Real-time personal marketing might seem like fiction, but it's becoming a reality as the mass customization movement picks up steam.

With the issuance of NCUA's Letter to Credit Unions on concentration risk, many credit unions are taking a long look at their overall risk-management processes.

SAN FRANCISCO – Visa said this morning it is converting another $400 million of its Class B shares owned by credit unions and banks to replenish to its litigation fund that is expected to be used to pay a settlement in a pending antitrust suit.

SABBATUS, Maine – Members and employees of Sabbatus Regional CU mourned the March 14 death of Charles “Chuck” Hinkley, who served as president of the credit union, now $32 million in assets, for almost 40 years before his retirement.

TEMPE, Ariz. – TruWest CU raised money for United Food Bank while sponsoring an Oakland A’s spring training game at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

MADISON, Wis. – A former teller at Bull’s Eye CU was sentenced to a day in jail and fined $1,000 for stealing $29,200 from the credit union she needed to pay her husband’s medical expenses.

WASHINGTON – NCUA and the five baking agencies last week issued guidance aimed at easing growing concerns on handling deposits from foreign diplomatic missions, as unrest around the Middle East is throwing many foreign delegations into turmoil.

ATLANTA – Delta Community CU rolled out a financial literacy program called Cool Ca$h Kids that teaches children ages 7-12 about managing money while exploring the fictional online town of Tonocash.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Service CU last week said it has received approval to begin construction on a 100,000-square-foot office building that will house its administrative staff.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Treasurer last week announced it will accept bids from local credit unions and banks for the placement of state deposits.

LAS VEGAS – NCUA last week filed suit to recover more than $1 million still owed on a $1.9 million real estate development loan made by Ensign CU, Henderson, Nev., adding to the legal morass related to the credit union’s 2009 failure.

SAN DIEGO – Area credit union executives last week met privately with Elizabeth Warren, the presidential advisor who is building the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the latest in an effort by the consumer advocate to build support among credit unions and community banks.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – City officials and the Bay Area Climate Collaborative kicked off a regional promotion last week to induce more homeowners to buy solar energy panels, with low-cost financing to be provided by Technology CU.

PHOENIX – Desert Schools FCU teamed up with three valley gas stations on Friday to give away 10 gallons of free gas to 150 members.

TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo Urban FCU, a 15-year-old community development credit union, is asking the public for a helping hand, an unusual request to keep the struggling CDCU alive.

MISSOULA, Mont. – A branch manager for Whitefish CU, who disappeared last summer as authorities were closing in, has agreed to plead guilty to stealing $676,000 from the credit union’s Polson branch. Kathleen Sammons confessed to regularly removing cash from her cash drawer, then falsifying records to hide her theft, between 1998 and last June when she disappeared-the day auditors found the vaults short more than $600,000 cash, according to court records. Sammons disappeared from work last summer while ostensible running errands for the credit union and police filed a missing persons report when he Chevy Suburban was found in a wooded area. But she turned up a few days later and confessed to the embezzlement.MISSOULA, Mont. – A branch manager for Whitefish CU, who disappeared last summer as authorities were closing in, has agreed to plead guilty to stealing $676,000 from the credit union’s Polson branch.

DENVER– Credit unions in Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming voted to combine their three state credit union leagues, the latest consolidation of state trade association and the first three-way merger of leagues. Scott Earl, president of the Arizona CU League, will head the new organization, to be known as the Mountain West CU, which will be saed in Denver and maintain offices and staff maintained in both Phoenix and Casper, Wy. The merger follows recent combinations of the Florida and Alabama leagues and the Washington and Oregon leagues.

LONGVIEW, Wash. – Red Canoe CU donated $3,000 to Castle Rock Schools as part of a grand opening of its new branch last week.

DEARBORN, Mich. – DFCU Financial marked the opening of its two new branches last week with donations of $10,000 to both the Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation and the Ypsilanti Public Schools Foundation.

BANGOR, Maine – A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty yesterday to robbing Penobscot County FCU in downtown Bangor in January, and of stealing more than $4,000 worth of jewelry and other items from his mother.