WASHINGTON-Two CU reps are among the 25 consumer experts from outside the federal government that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has appointed to form its new Consumer Advisory Board (CAB). Named to the CAB were Bill Bynum, CEO of Hope Community CU, Jackson, Miss., and Laura Castro de Cortes of Centris FCU, Omaha, Neb. The CFPB also named 15 people to its new Credit Union Advisory Council: Bernard Balsis of IEG FCU; Rose Bartolomucci of Towpath CU; Gary Bell of Cooperative FCU; John Buckley of Gerber FCU; Carla Decker of District Government Employees FCU; Ron Ehrenreich, Syracuse Cooperative FCU; Kevin Foster-Keddie of Washington State Employees CU; Mitchell Klein of Police and Firemen FCU; Lily Lo of Northeast Community FCU; Maria Martinez of Border FCU; Marcus Schaefer of Truliant FCU; Camille Shillenn of Unified People's CU; Helen Godfrey Smith of Shreveport FCU; Gregg Stockdale of 1st Valley CU, and David Wright of Services Center FCU.

ASI Assessing Nine BPs, Will Boost Equity to 1.60%

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-A federal court here agreed to dismiss two more class action suits challenging credit union practices on overdrafts, the fifth and sixth suits to be dismissed in the past two weeks.

What started as a standard conference speech by NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz turned into a sharp verbal exchange with State Employees CU CEO Jim Blaine last week over still-unresolved issues regarding oversight of state-chartered CUs in North Carolina.

Representatives from eight credit unions throughout Middle Tennessee have created a group that is working to continue the momentum created by Bank Transfer Day.

PSCU is partnering with Google to make Google Wallet available to credit unions.

Another 2,500 financial institutions will voluntarily merge over the next five to 10 years, according to Raj Shivdasani, president and CEO of Harland Financial Solutions.

As banks and credit unions explore ways to create new revenue streams, a new Aite Group report indicates the daily deals market could generate over $1.4 billion in revenue for FIs on more than 300 million transactions by 2017.

The holidays came six months early for some credit unions this year, in the form of an NCUA ruling that allows remote teller technology to qualify as service facilities.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA said it has approved an additional 553 credit unions over the past month for low-income status under an initiative aimed at expanding access to capital in drought-stricken states, making those credit unions exempt from the congressional cap on member business loans.

Maine's credit unions and five Red Cross chapters of Maine raised $447,000 for hunger at 9/11 tribute.

Congressional credit union supporters are seeking a way to get the member business loan measure through Congress in the final days of this year's session, with the chances of an up-or-down vote on the bill itself fading fast.

While membership numbers are surging, the number of federally insured credit unions has now dropped below 7,000.

ARLINGTON, Va.-With federally insured CUs dropping below 7,000 in number, NAFCU and CUNA were quick to point out the drop is due to consolidation and has very little to do with CU failures, which has been a much bigger issue among banks.

Securityplus FCU, Baltimore, hired Mark Ely as AVP of marketing.

During the Harland Connections conference, Credit Union Journal asked attendees what technology initiatives their CUs were planning to implement in the final three months of 2012 or early 2013.

SeaComm FCU would not be in its enviable position today without holding to the basic credit union principle that CUs exist to help members when other financials won't.

When First Alliance Credit Union determined its chatting capabilities weren't robust enough for member satisfaction, it began looking for ways to improve those capabilities.

The City of Boston CU is looking into how members' relationships translate into profits in the hopes of moving to relationship-based pricing.

Mounting federal regulations along with "normal" security-related trepidations has led COPOCO Community Credit Union to employ Open Systems Technology (OST) services.