AUGUSTA, Maine - The state Supreme Court here approved credit unions' authority to offer interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts, better known as attorney client trust accounts. The Maine Bar Foundation has sought to bar credit unions from offering the lucrative IOLTA accounts. Under the new rule, which will be effective Jan. 1, and applicable NCUA regulations, credit unions may accept IOLTA deposits for: funds deposited that belong to a member of the credit union in question; for all deposits, regardless of membership status, in cases where those deposits are made in IOLTA accounts at low-income designated credit unions. (c) 2007 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

Are you a gifted leader? Smarter than everyone else? Trusted like Lincoln? Or, would you just be happy to look like one?

HIGHTSTOWN, N.J. - A new task force has been formed here with the goal of making sure that small CUs don't just survive, but also prosper.

REIDSVILLE, N.C. - More than a dozen members-half of them founders-of American Partners FCU are seeking repayment of millions of dollars of funds a third-party investment advisor lost when he put the money in a failed investment pool that regulators have labeled one of the biggest Ponzi schemes ever.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A 19-year-old employee at VyStar CU was charged with bank fraud for selling sensitive member information. The teen, identified as Jaleesa Ide, worked as a document processor at the credit union. The information was used to transfer money from member accounts, police said. (c) 2007 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - NCUA has made an adjustment to its management officials interlock rule to allow CUofficials to serve at more than one institution, as long as each is under $50-million in assets. The agency approved a technical change that bumped the asset-size threshold from $20 million.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The former CEO of now-defunct Northampton-Carbon County FCU was barred from the credit union industry by NCUA last week for his role in a $2-million embezzlement that sunk the one-time $40-million credit union.

SECU First CU To Sign On To Mortgage Principles

Generations CU Chooses EPL

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - CO-OP Shared Branching, a division of CO-OP Financial Services, reported it has developed "CO-OP Fast Branch," a self-service kiosk that supplies more services than a conventional ATM, including deposits by check (no envelopes, no deposit slips), withdrawals by check, loan payments and advances.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - With its acquisition of LaSalle Bank, Bank of America is fast approaching the federal limit on market share of deposits, according to new analysis by SNL Financial. When the Lasalle Bank deal is concluded, Bank of America will have 9.92% of total U.S. deposits, which means it is quickly nearing the 10% national market share threshold. The analysis, based on FDIC data of 97,000 bank branches, shows JPMorgan Chase & Co. remains the country's number two deposit-holder, with 7.01% of the U.S. market, followed by Wachovia at 5.86% of the market. (c) 2007 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

SECAUCUS, N.J. - NYCE Payments Network said it will begin offering mobile banking and payments services to financial institutions, saying it will be the first commercially available service from a U.S. debit card payments network.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - NCUA said it made eight loans for a total of $2 million through its Community Development Revolving Loan Fund, one of the busiest months for the fund in several years.

Is your credit union good at telling the 'credit union' story? Have you found a unique and effective way to communicate to members and prospective members just what it is you are and why you're different? Then take a moment and enter the Frankie Awards. Just send an e-mail to fdiekmann@cujournal.com and share what you've done and how it's worked, along with any related materials. For a look at what previous Frankie winners have done, go to www.cujournal.com and search 'Frankie' in the search box.

Throughout 2007, the Credit Union Journal is profiling the credit unions of each U.S. state and D.C. Rather than appear in alphabetical order, the states are being featured in the order they became states.

SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio City Employees FCU plan to open a branch inside a Goodwill Industries store here. The branch follows renovations to the expanded facility, which also includes a Job Help Center. According to Goodwill, the credit union will provide short-term borrowing solutions, payroll check-cashing, financial literacy counseling, and other services. The 18,000-square-foot facility is one of the largest Goodwill stores in the country, and it sells more than 20,000 pieces of clothing weekly from the 14 to 21 truckloads of items it receives each week.

VIENNA, Va. - Mobile banking has much to prove before claiming the same success that homebanking has earned over the past decade, according to several of the nation's credit unions, large and small, that are holding off on offering the service.

STAMFORD, Conn. - Five major discontinuities are combining and will force IT organizations to change long-standing practices for procuring and managing IT, according to a new study from Gartner Inc. The intensity of these trends will grow through 2011, the consulting firm added.

In the July 15 issue, CU Journal explored the advantages larger CUs have over their smaller brethren. In this series, the Journal focuses on thriving, small CUs.

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of 13 House members from Georgia called on leaders of the Financial Services Committee last week to hold a hearing on the CU Regulatory Improvements Act, better known as CURIA.