Leadership is about human empowerment, and Tina Hall, president of Kirsi Consultancy in Seattle, believes credit union managers need to know how to best inspire employees who are not fully committed.

Credit unions looking for their next growth strategy should look to the example set by the Vermont Cheese Council.

Credit Union Journal asks credit union CEOs "How is your loan volume and what are you doing to drive lending?"

So long, toll-free phone numbers. One person has a plan to put account information even closer to cardholders' fingertips.

Many credit unions have struggled to successfully monetize Facebook and other social media outlets, but a new project, SafeNet, aims to change that.

A new project aims to take real-time, person-to-person financial transfers beyond the realm of online banking and move them to the ATM.

CYBER SECURITY BILL RIPE

DuTrac Partners With Walgreens

The American Bankers Association is continuing a two-year effort to make a public issue of executive pay at credit unions as part of its campaign for repeal of the tax exemption.

The chances of Congress passing legislation to increase the member business lending cap declined last week after the Senate's Democratic leadership delayed a vote on the MBL bill for what could be several months.

There's a bottom line benefit to be had when employees and prospects understand the full value of their benefits program, according to one person.

Having a CEO succession plan is insufficient, according to John Moreno, an executive benefits specialist with CUNA Mutual.

The SECU Daily Planet is now open, following a 24-hour grand opening of the Nature Research Center, a new 80,000 square-foot wing of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Flurry Of ATM Disclosure

If legislators paid attention to attendance figures at the two recent credit union and bank industry gatherings in D.C., they would see credit unions brought many more constituents to hike Capitol Hill.

Regardless of how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the ObamaCare program, the health care reform law is changing the way credit unions offer and fund employee health plans, according to Brad Pricer.

LenderLive Network Expands FacilitiesDENVER-LenderLive Network Inc., an end-to-end mortgage services provider, announced an expansion of its offices in both Denver and Troy, Mich.For info: www.lenderlive.comLSI To Open 2nd Contact CenterELGIN, Ill.-Lending Solutions, Inc., said it will open a second 24/7 contact center in May, this one in Naperville, Ill.For info: www.lendingsolutions.comOverdraft Management Tool OfferedWILMINGTON, N.C.-Velocity Solutions has launched Intelligent Limit System (ILS) V12, which it said enables banks to manage overdraft services to comply with the most recent guidance outlined by the FDIC and OCC.For info: www.myvelocity.comTMG Launches ClearTrendDES MOINES, Iowa-The Members Group unveiled a new data analytics tool called ClearTrend it says will help identify market and operational trends to make better business decisions by viewing measures such as account balance, delinquency growth and cardholder spending.For info: www.themembersgroup.comMeridianLink Helps GTE Build LoansCOSTA MESA, Calif.-MeridianLink said following the deployment of the company's loan origination platform in April 2011, GTE Federal Credit Union, Tampa, Fla., recorded an average increase of 83% in lending activity during the last six months of 2011.For info: www.meridianlink.comCU-NEXT Helps Small CUsPANAMA CITY, Fla.-CU-NEXT has developed a presentation, titled "Limit Your Losses...for Your Credit Union and for Your Members," that highlights how economic and regulatory considerations have changed the landscape for the collections business and how credit unions can implement specific practices to safeguard their members' assets and their credit union's bottom line.For info: www.cu-next.comTexas Trust CU Signs With VSoftWASHINGTON-VSoft Corporation said Texas Trust CU, Mansfield, Texas, has chosen the company's branch item capture, home office capture and ATM image processing solutions, and will deploy the solutions through VSoft's data center, VServe.For info: www.vsoftcorp.comCUNA Mutual Enhances CSIWASHINGTON-CUNA Mutual Group said it has added a new online resource to its Cyber & Security Incident insurance package that provides policyholders with front-end education and awareness of cyber liability and data breach risks, as well as access to a "Breach Coach" and other remediation tools should a breach occur.For info: www.cunamutual.comVisit www.cujournal.com today!

Not every credit union in the country is on board with increasing the cap for credit unions on member business lending.

Credit unions across the country are reporting robust financials for the first quarter, as much of their bad loans have been eliminated from their books and costs have been trimmed over the past three years.

In the search for non-interest income, credit unions should be paying closer attention to payment protection products, according to Karim Habib, director of lending for CUNA Mutual Group.