COLUMBUS, Ohio-Students from Miami University, traveled to the State House to lobby against a bill that could doom their student-run credit union, First Miami CU.

SANTA FE, N.M.-More than two dozen New Mexico credit unions are waiving non-member surcharges on unemployment insurance debit cards.

CMG Mortgage Insurance Company, San Francisco, Calif., named Joe Dillon SVP and co-general manager.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA reported that seven low-income credit unions tapped into its 1% community development loan fund last month, the first loans from the fund this year.

OGDEN, Utah — Employee health benefits may likely see deeper cuts in the coming year, thanks to rising healthcare costs and the corporate rescue plan.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA approved 25 mergers last month, 20 of them involving one or more credit unions struggling with losses or other financial problems.

WASHINGTON-The House is expected to hold hearings next month on the ongoing problems in the corporate credit union network, including last month's failures of U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-The NCUA Board voted last week to extend the corporate share guarantee program to accommodate a two-year rolling expiration date on deposits and provide the option of quarterly extensions through December 2012.

APRIL

RSM McGladrey Hosts Conference

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer highlighted BECU‚s overall financial soundness and bottom line in a report on how financial institutions are faring. "Like many financial institutions, BECU-the state's largest and the nation's fourth-biggest credit union-is feeling the pinch of the economic downturn in the form of declining earnings, rising delinquencies and higher provisions to reserves for future loan losses," the article said, before noting that it has earned $35.7 million for the first nine months of the year, down from the $69.3 million for the same period of 2007. The piece added that the provision for loan losses has increased, but so, too, has membership, which is up 12%. CEO Gar Oakland was quoted as saying, "We're on target to have a reasonable year."

LAKE BLUFF, Ill. — When the Treasury Department releases findings of its "stress test" for 19 of the nation's leading banks on May 4, one analyst is confident the numbers will not look good.

Some might argue that Karl Marx was vindicated last year. It seems that capitalists can't miss an opportunity to spoil a good thing, given enough time. Prosperity leads profit seekers to over-invest, Marx would say, and when capacity eventually outstrips demand the whole things collapses. The next generation of winners picks up the pieces at liquidation prices, and the whole cycle starts once more.

Over the last two years, I have often found myself mystified while reviewing the Asset Liability Management (ALM) practices of my community banking clients. When I ask for liquidity forecasts, many times I get a blank stare. At best I may receive a forecast for an upcoming week — with nothing beyond that timeframe.

Oddly, for a country that pioneered the concept of "closure" and that couldn't rest until a movie was finally made showing Gilligan and the others being rescued from the island, mergers never seem to have an epitaph.

NCUF Innovation Grants Now Accepting Apps

TALAHASSEE, Fla. — Personal service combined with a relentless advertising blitz are the dual engines driving Florida Rural Electric CU's success.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — More than half a dozen credit unions have come together to create a student lending CUSO designed specifically for ITT Technical Institute students.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Costs associated with NCUA's corporate bailout, as well as last month's failures of U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU, are wreaking havoc on the first quarter financials of credit unions, pushing many of them into the red for the first time.

TAMPA, Fla. – For Suncoast Schools FCU, coming off a $76.7 million loss for 2008, an additional charge of $30.6 million for the corporate credit union bailout was unwelcome, especially as it cut net capital for Florida’s biggest credit union to just 6.05%, barely above the so-called well-capitalized mark.