BURNSVILLE, Minn.–US FCU sponsored the Minnesota Lymphomathon, which raised more than $100,000 for the Lymphoma Research Foundation. It was the second consecutive year the credit union has sponsored the 5K walk/run, providing blinking lights, bottled water and volunteers for the event.

COLUMBUS–The Ohio House of Representatives has voted to approve a bill that would crack down on credit card marketing tactics that target Ohio's young adults, following a recent report from the Ohio Credit Union League that indicated more students drop out of college as a result of bad credit than academic failure."We must give students the safeguards they need to protect their financial future," the bill’s sponsors said in a press release. "In these trying economic times, it is especially important that our young people are not vulnerable to enormous debt, which takes a long time to pay off and even forces some students to drop out of school. Now more than ever, Ohio needs a well-educated workforce to turn around our economy."Currently Ohio has no law that regulates the marketing of credit cards to college students. The bill will now be considered by the Ohio Senate.

ARLINGTON, Va.–With the first six months of the year soon coming to a close, all eyes are on a package of economic reports coming out this week to determine if economic recovery is on its way.The report on existing home sales will be out today, with new home sales and the Federal Open Market Committee announcement both coming out Wednesday and the final results of the first quarter’s GDP expected Thursday.NAFCU Economist Katrin O’Connor reported that the recession continues to keep consumer prices in check, noting that overall consumer prices in May were lower than expected at 0.1%, while core CPI was “in line with expectations” at 0.1%. “Year-over-year CPI experienced the biggest drop since April 1950, which was primarily due to the significant decline in energy prices from a year ago,” she noted.Part of the equation, O’Connor suggested, is that employees aren’t inclined to ask for raises, hunkering down as they continue to hear news of layoffs and furloughs. At the same time, suppressed consumer demand is keeping companies from passing higher commodity prices on to customers.“The additional cash pumped into the economy through the recent Fed actions, however, will pose some inflationary threat in the long term but the expected slow recovery should provide the Fed with enough time to react to those inflationary pressures as long as energy prices continue to show a certain degree of stability,” she added.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.– Credit Union 24, a credit union-owned ATM network, has purchased a building here to house the company's headquarters and central operations.As a CUSO, the purchase represents a long-term asset for CU 24's 274 shareholding credit unions. "The timing was excellent to utilize a small portion of the network's cash reserves to purchase the building at an excellent price, create a valuable asset for the membership and eliminate a significant element of the network's overhead," said Jim Park, CU 24 CEO.

BOSTON–How much net worth does a credit union really need? The figure is different for every credit union, but one CFO is cautioning it’s important to properly analyze the risks at CU faces in order to answer the question.Dan LeClerc, CFO with the $176-million Lacamas Credit Union in Washington State, said his fellow CFOs and CEOs must be willing to consider a wider range of risk scenarios that perhaps they have in the past, across the full spectrum of risk: Interest rate risk, liquidity risk, credit risk, operational risk and regulatory risk. “When you’re going through these risks, think creatively,” he said, noting he never imagined a year ago that his credit union’s membership capital in its corporate would be at risk, which is why he called for a wide number of variables when doing stress testing.In remarks to CUNA’s America’s Credit Union Conference, LeClerc said the risks credit unions must build into their stress tests and models moving forward include risks such as de-coupled debit cards, how to pay for additional corporate bailouts, high inflation rates, and the disappearance of automobiles (and related financing) purchased through traditional dealers.

BOSTON–Not surprisingly, the net worth of individual credit unions and the industry as a whole received a fair amount of attention during CUNA’s America’s Credit Union Conference here.Matt Davidson, VP with the California/Nevada Credit Union Leagues and a former regulator in Ohio, said it’s been his experience that credit unions suffering lagging or declining net worth often get there as the result of a slow decline rather than one major event. ”I think we need to hop out of our situations and realize when the situation is getting weak and take appropriate action,” said Davidson.He urged paying attention to peer group leaders such as CEFCU in Peoria, Ill., Space Coast CU in Melbourne, Fla., and San Diego County CU in California, which have posted positive numbers in part by watching their collective wallets. “What do they have in common? Low operating expenses. It’s not that they do things cheaply, they do things efficiently,” said Davidson. He cited a quote from Doug Samuels, CEO at Space Coast, which is engaged in a “relentless drive for efficiency.”“To be efficient, you can take a hatchet to expenses, or you can know how much it costs to provide a service,” Davidson said. “Decide if that’s how you want to spend your member’s money. You need to employ activity based costing and product profitability management. These help you implement the proper cost accounting to make a decision on a service or a loan.”

WASHINGTON–An Obama Administration plan to consolidate financial regulators, possibly including NCUA, has started to hit bumps in Congress with lawmakers demanding to know whether the plan would really prevent another financial crisis."If we have institutions that are 'too big to fail,' have we not failed already, since they create a systemic risk?" asked Sen.Robert Menendez (D-NJ) during a Senate committee hearing on the reg reform issue. "I saw the road you traveled here in trying to deal with that in terms of trying to increase capital requirements, but is that really sufficient to get to the heart" of the matter?”Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner countered that the plan would require regulators to develop higher capital requirements, provide power to conduct an orderly unwinding of failing firms, and give a proposed consumer protection agency broad authority to write new rules, according to American Banker, an affiliate of Credit Union Journal.But several lawmakers said those powers were insufficient, and that the current financial crisis was spurred not by a lack of authority, but by the failure of regulators to use it. "Merely designating someone to do a job does not guarantee a job gets done," said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT).Granting new authority versus compelling action was a critical theme during the hearing. And several lawmakers raised questions about relying too heavily on the Federal Reserve Board, arguing that it had failed to use the authority it had in the run-up to the current crisis, American Banker reported. "Giving them the power and making them act are two different things," said Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY). "What makes you think the Fed will do it better this time around?"

BOSTON–Through a partnership with Humana, CUNA Mutual has rolled out a suite of products to serve members eligible for Medicare.The company said the new product line is aimed at helping credit unions retail Baby Boomers who are retiring, a group that often fades as active members upon retirement. Credit unions have approximately 24-million members over age 55.The Medicare Suite will be offered this year through CUNA Mutual's MemberCONNECT distribution channel. Targeted members of participating credit unions will be able to take advantage of the remaining 2009 enrollment period for the Medicare product, which is Nov. 15 through Dec. 31.While 45-million Americans are currently covered by Medicare, the coverage does not cover numerous, large, out-of-pocket expenses, and the new suite is designed to help fill that gap. CUNA Mutual announced the new Medicare plan during CUNA's America's Credit Union Conference here.

WASHINGTON–Despite positive signs that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle support an independent credit union regulator, credit unions lobbyists are gearing up to defend the movement as President Obama’s financial regulatory reform package makes it way through Congress. NAFCU and CUNA cited statements from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner indicating support for an independent CU regulator even after the White House unveiled a regulatory reform package calling for consolidation of financial regulators and the creation of a consumer watchdog group for added accountability; while a letter from U.S. Rep. Spencer Bacchus (R-AL), outlined the GOP’s counterproposal, which also indicated support for an independent CU regulator. Even so, the credit union trade groups are keeping a close eye on the issue. “As lawmakers work toward the July 4 recess, we continue to advocate for an independent NCUA and credit union charter,” said Brad Thaler, a NAFCU lobbyist. “Some of the language we are seeing is open to interpretation.” Thaler said Congress and the White House are hoping to get the reg reform package through by the end of the year, with a series of hearing in the House expected by the end of the Summer, while Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd has indicated his committee won’t take it up until fall.

LIHU’E, Hi. – Kaua’i Community FCU broke ground last week on a new administration offices that will be powered by photovoltaic solar panels and use recycled water.

BOULDER — A robber who left a trail of money from Elevations CU to his getaway car after a Feb. 3 hold-up was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison.

DULUTH, Ga. – A gun-wielding robber burst into the Georgia FCU branch last Monday and ordered everyone to the floor made off with a bag of cash, then made his getaway on a bicycle.

RALEIGH, N.C. – State Employees CU said its employees raised more than $52,000 for the annual Triangle March of Dimes March for Babies campaign.

MERRILL, Wis. – Park City CU has appointed Val Mindak as its new president and CEO, upon the retirement of William Johnston.

PITTSBURGH – Tiny ACBA FCU, which serves employees of the state’s Department of Welfare, was granted a TIP (trade, industry or profession) charter by NCUA allowing it to serve anyone working in state government in Allegheny County.

PITTSBURGH – Robert Vuono, the president and CEO of Omega FCU since 1988, died unexpectedly last week from an undisclosed cause.

BREMERTON, Wash. – A local woman confessed to stealing more than $8,000 from her boyfriend’s account at Navy FCU while the sailor was out at sea.

MODESTO, Calif. – Self-Help FCU, the recently formed national charter for the iconic North Carolina-based community development group, said Friday it has acquired Community Trust CU, a struggling $43 million serving low-income communities in California’s Central Valley.

WASHINGTON – The FDIC closed three small banks on Friday, bringing the number of bank failures to 40 so far this year as the recession and delinquent loans erode the health of financial institutions.

WARRENVILLE, Ill. – Even as credit unions are digesting the new legislation that will allow them to stretch the costs of the corporate credit union bailout over seven years, new charges appear to be heading their way in the form of their own corporate’s diminished capital.