WASHINGTON – Credit unions from the Caribbean to California to Canada fed their members, introduced new products, donated to charities, embarked on financial education programs and even offered a whaling weekend for two to help celebrate yesterday’s International Credit Union Day. President Bush helped in the celebration with a proclamation that commended credit union employees for their "professionalism and commitment to excellence.” Thousands of credit unions staged social events to celebrate the 59-year-old annual tradition, which this year had the theme: “Together We’re Better.” In St. Kits, Nevis Co-operative CU launched a new mortgage program for the Caribbean island’s civil servants. In Ireland, Waterford CU used the opportunity to introduce new insurance and investments products to its members. Coastal Community CU in Canada offered free food and a lottery for a whaling trip for two. Closer to home, Arizona credit unions staged a “Together We Paint” celebration, with hundreds of credit union volunteers taking a day off to paint the homes of elderly and low-income residents. Redwood CU in California had coloring contests for its young members and provided free financial education courses. AmeriCU CU in New York offered free refreshments and a history of the credit union movement at its branches. GHS CU in New York celebrated with the disc jockey from a local radio station broadcasting live from the credit union and by kicking off a winter clothes drive for the needy.

WASHINGTON – Police yesterday arrested a suspect in the slaying of an unarmed security guard inside D.C. Teachers FCU a decade ago. Police said John Williams, now 52, entered the credit union on July 17, 1997, planning to rob it, but was confronted by the Wells Fargo guard. Williams allegedly shot the 36-year-old Brown multiple times before fleeing without any money. Williams was arrested in nearby Beltsville, Md., without a struggle.

PHILADELPHIA – The FBI is searching for a man believed responsible for as many as five area credit union and bank robberies in recent weeks, including an Oct. 11 hold-up at American Heritage FCU in Hatfield Township. The robber always wears some kind of headgear to disguise his identity and even wrapped his face in gauze during one hold-up, earning him the nickname “the Mummy Bandit.” In one heist he wore a dark baseball cap; in another, a wig that made him look like radio personality Howard Stern. The FBI said another suspect is believed responsible for four other area hold-ups, including the Oct. 10 incident at Bucks County First FCU.

WAYCROSS, Ga. – Atlantic Coast Federal, a former credit union, yesterday said it has been approved by the Office of Thrift Supervision to complete the second step of its two-step stock offering by selling the remaining 63.8% of the banking company to the public. The company, known until November 2000 as Atlantic Coast FCU, plans to raise up to $280 million with the sale of as many as 15.2 million shares. The former credit union, chartered in 1939 to serve employees of Atlantic Coast Railroad, sold a minority stake to the public in 2004. The offering is being underwritten by Stifel, Nicolaus & Company. The credit union-convert now holds $890 million in assets; almost triple its size when it converted from a credit union.

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. – Private Equity fund the Blackstone Group continues to have trouble raising financing for its part of the PHH Corp. takeover, lending doubt the acquisition of the largest mortgage bank for credit unions will be completed. Wall Street sources said Blackstone still has not resolved a funding shortfall in its plans to buy PHH’s mortgage business, after GE Capital buys the whole company, endangering the deal. PHH Mortgage includes the remnants of CUNA Mutual Mortgage and its $12 billion servicing portfolio, which it acquired in 2005. PHH shareholders approved the $31.50-a-share GE deal last month, but the deal hinges on GE being able to sell the mortgage business. Terms of the deal call for GE to keep PHH’s fleet management operations.

NORWICH, Conn. – Core Plus FCU said it granted $15,000 to Three Rivers Community College, which will help fund the college’s Workforce Education and Training Fund. The funds will be matched by the state of Connecticut. The college and credit union also plan to develop a paid internship program to train students who want a career in financial services.

MILWAUKEE – Regional banking holding company Marshall & Ilsley yesterday said net income for its third quarter declined 8%, to $219.9 million, or 83 cents a share, as it prepares to spin off its Metavante electronic funds transfer unit. The bank set aside $41.5 million for losses on loans and leases, quadruple the year-earlier amount, while net charge-offs more than tripled to $26 million. Revenues for Metavante, which includes the NYCE ATM network and Endpoint Exchange electronic check exchange, rose 9% for the period. Third quarter results include a $5.4 million charge related to the Metavante spin-off. The bank plans this quarter to spin off Metavante in the next few weeks with private equity firm Warburg Pincus taking a 25% stake in exchange for a $625 million investment, with the rest of the shares to be distributed to Marshall & Ilsley stockholders.

FAIRBORN, Ohio – Wright-Patt CU said it has contracted with IA Systems to implement the company’s StreamLend Velocity loan origination system. StreamLend Velocity offers advanced security, auditing and compliance tools that allows lenders to protect borrowers and keep data safe. IA Systems is a unit of Open Solutions Inc.

RALEIGH, N.C. – State Employees CU has become the first credit union to sign on to a new set of principles aimed at protecting mortgage borrowers from predatory lenders. The Mortgage Protection Principles, introduced yesterday by state Treasurer Richard Moore and officials in Florida, Kentucky and New York, are aimed at protecting families from being stuck in loans they can’t afford. The principles include: matching borrowers with appropriate, fair and affordable loans for which they qualify; verifying the borrower’s ability to repay; not incentivizing employees or brokers to place borrowers into higher-cost loans; clearly disclosing all broker compensation; providing borrowers with fixed-rate options when offering adjustable-rate products; not charging prepayment fees or penalties on subprime loans; and conducting criminal background checks on all brokers. Also signing on to the principles is the Center for Responsible Lending, an affiliate of Self-Help CU.

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. Lawyers for the group are scheduled to meet in mediation with representatives of the credit union, which maintains it is not responsible for the losses–representing the entire retirement savings for several of the members. As many as eight of the members were workers at the American Tobacco Company plant that chartered the credit union in 1975. Fourteen of the members have filed suit in state court claiming the credit union should have known the third-party advisor working out of its offices was investing the funds in Evergreen Ltd., a massive Ponzi scheme that failed in 2002, costing more than 2,000 investors in excess of $200 million. In a Ponzi scheme, early investors are paid from money put in by later participants, making it appear that the investment is legitimate. The credit union board learned of the failure of Evergreen and its effects on the members in 2001, according to minutes of board meetings obtained by the members’ lawyers. Philip Mohr, an attorney representing the members, said credit union officials maintain they were unaware of the advisor’s investments in Evergreen and are not responsible for the losses. “They have continuously refused to talk about a settlement,” Mohr told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. Credit union officials did not return phone calls seeking comment. As many as 35 members invested in what was purported to be federally guaranteed bonds in an entity called Worldwide Ltd., which turned out to be a conduit for investments in Evergreen. The 14 members represented in the suit are seeking repayment of the $1.5 million they invested, which would have amounted to as much as $3 million with promised interest.

PASADENA, Calif. – Credit union giant Wescom CU said it has agreed to merge with Great American CU, one of San Diego’s largest credit unions. Great American CU was wounded by its investments in subprime auto loans through Centrix Financial. The $57 million Great American eked out $312,000 in net income for the first six months of this year, after losing $1.5 million last year. The credit union, chartered in 1928 by postal workers, has nine branches in the San Diego area. Wescom, with almost $4 billion in assets, has 51 branches in southern California, including five in the San Diego area. Wescom won the bidding for Great American among six credit unions. The merger is one of several pending among billion-dollar credit unions: with CommunityAmerica acquiring Midwest United CU; Meriwest CU acquiring Golden Bay CU; Western FCU acquiring Toyota FCU; and SAFE CU acquiring Capital Power CU.

FREEPORT, Texas — A demolition crew is working this week to tear down the old American Savings and Loan building to make way for the newest branch of Texas Dow Employees CU.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The former CEO of now-defunct Northampton-Carbon County FCU was barred from the credit union industry for his role in a $2 million embezzlement that sunk the one-time $40 million credit union, NCUA said yesterday. Michael Symons is serving a three-year prison sentence for his crimes, one of several frauds that forced NCUA to liquidate the Allentown, Penn., credit union in 2004. Last year, self-professed “shopaholic” Betty Jean Barachie, a former Nor-Car FCU branch manager, was sentenced to jail for stealing $1.5 million, which she used to finance her compulsive shopping. She told authorities she used the funds to buy hundreds of pairs of shoes, some 3,000 books, 58 coats, 16 chainsaws and a John Deere Tractor, most of which sat piled in her house unused with the price tags still on them. Also banned by NCUA yesterday were: Cindy Hastie, former employee at State Employees CU, for stealing $210,000 from the Jacksonville, Fla., credit union; Alisa Ryan, former teller at Aegis CU, for embezzling $15,000 from the Clinton, Iowa, credit union; and David Call, former CEO of Florida Health Systems FCU, in Miami.

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. – DealerTrack, the provider of online solutions for indirect auto lending, yesterday said it plans to raise up to $100 million with an offering of two million common shares. The company will use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include acquisitions. DealerTrack said it is facing intense competition from CU Direct Corp., the leading indirect lender for credit unions, which comprises a large number of its financing source customers, and from RouteOne, which is owned by the financing arms of Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and Toyota.

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Topeka CU Foundation, which consists of a group of nine local credit unions, awarded $2,500 grants to each of four local organizations. The grants went to: Let's Help, Meals on Wheels, Sheltered Living, and The Capper Foundation Easter Seals. The Foundation was founded in 2004 and has contributed more than $62,000 to local non-profit groups.

DENVER – Payments processor First Data Corp. yesterday said it has acquired Deecal International, an Ireland-based provider of commercial electronic payments cards. Deecal offers a complete commercial card e-payment solution that can be fully integrated into existing procurement, payment and accounting infrastructure and workflows. The solution supports the full range of commercial cards, business, purchasing and corporate travel, and entertainment cards for both domestic and multinational organizations. It is offered using a hosted ASP service model that ensures rapid implementation and minimizes start-up costs. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Fiserv announced it has acquired BancIntelligence, an Atlanta-based provider of online analytics for banks and credit unions. BankIntelligence products include BancAnalyst Financial and BancAnalyst Market online tools to enhance strategic and tactical planning. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Separately, federal antitrust regulators cleared Fiserv’s $4.2 billion acquisition of CheckFree, the nation’s largest provider of electronic bill payment services. CheckFree stockholders are scheduled to vote on the $48-a-share deal at a special meeting Oct. 23.

SEATTLE – A man who held-up Seattle Metropolitan CU last Friday was captured in minutes, after the third time in a month that branch had been robbed. The brash robber ignored an armed, uniformed security guard inside the branch when he handed the teller a demand note, then made his escape with the guard in pursuit. The guard lost track of the robber in a nearby alley, but an alert neighbor called 911 and watched as the suspect changed clothes in a parking lot. Police quickly arrived and captured the suspect. They do not believe the suspect is the same one who robbed the credit union branch on Sept. 12 or Oct. 5.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – CO-OP Financial Services yesterday announced credit unions now connected to its ATM network may do so using Diebold’s ImageWay ATM software. As a result, any ATM with Diebold’s ImageWay software can now seamlessly integrate with CO-OP servers to capture check images at ATMs. Diebold software uses industry-standard message formats and technology that ensures delivery of transaction information to a CO-OP server, which accepts deposit transaction data, including all check images from the ImageWay ATM.

FREEPORT, Texas – A demolition crew is working this week to tear down the old American Savings and Loan building to make way for the newest branch of Texas Dow Employees CU. The old American Savings and Loan, which was closed during the savings and loan crisis, has been used mostly as a lot for a car dealership recently. The $1.6 million credit union branch is scheduled for completion next April.