LEMMON, S.D.—Dakota Plains FCU here is acting as a collection point for funds to be donated to victims of the Bucyrus fire.

NEW YORK—The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6% in September, following a downward revision of 0.4% decline for August.

SHEBOYGAN FALLS, Wis.—Sara M. Gora, 33, has been convicted of embezzling more than $100,000 from Midwest Credit Union. Gora was the only full-time employee at Midwest when the theft took place.

ROCKVILLE, Md.—The National Institutes of Health Federal Credit Union is launching a pilot program allowing NIH commuters who own electric vehicles to charge their cars while at work.

ARLINGTON, Va.—The nation's three largest credit unions are among the top 100 cooperatives on National Cooperative Bank's annual Top 100 Co-op rankings.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. / TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—The Virginia Credit Union League has signed on with LEVERAGE, the League of Southeastern Credit Unions' service corporation, to offer the Office Depot Business Services Division program.

LOS ANGELES—U.S. credit unions will continue to grow at a 3.1% average rate over each of the next five years, according to research compiled by IBISWorld.

WASHINGTON—The American Bankers Association is pressing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to dump a plan to survey response to a new short-form credit card agreement and its existing long-form agreement.

With higher capital standards proposed for banks under Basel III guidelines, analysts are concerned over why there is not much discussion within credit unions about how those same rules could affect them.

Someday CUs may become accustomed to risk-weighting their assets if Basel III rules make it to credit unions.

If credit unions are relying more than ever on its investment portfolio to bolster ROA, Basel III rules filtering down to credit unions is not good news.

ARLINGTON, Va.-CUNA and NAFCU are split on whether Basel III rules will eventually affect CUs, while NCUA is saying very little about the subject.

The California Credit Union League has restructured its board.

Gesa Credit Union is paying $1 million to help rebuild a historical carousel and in return will receive the naming rights for the merry-go-round for the next 12 years.

"Cash mobs" in Ohio continue to be a way for CUs to support local small business and demonstrate the credit union difference.

CUNA Mutual Launches

With some 760,000 members, BECU is nearing 10% penetration with its mobile solution, and Howie Wu, VP of virtual banking believes mobile continues to be a point where CUs can differentiate themselves.

Credit unions should be bracing themselves for a pending wave of new regulations.

Credit unions may be at a tipping point when it comes to delivery channels.

The U.S. economic picture is gradually improving, but CUs must make their own recovery by finding clever ways to boost loans, as the nation's financial fortunes could still dip again.