WASHINGTON – Regulators' plan to unite two separate mortgage standards mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act is deepening the focus on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ever-expanding role in the mortgage sphere.

FORT HOOD, Texas – Navy FCU opened a new branch, its sixth of the year, last week in Copperas Cove, near the Fort Hood Army Base, and plans to open more than six additional branches by year-end.

WICHITA, Kan. – The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association on Friday told a U.S. appeals court here that NCUA’s two dozen suits against banks for the failure of the corporate credit unions could have wide ramifications for Wall Street and urged the panel to uphold a lower court ruling rejecting NCUA’s $555-million claim against Barclays Capital as barred by the statute of limitations.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA on Friday reported it has approved another 69 credit unions for its low-income designation – including dozens of the nation’s biggest credit unions – enabling them to skirt congressional limits on member business loans and to raise secondary capital, as enabling legislation in Congress appears dead.

MILWAUKEE – Richard Jungen, the founder of Central States Mortgage Co., which grew to become Wisconsin’s biggest mortgage company, along with three associates was charged in a federal indictment unsealed last week with a scheme to defraud the CUSO’s 25 credit union investors by siphoning more than $9 million to themselves.

WASHINGTON – Republican House Speaker John Boehner is refusing to raise the nation’s debt ceiling without a "serious conversation" about what is driving the debt.

CAMILLA, Ga.–The latest bank to be acquired by a CU says it agreed to the deal to bring a new financial choice to this town–which is the same reason the credit union made the offer in the first place.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The 2012 collapse of Chetco FCU may have been averted if NCUA examiners had paid more attention to the rising problems of the one-time $375 million credit union’s member business loan portfolio, a report issued this morning by NCUA’s Office of the Inspector General concludes.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Employees of ORNL FCU were giving out $20 gift cards to the first 30 shoppers at the Franklin Square Shopping Center yesterday as part of its “cash mob” strategy.

TAMPA, Fla. – Grow Financial FCU and CBS Radio are partnering to stage the largest pet adoption event in the Tampa Bay area.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – MIT FCU, the credit union for Massachusetts Institute of Technology employees, has hired national branding and design firm Corey McPherson Nash to develop a brand strategy stretching across the $385-million credit union’s multiple channels.

WASHINGTON – Average mortgage rates retreated again for the third week in a row, amid declining consumer confidence and the partial shutdown of the federal government, according to Freddie Mac.

LOS ANGELES – SmartMetric, which says it owns the patent to critical technology switching EMV transactions, yesterday said it will appeal Tuesday’s federal court ruling rejecting its $13-billion infringement claim against Visa and MasterCard.

DETROIT – A Pittsburgh lawyer who has sued credit unions and banks in a half-dozen states over compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, added another six suits here this week – four of them targeting credit unions – and another half-dozen in Minnesota.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Home Loan Banks are calling on NCUA to amend its proposed rules on interest rate swaps to allow the 12 regional banks – already major providers of liquidity to credit unions – to participate in the fledgling business.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A “cash mob”-style initiative that began last year in Michigan has spread to Louisiana and Ohio.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—The price tag for new technology can be high, but savvy credit unions are finding ways to remain on the leading edge of financial services delivery without breaking their IT budgets.

WASHINGTON – The governors of Washington and Colorado called on NCUA and bank regulators yesterday for guidance on their states’ newly-legal marijuana trade, as legislation in Congress to legalize pot banking is stalled.

HOUSTON – Cardtronics on Wednesday announced it has agreed to acquire the ATM business of CGI Direct, a Chandler, Ariz., operator of 1,000 ATMs.

SEATTLE – Verity CU is offering area moms a chance to win $20,000 and the title of “Verity Mom” for a year in its Verity mom Blogger contest.