HAVERHILL, Mass. - Northeast Community Credit Union will convert to a bank in order to merge with Haverhill Bank.

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. - Kinecta FCU became the latest credit union to make a major incursion into check cashing with the acquisition of a family owned check-cashing chain in the Los Angeles area last week.

GrooveCar Launches Xpress LEase

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. - Wings Financial Federal Credit Union announced it has partnered with St. Paul, Minn.-based Sun Country Airlines to serve the carrier's more than 1,000 employees.

WASHINGTON - CUNA's senior lobbyist Dean Sagar, who helped draft the landmark 1998 credit union bill, HR 1151, abruptly resigned last week after a brief, but checkered tenure with the trade association.

CALGARY, Alberta - When operating in an area of conflict, Randy Spears knows the first step is to establish security and guard the perimeter. Only then can business proceed with any degree of seeming normality.

WASHINGTON - In a bid to spur the dwindling American savings rate, the non-partisan Aspen Institute proposed a child savings account last week with which the federal government would provide a $500 certificate to participating newborns that would provide long-term savings incentives.

'Credit Union' Can Be Omitted

SEPTEMBER

CALGARY, Alberta - World HIV/AIDS activist Stephen Lewis knew he was among kindred spirits at the World Council of Credit Union's conference here last week, and he spoke plainly about the value the organization and its partner groups were bringing to afflicted populations worldwide, especially in Africa.

The strength and health of the credit union movement relies in large part on the preservation of the dual chartering system. In fact, the entire American financial services system rests on the foundation of dual chartering for depository institutions: both bank and credit union. That is why a banking case out of Michigan decided by the Supreme Court this past April is so troubling.

Credit Union Journal Publisher Frank Diekmann's column dated July 23 missed the point about the Coalition for Credit Union Charter Options' lawsuit against NCUA concerning the agency's over-reaching anti-conversion regulations. The point is that NCUA has exceeded its statutory authority by promulgating obstructionist regulations and will soon face the court's scrutiny. The legal complaint clearly outlines what is wrong with NCUA's actions and can be read in its entirety on www.ccuco.org.

PADUCAH, Ky. - Credit unions searching for new members or a stronger community image might fare better looking to their past instead of advice from a high-powered design team.

The Summit Federal Credit Union, Rochester, N.Y., named Susan Malta senior member service manager, Tina Longwell Rochester business relationship account executive and Connie Scherrer branch manager for Clarence and North Buffalo.

GrooveCar Launches Xpress LEase

HARRISBURG, Penn. - A Pennsylvania court has ruled that Advance America, the largest payday lender in the U.S., cannot offer its "Choice Line of Credit" to consumers in this state.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzengger has signed into law a bill backed by the California CU League that modernizes the statutes pertaining to credit unions in the state.

CALGARY, Alberta - Noting declines in government funding sources at all levels, the World Council of Credit Unions will launch its first direct-mail fundraising campaign targeting consumers outside the credit union movement. The WOCCU board approved the strategy, slated to launch this fall, at its meeting prior to the start of the 2007 World Credit Union Conference here this week.

HAVERHILL, Mass. - Northeast Community Credit Union will convert to a bank in order to merge with Haverhill Bank.

Efficiency is a powerful concept for any business, and retail financial services is no exception. Efficient credit union branches are better at winning new members, keeping them happy, serving them quickly, and doing it at a lower cost than the competition. And with the growing adoption of teller cash recycling technologies, branches may have their best opportunity in years to make a dramatic impact on efficiency.