DALLAS – Advancial FCU yesterday said it has acquired the Reconnex iGuard data loss prevention system to prevent member information from leaving its network.

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – In an effort to woo young members, Schenectady Teachers FCU has introduced its own members blog.

WASHINGTON – The credit union lobby groups wasted no time in rejecting the Bush administration’s regulatory reform proposal that would merge NCUA into banking agencies and create a national mortgage regulator.

MONETT, Mo. – Jack Henry & Associates said last week it is now providing online data back-up for credit unions and banks that store information on IBM systems.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services, the product of financial reengineering, announced plans to spin off its lender processing operations as a separately traded company.

KOKOMO, Ind.– Transmission Builders FCU plans to shed its automotive signature with a new name and brand April 1, Financial Builders FCU.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Arrowhead CU announced an initiative to help the local Ridgeview Elementary School recover from a recent incident of vandalism that damaged its computer lab by contributing 40 computers.

PENNINGTON, Ala. – Naheola Mill Employees CU said it has acquired to branches from Alabama Central CU, in nearby Creola and Demopolis for about $1.5 million.

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration last week refused to engineer a rescue of the troubled student loan market, even as major lenders continued to exit the market.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Trade Commission will require TJX Cos. to submit an independent security audit to it for the next 20 years but will not issue a fine against the national retailer for the huge data breach that compromised millions of credit union and bank accounts.

ARLINGTON, Va. – A new form of malicious software is being used by computer hackers to gain access to credit union or bank accounts without directly targeting or gaining access to a financial institution’s web site.

SCARBOROUGH, Me. – As many as 58 credit unions throughout Maine–one of seven states hit by the data security breach at Hannaford Bros.– expected to reissue more than 150,000 Visa and MasterCard debit and credit cards to ensure against further risk to members, the Maine CU League said Friday.

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration is expected to unveil a plan today to deal with the ongoing crisis in the financial markets by consolidating banking regulators–NCUA with the banking agencies–and creating a new agency to oversee mortgage lending by all financial institutions.

SAN DIEGO - First Future CU and California Coast CU said last week they have agreed to combine in the latest credit union mega-merger, creating a CU with more than $1.8 billion in assets and 130,000 members.

WASHINGTON - Want to buy some cheap Florida real estate? Call NCUA.

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. - Financial Resources Federal Credit Union has driven into 2008 with a unique advertising medium that is promoting two branches located in its underserved communities.

Kansas Expected To Pass Restrictive FOM Bill

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A federal grand jury charged a member of Fort Knox FCU with stealing $5,600 from another member after a teller mistakenly gave him access to the wrong account.

BOSTON - One credit union, Oregon’s SELCO Community CU, and one bank, AmeriFirst Bank in Alabama, continue to challenge the pennies-on-the-dollar settlement in the TJX data security case and earlier this month filed an appeal of the dismissal of the purported class action suit in the massive credit card breach.

DURHAM, N.C. - The safest and smartest choice for credit unions looking to finance mortgages right now? Begin with your own members.