EAST STROUDSBURG, Penn. – Members of Line Material Employees FCU are mourning the death of Bill Pfeifer, longtime director and founder of the $52 million credit union.

GARDEN CITY PARK, N.Y. – Sperry Associates FCU sold The Inn at The Blue in East Marion, N.Y., for $2.02 million, in an REO sale.

VIENNA, Va. – Navy FCU said it signed with Esri Business Analyst to use the company’s solution to optimize its network of bank branches and decide on a distribution strategy for financial services products.

GREENSBURG, Penn. – NCUA said yesterday it has taken under conservatorship Greensburg Community FCU, a troubled one-time $3 million credit union here.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – NCUA said Steve Becker, chief operating officer at Arrowhead CU, will move up to CEO of the troubled credit union next month upon the departure of Kay Woods, who has been serving as head of the one-time $1 billion credit union since it was taken under conservatorship by NCUA last year.

WASHINGTON – Long-term mortgage rates moved lower this week, after rising the past four weeks, according to Freddie Mac.

YORKVILLE, N.Y. – A former employee of Loomis Fargo was accused yesterday of stealing $26,000 he was supposed to be loading into an Americu CU ATM last month.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – ORNL FCU, one of the most successful big credit unions in the country, said yesterday its longtime CEO John McKittrick is retiring.

BETHPAGE, N.Y. – Bethpage FCU has launched an interactive marketing campaign that tells consumers, “It’s time to give your bank a pink slip.”

GREENSBORO, N.C. – First Carolina Corporate CU on Thursday announced a recapitalization campaign under which the $2 billion corporate will seek to raise as much as $75 million in perpetual contributed capital.

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina State Employees’ CU is the latest credit union to add EMV microchip technology to its debit card portfolio, making it one of the first financial institutions in the country to add the microchips for increased transaction security over traditional magnetic stripe cards.

WASHINGTON – A governor for the Federal Reserve told lawmakers yesterday that any attempt to amend or delay the controversial rule on debit interchange is out of the Fed’s hands and must start with Congress.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed doubt this morning on the workability of exemptions for credit unions and small banks from the debit interchange price controls required under the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act. Bernanke raised concerns about how the exemption for institutions under $10 billion will be enacted, noting that the market is likely to drive more transactions to lower-priced debit cards mandated for the institutions over $10 billion. “We are not certain how effective that exemption will be,” said the Fed Chairman during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. “It is possible that because merchants will reject more expensive cards from smaller institutions or because networks will not be willing to differentiate the interchange fee for issuers of different sizes, it is possible that the exemption will not be effective in the marketplace.” Credit unions and community banks have argued that the exemption will force merchants to discriminate against their higher-fee cards, which will force the smaller institutions to charge the same, lower fee as large banks. Bernanke acknowledged that possibility this morning, saying "it's possible merchant will reject cards from smaller banks." Proposed rules unveiled by the Fed in December would limit fees for the biggest banks to seven to 12 cents per transaction, a 73% percent drop from the current 44-cent average. The stakes are huge for credit unions which earned an estimated $2.6 billion last year–well more than half of all their net income–from debit card interchange. Interchange for credit unions from debit transactions now exceeds by far all revenues earned on credit card transactions. Bernanke’s comments came the same time as the House Financial Services Committee was holding a hearing on implementation of the debit card provision, known as the Durbin amendment because it was sponsored by Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin. A credit union representative, Frank Michael, president of Allied CU of Stockton, Calif., was scheduled to testify, along with Sarah Raskin, one of the Fed’s seven Governors, and representatives from the banks, Visa and the merchants groups. WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed doubt this morning on the workability of exemptions for credit unions and small banks from the debit interchange price controls required under the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act.

WASHINGTON — The NCUA Board this morning issued for comment a rule that would bar certain incentive-based bonuses that would encourage risky management behavior or expose credit unions to large losses and require all credit unions over $1 billion to disclose incentive packages on an annual basis.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Credit Union 24 has signed a contract with Fidelity National Information Services to provide it with ATM and POS switch services for its participating credit unions.

DOTHAN, Ala. – Wiregrass FCU has contracted with TRC Interactive for the company’s CreditUnionTrainingOnline for employee training.

BEAVERTON, Ore. – First Tech CU has installed Diebold’s PassVault hand biometric identity system for its safe deposit boxes.

FAIRFAX, Va. – Fairfax County FCU is now offering members a HarmonyLoan which adjusts its interest rate at the member’s call.

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – Texas Dow Employees CU said it has enhanced its real estate appraisal management operations with a la mode’s Mercury Network Vendor Management Platform.

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – Tyndall FCU has implemented FMSI’s ContactCenter Management System.