FT. WORTH, Texas-Membership and loans have increased by more than 14% since Ft. Worth Community CU here debuted "Gabby," the credit union's virtual spokesperson.

ATLANTA-A federal appeals court has ruled that cardholders for BB&T must arbitrate their disputes on the bank's overdraft procedures instead of litigating, under a mandatory arbitration clause in their customer agreement.

TMG Celebrates Five YearsDES MOINES, Iowa-TMG Financial Services marked its five-year anniversary serving CUs as the only credit union-centric, third-party agent issuer solution. TMGFS said it is a top 75 credit card issuer with more than 60,000 accounts and more than $125 million in assets under management.For info: www.tmgfinancialservices.comMortgage Training Class OfferedDALLAS-CU Members Mortgage and CMG Mortgage Insurance have teamed up to provide a two-day mortgage lending training class in Newport Beach, Calif., July 18-19, designed to cover the essentials of today's mortgage lending market.For info: www.cumembers.com or www.cmgmi.comWeber Marketing Expands To AtlantaSEATTLE-Weber Marketing Group, a branding and strategic consulting firm for the financial industry that recently opened a branch office in Vancouver, B.C., said it will be opening a third office in Atlanta.For info: www.webermarketing.comCRIF Signs New ClientsATLANTA-CRIF Lending Solutions said it signed four credit unions to use its CRIF ACTion platform, a combination of the APPRO and Teres solutions: $366-million Bellwether Community CU, Manchester, N.H.; $1.7-billion Langley FCU, Newport News, Va.; $871-million LGE Community CU, Marietta, Ga.; and, $857-million Motorola Employees CU, Schaumburg, Ill.For info: www.criflendingsolutions.comOn-Hold Messaging Solution LaunchedLOUISVILLE, Ky.-Captive Indoor Media announced the addition of an on-hold messaging feature to its web-based digital signage tool, Codigo. Captive said its Codigo software, used throughout the financial industry to manage thousands of digital signage units, now has the capability to send audio marketing messages directly to users' phone systems.For info: www.captiveindoormedia.comCovera Receives National AwardALBANY, N.Y.-Covera, a provider of debit, credit and ATM solutions to credit unions, said it recently received a Blockbuster Award from CUNA, honorable mention in the Best Print Ad category for Covera's CO-OP ad campaign, which highlighted CO-OP Network's free ATM access and its GPS and mobile locator options.For info: www.coverasolutions.comCU Centers Adds 3 CUs In IllinoisINDIANAPOLIS-Shared branching vendor Credit Union Centers signed three Illinois credit unions to join its CO-OP network-all as "issuers" and "acquirers"-to give CUC more than 100 branch locations in Illinois: $213-million Earthmover CU, Aurora, Ill.; $55-million South Division CU, Evergreen Park, Ill.; and, $263-million University of Illinois Employees CU, Champaign, Ill.For info: www.cucenters.comCU Awarded LEED CertificationNEEHAH, Wis.-Gries Architectural Group and Miron Construction Co., Inc., said CitizenFirst CU's 37,640-square-foot corporate office expansion at its Universal Street branch in Oshkosh, Wis., has been awarded Certified LEED status, as established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute.For info: www.griesarchitectural.com or www.usgbc.orgKEMBA Financial CU Joins PSCUST. PETERSBURG, Fla.-PSCU said KEMBA Financial CU, Gahanna, Ohio, is joining the CUSO to offer its members call center support from PSCU's Total Member Care 24/7/365 contact centers, which will process applications for new members and loans.For info: www.pscu.comLendingQB Integrates ComplianceEaseCOSTA MESA, Calif.-LendingQB, a provider of mortgage lending technology, announced that it completed an integration with ComplianceEase, a provider of mortgage compliance and risk management solutions. LendingQB integrated ComplianceEase's ComplianceAnalyzer product with its end-to-end loan origination system (LOS), which the two companies said created a solution that automatically runs continuous, real-time audits throughout the origination lifecycle of the loan to ensure compliance with federal, state, and municipal consumer credit regulations.For info: www.lendingqb.com or www.complianceease.com

Financial regulators told Congress they are reviewing the need for expanded regulations over mobile payments, as the mass migration from paper money to electronic payments accelerates over smartphones and other personal devices.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA's examiners are working to identitfy and monitor potential high-risk areas within CUs, according to a new report from the agency's Office of the Inspector General.

Credit Union 24, Tallahassee, Fla., announced the following people were elected to its board: James Smith, Singing River FCU; Paul Numbers, Jr., State Employees CU; Bradley Blake, Florida State University CU and Alvin Cowans, McCoy FCU. Officers are Blake (chair), Joan Nolan, IBM Southeast Employees FCU (vice chair) and Becky Hulett, 121 Financial CU (secretary/treasurer).

It took Stu Sjouwerman, the founder and chief executive of security firm KnowBe4, about two minutes to launch a successful social engineering attack against reporter Jeremy Quittner.

Lawyers for NCUA asked a federal court last week to bar potentially embarrassing testimony by NCUA Board Members Debbie Matz and Gigi Hyland and former Chief Corporate Examiner Kent Buckham in the civil trial over the 2009 collapse of WesCorp FCU.

Arkansas Federal Credit Union is capitalizing on the trending stabilization of mortgage loan rates by offering a new cloud software system that aggregates multiple lending platforms.

MADISON, Wis.-Twenty percent of all credit union brands were subjected to online attacks during May, according to a new analysis.

BECU and Seattle's Slalom Consulting have developed an application on Slalom's mLevel "gamification" platform, which uses games to create entertaining experiences for financial learning, training and business activities.

Tips On Texting Fraud Alerts

NDS Signs Maine FamilyFALMOUTH, Maine-Northern Data Systems (NDS), a distributor of Sharetec Systems core processing, said Maine Family FCU, Lewiston, Maine, has implemented Sharetec's Mobile Banking and Segmint's digital marketing technologies.For info: www.ndsys.com.Fiserv Wins RecognitionBROOKFIELD, Wis.-Fiserv has won the XCelent Customer Base award from research firm Celent. Fiserv was recognized for the depth and breadth of its customer base, which includes more than 750 financial institutions that rely on the company for anti-money laundering (AML) and fraud prevention solutions.Red River Selects SharetecWACO, Texas-Red River FCU has selected Sharetec Systems to be its new core processor.For info: www.sharetec.com.Vitrual StrongBox LaunchedHERNDON, Va.-DigitalMailer has released its newest Software-as-a-Service offering, My Virtual StrongBox. The service lets consumers load important documents into their financial advisors' protected document library using secure document technology. Northwest FCU, Herndon, Va., has become the first to sign on.CU Prefers SymitarWARREN, Mich.-Member Driven Technologies has converted Preferred FCU, Greenville, Mich., to Symitar's Episys platform.For info: www.mdtmi.com.iPhone App ReleasedNEW BRIGHTON, Minn.-The CUSO CU Companies has released a free mobile application for the Apple iPhone for use by its owner CUs. Features include delivery of mortgage rates, educational information including articles and video, and a location-based ATM finder. The app can be customized.For info: www.cucompanies.com.Efficiency Upgraded At Fort KnoxALPHARETTA, Ga.-Financial Management Solutions said Fort Knox Federal Credit Union has successfully reversed declining branch efficiency with its workforce optimization solution, the Teller Management System. The CU cited a 21% drop in labor cost per transaction since implementation.For info: www.fmsi.com.Q2ebanking, Trusteer Team UpAUSTIN, Texas-Q2ebanking has partnered with Trusteer, a provider of cybercrime prevention solutions, to add an additional layer of security to Q2ebanking's platform. The partnership integrates the Trusteer Product Suite, including Trusteer Rapport, with Q2ebanking's single platform of e-banking solutions.For info: www.q2ebanking.com.

Mid-Atlantic Corporate FCU is working to take the pole position in assisting credit unions in fighting cybercrime, including a related focus on potential threats from virtualization.

While many financial institutions still ponder the benefits of using open source technology for their coding needs, nascent BankSimple has gone full steam ahead.

As more credit union members seek ease-of-use control over multifaceted banking transactions, more credit unions are enhancing personal finance management (PFM) tools.

Advancements in interactive video software, a service perhaps first introduced by the now antiquated Max Headroom, are gaining momentum at credit unions across the nation.

Litigation related to May's liquidation of Telesis Community Credit Union begins working its way through federal court.

David Tuyo, former interim CEO at the $1.2-billion Pen Air FCU, is moving on to Lending Solutions, Inc.

Some 196 million people around the world now belong to credit unions, according to new data for year-end 2011.