WASHINGTON - (09/21/05) -- From San Antonio to Houston, creditunions in the Lone Star State are going far beyond providing loansand deposit services to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, whoare dispersed all around the state's eastern borders. "Ouremployees are out volunteering, working at shelters. several haveopened up their homes; doing whatever is necessary," said JohnWorthington, vice president at Security Service FCU, in SanAntonio, where more than 25,000 have been evacuated from NewOrleans. Security Service FCU has even given jobs to a couple ofevacuees, one as a teller and another as a loan officer. Avolunteer team at San Antonio FCU, known as 'Helping Hands,' hasdeployed throughout east Texas, manning the shelter at Kelly AirForce Base, where the $3 billion credit union was formed; sortingdonated clothing, clearing trash; helping workers in Houston'sAstrodome, according to Edward Riojas, Jr., vice president at the$3 billion credit union. "Most of the evacuees did not have cars,or own homes. Lots of them are welfare recipients and living inpublic housing. They don't have any place to go back to. A lot ofthem are going to end of staying in Texas," Riojas told The CreditUnion Journal, during NAFCU's annual Congressional Caucus. RandySmith, president of Randolph-Brooks FCU, said his credit union ishelping New Orleans evacuees who left home without checkbooksfigure out routing numbers for checks; or to get help through theFederal Emergency Management Agency.
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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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