I received an e-mail from a CU board member asking me to explain why a tagline is important in branding. My initial reaction was surprise that anyone would ask this. But then I realized that people wisely question the value of taglines, because there are so many truly bad taglines out there.

MASSENA, N.Y. – A former teller at SeaComm FCU’s main branch here has been charged with stealing $23,500 from members’ accounts over a six-month period.

WATERBURY, Conn. – Waterbury Firefighters FCU announced it has hired Michael Kinne, who was senior vice president and chief financial officer at Constitution Corporate FCU for 14 years, as president and CEO of the $56 million credit union.

WILKES BARRE, Penn. – Cross Valley FCU said Leonard Shimko is retiring as president and CEO of the $160 million credit union he started in 1969 and has headed for 42 years.

CAPITOLA, Calif. – Bay FCU rolled out a new loan program intended to help local residents affected by the March 24 and 26 floods that swept through Capitola Village, and the tsunami waves that hit the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor on March 11.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Credit unions in the Tar Heel state are the latest to ask lawmakers to allow them to organize a joint savings contest that will award thousands of dollars to members who build their savings accounts.

WICHITA, Kan. – Mid America CU is building what will be a shared branch in northeast Wichita, a community it abandoned two decades ago when it closed its branch there.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Altura CU, struggling with a $5.8 million loss last year, announced Friday it is shuttering four branches and laying off 26 employees, 11% of its workforce.

VIENNA, Va. – Navy FCU will open a new branch, its 214th, this morning in Browns Mills, N.J., to serve employees and families at McGuire Air Force Base, Fort Dix and the Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst.

NEW YORK – A federal judge last week denied American Express’ bid to have an antitrust case against it dismissed.

WASHINGTON – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s chief of supervision said he will be ready on July 21 to start examining the nation’s 110 largest banks and three biggest credit unions.

WASHINGTON – New guidance on troubled debt restructurings issued last week by the Financial Accounting Standards Board could ease allowance for loan losses for credit unions.

SAN FRANCISCO – Mission SF FCU may have a small membership – just 2,500 – but the one-time $9 million credit union that failed Friday will provide a big footprint in the Bay City for two-year-old Self-Help FCU, which agreed to acquire the remnants of the community development credit union.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Self-Help FCU, the two-year-old community development credit union, agreed to acquire the assets of Mission San Francisco FCU, the sixth credit union failure of 2011, NCUA announced Friday night. The purchase and assumption deal for the one-time $9 million CDCU will give Self-Help, the federally chartered affiliate of North Carolina’s Self-Help CU, $360 million in assets and 18 branches in northern California. Mission San Francisco lost $370,000 in each of the past two years and less than 1% net worth upon liquidation, as it assets had declined to just $6 million. The credit union was chartered in 1971 to serve members in the Mission District in San Francisco. Among the other failed CDCUs acquired by Self-Help FCU are: People’s Community CU in Oakland, Community Trust CU in Modesto, El Futuro CU in Porterville and Kern Central CU in Bakersfield, and 1st Pacific FCU in Vallejo. Self-Help FCU and Self-Help CU are sponsored the Community for Self-Help in Durham, N.C., which is also sponsor of the Self-Help Ventures Fund and the consumer lobby the Center for Responsible Lending.OAKLAND, Calif. – Self-Help FCU, the two-year-old community development credit union, agreed to acquire the assets of Mission San Francisco FCU, the sixth credit union failure of 2011, NCUA announced Friday night.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Although at press time the agency was not releasing details, NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz has indicated there will be "significant changes" in the corporate rule iunveiled at its April 21 open board meeting.

WASHINGTON – Jaws were dropping around Capitol Hill this week as CUNA President Bill Cheney began a tour of Senate offices with Camden Fine, head of the credit unions’ most virulent enemy, the Independent Community Bankers Association, to lobby for delay of the interchange rule. “Many in Washington know that credit unions and community banks do not see eye-to-eye on a number of key issues, but on this issue, there is no debate: The new interchange rules will have a devastating impact on the smaller financial institutions and their consumers/members we are proud to represent,” said Cheney of his teaming with the group that continues to fight increase in member business lending and for repeal of the credit union tax exemption. “We are more than willing to put aside our differences as an outward sign to Congress and the public of how crucial this issue is to our industries,” said the credit union figure. The CUNA figure and the community banking leader conceded that their efforts to lobby on behalf of credit unions and small banks are an important part of the interchange debate, where a handful of banks control an estimated 80% of the $20 billion a year in debit interchange. “The thousands of community banks and credit unions we represent want senators to know the truth—that the carve-out won’t work and will only harm Main Street by costing consumers more,” said Fine, of the exemption from the price caps the Federal Reserve is supposed to preserve for credit unions and banks under $10 billion. The credit unions and banks have joined hands with Visa and MasterCard, the two card giants they control, in a powerful Electronic Payments Coalition to fight the debit rule and have lobbied for a bill that would delay enactment of the rule for as long as two years.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – As it was with federal curbs on spending and employee pay raises, NCUA said it is immune from an expected shutdown of the federal government at midnight because it is an independent federal agency. So credit unions should expect examiners to arrive for scheduled examinations and NCUA personnel will be available throughout the duration of any federal work-stoppage, NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz said yesterday. “As a self-funded agency, NCUA will remain open and operate business as usual in the event of a government shutdown,” said Matz. But NCUA cautioned all credit unions serving federal employees to be ready for the shutdown, either by preparing special assistance for members working for the government or acknowledging that some federal agencies serving credit unions, like the Federal Housing Administration or the Department of Housing and Urban Development, may not be open for business. Credit unions will therefore need to decide whether to proceed with scheduled FHA loan closings and whether to hold and guarantee new FHA loans until any impasse on federal spending ends. As an independent federal agency NCUA is funded by credit unions and not through the federal budget process. Its spending is not authorized by Congress or the President, but solely by the NCUA Board.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Greylock FCU has deployed Edcomm Banker’s Academy’s comprehensive credit union training program for a second year.

NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. – Niagara Choice FCU has signed with Covera Card Solutions to implement the company’s FlexDebit card processing.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Pacific Marine CU has acquired a branch in Temecula, Calif., from Provident Savings Bank.