Credit unions

In this week's banking news roundup: NCUA grants Tribe Federal Credit Union a provisional charter; ICBA Payments names Jacob Eisen its new president and CEO; Mission Fed Credit Union announces new role for longtime leader Steve Hasbrooke; and more.

Atlanta Postal Credit Union's bid to acquire Affinity Bank marked the 11th deal overall this year involving a credit union buying a bank, matching the total for all of 2023. Separately, members voted against the merger of two credit unions in Indiana.

Gesa Credit Union in Washington agreed to acquire a 103-year-old community bank in Centralia, as it eyes opportunities for additional growth in the Pacific Northwest. In the District of Columbia, a bank group is calling for exit fees on banks selling to tax-exempt credit unions.

Leaders of financial institutions and industry trade groups are working together to provide impacted communities across the U.S. with basic necessities and quick, online emergency loans.

Pima Federal Credit Union in Tucson plans to buy Republic Bank of Arizona in a cash transaction slated to close in the second half of this year. It's the ninth deal in 2024 in which a whole bank would sell itself to a credit union.

Branch office deposit data is among the most confidential information at a bank, especially those with many branches. Why have regulators made this sensitive competitive data public for banks and thrifts annually for over 50 years but not for credit unions?

American Heritage Federal Credit Union in Philadelphia plans to acquire three branches and $105 million of deposits from Linkbancorp. The deal is part of a growing number of transactions involving credit unions buying whole banks or portions of their branch networks.

The $1.1 billion-asset Vibrant is working with the San Francisco-based distributed ledger development firm Metallicus through its Metal Blockchain Banking Innovation Program to examine use cases.

Texas Dow Employees Credit Union has agreed to acquire Sabine State Bank and Trust in Louisiana to raise its profile in the oil-and-gas industry. The deal coincides with record levels of U.S. drilling this year.

In this month's roundup of top banking news: Navy Federal Credit Union officially launches its overseas banking program, Republic First Bank in Philadelphia falls to capital troubles and investor outrage, deeper looks at talks between Discover and Capital One and more.

Michigan State University Federal Credit Union is working with the relationship-based lending app Zirtue to offer members a tool for outlining lending agreements and repayment plans.

Leaders of ORNL Federal Credit Union are piloting Zest AI's new artificial intelligence-powered assistant to ensure equitable underwriting practices and measure performance against similar institutions.

Bellwether Community Credit Union's partnership with the New York ad tech firm Prizeout is working to build out gift card programs and generate added sources of non-interest income.

Launched last July, FedNow had enrolled more than 600 participants by mid-March, according to government officials. That marked a 100% increase from the start of the year, with more banks and credit unions viewing fast payments capabilities as essential. Fraud concerns linger, however.

Kinecta Wealth Management, the wealth arm of Kinecta Federal Credit Union, will switch firms by the end of the year.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based fintech is working with two Michigan credit unions to pilot a service that allows consumers to jointly save for purchases.

The $12.1 billion-asset DCU launched the loan platform in 2022, and has seen volume jump by close to $600 million from when talks began in 2019 to last year.