ATLANTA – Online services provider S1 Corp. announced this morning it is combining with Fundtech Ltd., a Jersey City-based provider of software and services to credit unions and banks, in a stock-swap merger of equals.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Credit Union Journal still is accepting entries for its 2011 Best Practices Awards, but only until this Friday.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Rick Rice ended 39 years at Teachers CU Friday and will be succeeded as CEO this morning by Paul Marsh, the $2 billion credit union’s senior vice president for marketing and sales.

PEORIA, Ill. – CEFCU last week said it has joined shared branching vendor CU Centers shared branch network owned by CO-OP Financial Services.

ST. LOUIS – United Consumers CU on Friday was ordered by a state court to pay $532,500 in damages in a privacy suit where a former branch manager alleged she was fired after reporting that another employee had disclosed personal information after viewing her and her husband’s account information.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA on Friday took under conservatorship two struggling community development credit unions, Borinquen FCU, a $7 million credit union serving Philadelphia's minority Fairhill neighborhood, and OUR FCU, a $4 million Eugene, Ore., institution serving participants in the county’s health and human services assistance programs.

ALBANY, N.Y. – Lawmakers approved legislation that will expand the state’s Capital Access small business lending program to include credit unions for the first time.

BRAINTREE, Mass. – Liberty Bay CU gave away 358 free gas fill-ups between noon and 1 p.m. Friday during a promotional event at Leo & Walt's Sunoco.

ENTERPRISE, Ala. – Navy FCU, which has been invading new markets at Army, Marine and Air Force facilities, will open another new branch here this morning to serve more than 16,000 Department of Defense personnel and their families assigned to Fort Rucker, home of the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence.

MADISON, Wis. – Despite pleas by the credit union lobby, Gov. Scott Walker signed a state budget bill yesterday with a measure making it easier for credit unions to convert to banks.

WASHINGTON – In an effort headed by big Wall Street firms, banks and credit unions last week succeeded in getting traction in a 10-year-old battle over Check 21 patent rights.

BEAUMONT, Texas – The former president of the Orange County Employees FCU was sentenced to 63 months behind bars this afternoon for a $1.2 million embezzlement that sunk the one-time $4 million credit union.

NEWARK, N.J. – NCUA this afternoon liquidated tiny St. James A.M.E. FCU and assigned the remnants of the failed $1 million credit union to North Jersey FCU, a $195 million credit union in nearby Totowa.

LOS ANGELES – Lawyers for former executives and directors of WesCorp FCU told a federal court here yesterday that NCUA’s new suits claiming JP Morgan and RBS Securities misrepresented the sale of risky mortgage-backed securities to the one-time $34 billion corporate should disprove the agency’s claims of negligence in a multi-billion federal lawsuit brought against them.

RIVERWOODS, Ill. – Discover Financial Services posted a record second-quarter profit yesterday, based on rapid growth in debit income and lower loan losses.

WASHINGTON – Navy FCU is among 60 companies that have agreed to participate in a new Department of Defense program aimed at expanding job opportunities for military spouses by connecting them with employers actively seeking to hire them.

MINNEAPOLIS – General Mills FCU said yesterday it has begun a start-up credit card program with TMG Financial Services.

MADISON, Wis. – Free scoops of Babcock Hall Dairy's new flavor, Mad Grad Medley, will be available at select UW Credit Union locations in Madison and Milwaukee today, as part the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s 150th birthday celebration.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA said yesterday that an individual retirement account with a designated beneficiary would continue to receive separate NCUSIF coverage up to $250,000 after the owner’s death.

WASHINGTON – Home loan rates were little changed for the second straight week, as the spread between payments for different loans widened, according to the latest survey from Freddie Mac.