ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA reported yesterday it approved another 29 mergers, half of them enabling a credit union over $600 million to acquire a smaller credit union.

WASHINGTON – The credit union lobby was hopeful with a compromise lawmakers arrived at yesterday that will exempt 98% of all credit unions from being examined by the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency but was withholding its support until they can obtain an exemption for all credit unions.

WASHINGTON – The House Financial Services Committee voted this afternoon to exempt most credit unions from being examined by the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, a compromise measure aimed at pushing the whole bill through the House.

WASHINGTON – The House Financial Services Committee voted this afternoon to exempt most credit unions from being examined by the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, a compromise measure aimed at pushing the whole bill through the House.

CHAMBERSBURG, Penn. – Franklin County Teachers FCU said it has hired W. Christopher Hammond, president of $40 million Tallahassee-Leon FCU, as new president and CEO of the $115 million credit union.

MADISON, Wis.—In conjunction with International Credit Union Day today, the World Council of Credit Unions will begin participating in Facebook’s "America’s Giving Challenge," in which it will seek to win as much as $50,000 in donations to help the rural poor in Mexico. America's Giving Challenge is a 30-day national competition that encourages people to leverage their personal networks and online social media to help their favorite nonprofits win cash awards totaling $170,000.

BROCKTON, Mass. – Police are hunting for an unarmed man who held up the Crescent CU branch here Tuesday, the fourth robbery at the same branch since April.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – SAFE CU has implemented Sophos’ new Endpoint Security and Data Protection solution, version 9.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama Telco CU has expanded its footprint by opening its first branch in Madison.

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. – MountainCrest CU said yesterday it has become a full member of the CO-OP Financial Services Network.

SUITLAND, Md. - Andrews FCU said it has joined the major social networking sites, joined YouTube, Twitter & Facebook and created an online blog.

RALEIGH, N.C. – State Employees’ CU, which invested $1.6 billion in state-backed loans to finance student lending, pledged another $25 million to the effort.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Kern Schools FCU, which is reporting growing losses on its mortgages, said yesterday it has hired Steven Renock, the former president of CUNA Mutual Mortgage, as president and CEO of the $1.8 billion credit union.

WASHINGTON – State credit union regulators called on Congress yesterday to give credit unions new powers to raise alternative capital to enable them to rebuild net worth, which has been diminished over the past two years.

WASHINGTON – Two lawmakers introduced an amendment yesterday to the bill to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency which would exempt smaller banks and credit unions from the new agency’s oversight.

WASHINGTON – NCUA told Congress this afternoon that it expects growing losses on mortgages and member business loans to combine with billions of dollars of losses trickling down from troubled corporate credit unions to cause increasing credit union failures into 2010 and 2011.

WASHINGTON – NCUA told Congress this afternoon that it expects growing losses on mortgages and member business loans to combine with billions of dollars of losses trickling down from troubled corporate credit unions to cause increasing credit union failures into 2010 and 2011.

WASHINGTON – NCUA told Congress this afternoon that it expects growing losses on mortgages and member business loans to combine with billions of dollars of losses trickling down from troubled corporate credit unions to cause increasing credit union failures into 2010 and 2011.

WASHINGTON – An executive with Randolph-Brooks FCU is expected to testify today for a bill that would open up the Small Business Administration lending process to greater participation for credit unions and other small lenders.

MEXICO CITY – Authorities arrested a 26-year-old fugitive from a credit union car loan scheme in Cancun earlier this month after the FBI discovered him online at the suspect’s Facebook page.