ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA told credit unions the industry is heading for one of its most profitable years ever but still faces major risk as credit unions shift toward new activities.

WASHINGTON – President Obama yesterday bypassed intransigent Republican senators and named former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as a recess appointee to direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, allowing the new agency to begin its work in earnest.

WASHINGTON – The Government Accountability Office, the accounting arm of Congress, said today that NCUA’s loss projections for the corporate credit unions meltdown were unreliable and therefore it is not possible to estimate the ultimate losses from the corporate debacle.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Democratic National Committee announced this morning it is depositing $4 million in Durham-based Latino Community CU and Mechanics and Farmers Bank for use in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention being held here the week of Sept. 3.

COSTA MESA, Calif. – An armed robber believed responsible for as many as six area holdups hit a NuVision CU branch here Friday, police said.

PITTSBURGH – Riverset CU has introduced its new mobile banking product, Riverset Mobile Money, and has downloadable apps for iPhone, Blackberry and Android.

AUSTIN, Texas – State regulators approved three credit union mergers, including the giant Texas Dow Employees CU’s acquisition of San Jacinto Area CU.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – State regulators are warning consumers and businesses that counterfeit cashier’s checks bearing the issuer Pikes Peak CU are being circulated.

WASHINGTON – CUNA on Tuesday said it added another $160,000 to its campaign war chest last month, starting the election year with almost $800,000 in available political funding.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA said it won’t extend the monthly collection of financial data from credit unions in its Southeast Region Three, which it began almost three years ago during the biggest natural person credit union failure ever, Eastern Financial Florida CU.

TEXAS CITY, Texas – AMOCO FCU said it will pay its members $1 million in bonus dividend and loan interest refunds for 2011, the 16th straight members’ payout for the $565-million credit union.

WASHINGTON – The Government Accountability Office, the congressional auditing arm, is expected to issue a report as soon as today urging greater NCUA scrutiny of the costs of the corporate credit union resolution, which have varied widely since the 2009 takeover of the nation’s two biggest corporates, U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Insight CU on Tuesday said it completed its merger with Florida Episcopal FCU, an insolvent $3-million credit union, giving it a new base for membership growth in Central Florida.

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. – Scott CU, a one-time defense credit union that now serves all of southwest Illinois, is seeking to establish its footprint in neighboring Missouri.

BOSTON – Justice Department lawyers said a former government informant convicted of hacking into TJX and more than a dozen other leading retailers was never authorized by the U.S. Secret Service, which was employing him as an undercover informant, to steal data on more than 150 million credit card accounts.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Securian Financial Group announced this afternoon it has completed the acquisition of another credit life insurance provider, expanding the market capacity by 25% for the nation’s third largest credit life insurer and second largest for credit unions.

CLEVELAND – Seven individuals have agreed to plead guilty to bank fraud charges in the 2010 failure of St. Paul Croatian FCU and will testify against the main figure in the case, a purported international crime figure.

LOWELL, Mass. – Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union said the newest winner of its “Give a Click” campaign is Girls, Inc. of Greater Lowell.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Umpqua Bank here has become the latest to be named in a lawsuit that alleges it manipulated the way in which it processed debit card transactions in order to increase its overdraft fees.

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. – On Jan. 1., United Federal Credit Union here officially completed the purchase of Griffith Savings Bank, Griffith, Ind.