Corporate governance

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Bell FCU (formerly Sioux Falls FCU) and Midwest Partners FCU – two credit unions across the street from each other – have agreed to merge, creating a $65 million credit union serving 9,000 members.

POTTSVILLE, Penn. – Hidden River CU, a $110 million credit union serving the education community in Schuylkill County, has been approved by state regulators to convert to a community charter serving all 150,000 people in the county.

RALEIGH, N.C. – State Employees’ CU said its National CU Youth Week’s “Money Rocks at My Credit Union” promotion attracted $3.2 million in new deposits from 17,500 of its young members.

BOSTON – Metro CU is now open to students and employees at 14 area colleges after completing its merger with University CU.

SAN JOSE, Calif.-Technology Credit Union is reporting that a move it made to combine three divisions aimed at serving upper-income members has successful in growing and better serving the $325 million it now has in managed assets.

MIAMI-A sketchy economy and recognition it was over-extended on its auto loan portfolio led Bellco Credit Union to reexamine its risk-management strategies.

SAN FRANCISCO – Better Branches LLC, a technology CUSO owned by SAFE CU, has added two services to its Better Lobby product, called Referral and Cross-Sell Activity Tracking.

KENNEWICK, Wash. – HAPO Community CU is dubbing itself the “Official Sponsor of Summer” by sponsoring a number of events.

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – Texas Dow Employees CU has purchased Birdsong Real Estate of Lake Jackson which, on May 1, will begin operating as TDECU Real Estate LLC – powered by Birdsong.

SEATTLE – First Tech CU, a newly created credit union giant, has been approved by NCUA to serve 35,000 Seattle-based employees of online retailer Amazon.com to its field of membership.

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — There can be a downside to growth — all those loans and strained personnel resources can be just the recipe some employees need to steal.

NEW YORK — Hamburgers, fries, and a 99-cent surcharge ATM transaction are on the menu at many McDonald's restaurants throughout New York City, generating more than $4.7 million in annual gross revenue for Actors FCU.

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Realizing margin management is not enough anymore to drive the bottom line, First New England FCU has made changes so that 58% of its revenue is derived from non-interest income.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It is not Floyd Manley's first choice, but courtesy pay is generating $40,000 per month for Kansas City Credit Union.

WILMINGTON, N.C. — One analyst believes CUs should create a new checking account to grab a segment of consumers who are shifting to prepaid cards.

MIAMI — Financial FCU CEO Judith Brown said that her credit union is a non-interest income leader thanks to members' acceptance of limited use of the "F" word: fees.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Credit unions should not stress over adding or increasing fees when they compare their pricing to that of banks.

ST. LOUIS — No one had to tell Patrick Adams that the $193.5-million St. Louis Community Credit Union is among the top 10 CUs nationally when it comes to non-interest income as a percentage of total income.

MEMPHIS — Methodist Healthcare FCU President Kristi Vick has a special name for her CU's non-interest income strategy: "We just call it doing everyday business."

LOMBARD, Ill. — Credit unions must look at ways to limit reliance on fee income and expand investment and insurance offerings.