The Times-Picayune in New Orleans highlighted a new branch planned by ASI FCU that will be bilingual and will target Latino workers. The story noted that among those eligible for service will be undocumented workers who are in the U.S. illegally, with the story quoting New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin calling such workers “walking ATMs” for robbers. “Now ASI, a 46-year-old nonprofit agency whose mission includes helping underserved groups, is offering these workers a way to protect their money and themselves: savings accounts from which they can make withdrawals using an ATM card,” the story said.

Just 14 Days Left To Grow Your Credit Union!

RIVERWOOD, Ill. - Discover Financial Services, the parent of the PULSE EFT network, has signed an agreement with Citigroup to acquire venerable Diners Club International, one of the first credit card brands, for $165 million, the companies announced.

CSCU Names Cameo Award Winners

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A suspect arrested in the January armed robbery at Workers FCU has been tied to the slaying of a local man the week before by DNA collected at the murder scene.

TYLER, Texas - Two half brothers, charged in November with two area bank robberies, are scheduled to be brought back to federal court in connection with as many as 13 additional credit union and bank heists.

OAKLAND, Calif. - The $2.7-million Arrow Credit Union is being absorbed via merger by the $136-million Spectrum FCU in San Francisco.

BOULDER, Colo. - Elevations Credit Union has named COO Evelyn Polando as interim president and CEO while a search is underway to replace Bill Sterner, who died after suffering a heart attack. Polando joined Elevations as VP-operations in 1999, and was named chief operating officer in 2001. Before that, she was VP-installation at Summit Information Systems. Meanwhile, in Fort Wayne, Ind., Greg Mohr has been named CEO of MidWest America FCU. Mohr joined the $383-illion CU as VP-Commercial, Agricultural & Mortgage Lending. (c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

APRIL

Certain subjects lend themselves to perpetual debate: Red Sox vs. Yankees. Red states vs. blue. Pretends to know which wine to order vs. the rest of us. And then there’s credit union careers vs. most others.

No one except bats enjoy living left in the dark. Ok, there are some other nocturnal animals, but this is not about them. This is about directors, new directors, who want to contribute to your credit union’s success and to see positive results. Rather than wait years in most cases, an orientation program can provide insights that take them out of the dark.

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. - At Citadel FCU, it’s all about the “fives.”

WASHINGTON - More than 600 credit union volunteers worked at last Sunday’s 36th Annual Credit Union Cherry Blossom Run, which has been credit union-sponsored since 2002. Nearly half of the more than 12,000 runners were estimated to be credit union members. Runners from 13 countries and 48 states took part in Sunday’s event, which was run in mid-40 temperatures and intermittent rain.

Gaining new members requires a two-step sale. First, people need to become aware of what credit unions are and their eligibility to join. Only then can they be sold on a specific credit union. Awareness surveys and other non-member studies are crucial for positioning institutions to succeed with both steps.

MECHANICSBURG, Penn. - AmeriChoice FCU here is helping to underwrite the cost of transporting local World War II veterans, along with students at a local middle school, to Washington for tours and ceremonies at the World War II Memorial.

MADISON, Wis. - The public interest would be well-served were credit unions given greater access to alternative capital sources, according to a new report from the Filene Research Institute.

WASHINGTON - CUNA is calling on thousands of credit union executives and directors to write letters to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in opposition to the Bush administration’s proposal to merge NCUA into the FDIC.

WASHINGTON - Despite massive opposition by credit union groups to last year’s hostile takeover attempt by Wings Financial FCU, there appears to be little, if any interest among credit union executives in having NCUA regulate against hostile takeovers. CU executives commenting on an NCUA proposal are overwhelmingly opposed to increased NCUA efforts to regulate in the area of conversions to mutual savings banks, as well as hostile takeovers, like the Wings Financial bid to acquire Continental FCU that sparked a major uproar last year.

Clark County Credit Union, Las Vegas, named Tina Rice commercial loan assistant and Sherry Klingensmith information systems specialist.

CHICAGO - The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, creator of the FHLBs secondary mortgage market program, announced it has terminated negotiations with the FHLB of Dallas on a rare combination of two FHLBs.