A mobile strategy can help small CUs play bigger to take on larger competitors, according to one consultant who shared ways to enter the mobile space on a limited budget.

Allegiance Announces 'Fast Track'

Credit unions deciding whether they will "play or pay" under the new Obamacare rules will now be able to delay that decision one year.

At a time when many single-SEG credit unions are expanding their charters, one CU continues to see significant growth opportunity in getting a lot closer to its only sponsor.

ROOK PARK, Ohio-Best Reward CU has acquired the troubled PEF FCU in Highland Heights, Ohio, the 11th credit union failure of the year. NCUA took control of the $32-million PEF FCU June 21 after the credit union reported a $3.6-million loss for 2012 and a loss of $50,000 for the first quarter. Its net worth slid to just 4.3%. NCUA reported it liquidated the credit union and that Best Reward immediately assumed certain PEF FCU members, shares, assets and liabilities.

Jeremy Cybulski, youth and community development coordinator for Co-op Services CU, Livonia, Mich., received the Michigan CU League's Award for Excellence in Consumer Education.

Credit unions must now pay attention to an increasingly volatile long end of the yield curve, as well as to the stability of core deposits.

The slight increase in rates should be viewed by credit unions as a remainder to ensure balance sheets are in order, one analyst is reminding.

The gradual rise in interest rates now underway won't have a detrimental effect on most credit unions, predicts one industry expert-and could even be good news for the smallest CUs.

ST. HELENS, Ore.-Members of St. Helens Community FCU have voted out the chairman of the board, a vote driven in part by a group of members upset over several events that took place in 2012.

Credit unions have been joined by banks and nonbanks to create a much more competitive market when it comes to building better products for less affluent and underserved consumers. But the hurdles to success are mounting.

Just 17 days before a team of NCUA representatives descended on the offices of WesCorp here to place it into federal conservatorship, its CEO, Bob Siravo, was still holding on to the possibility the corporate giant would suffer no investment losses as a result of the mortgage meltdown.

INDIANAPOLIS-The widow of Roger Youngs, the late CEO of Financial Center FCU, has filed suit against the credit union, saying it owes his estate almost $940,000 under a retirement agreement.

Credit union service often relies as much on the heart as it does the head. In Stormy Dean's case, chances are that if she hadn't found credit unions, they would have found her.

When Terry Laudick ponders the nature of leadership, he considers the words of retired Gen. Colin Powell: "Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible."

As a recovering banker, Joseph Anderson knows that any financial institution's success is built on its lending program. Eleven years ago Anderson brought that awareness with him from the banking world to AmeriCU Credit Union and has used it to help drive the institution's growth and profitability.

Despite her recent successes, Lisa Nichols wasn't always an award-winning credit union marketer. The Michigan native's first use of her dual degree in public relations and political science from Northern Michigan University was moving to Austin, Texas, and entering the construction business.

It didn't take long for C. Dana Rawlings to identify a key problem facing Pioneer West Virginia Federal Credit Union. In fact, it led to his first executive decision when he walked through the door of the credit union on his first day as CEO in July 2010.

Whoever said that a prophet is never recognized in his own land apparently has never met Paul Trylko.

Thirteen credit union and trade association marketing executives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Korea and the United States met at World Council of Credit Unions' headquarters here for a day-and-a-half event called the "Build the Brand Workshop."