
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Once a prominent figure spurring financial institutions to engage in cryptocurrency, Bankman-Fried's downslide began with the collapse of the digital asset exchange FTX in late 2022 and hit rock bottom with his sentencing to 25 years in prison.
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But the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is still near 7%, and that remains the overhang on the housing market, Freddie Mac said.
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