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, the credit union announced today. The credit union giant announced today it has agreed to pay $45 million to acquire Navicert Financial Inc., operator of the family owned Nix Check Cashing chain and its 55 outlets. The deal follows an agreement in June by Wescom CU, in nearby Pasadena, Calif., to acquire eight local check cashers known as Area Check Cashing Centers. After the acquisition, Navicert will change its name to Kinecta Alternative Financial Services. Kinecta, a $4 billion credit union with over 200,000 members, was represented by Sandler O’Neill & Partners LLP in the transaction.

CALGARY, Alberta – Delegates attending the opening session of the World Council of Credit Unions’ World Credit Union Conference here were able to participate in a live exchange with WOCCU staff on the ground in war-torn Afghanistan, thanks to an Internet audio and video link. The audience of 2,500 witnessed a transmission from one of the country’s northern provinces featuring WOCCU field worker Randy Spears flanked by a staff of 18. Spears and his associates offered a live report, noting the challenges of running what now totals seven credit unions serving 7,000 members. Spears fielded questions from the stage and audience, noting that physical safety in the face of roadside bombs, landmines and kidnapping remain among the many challenges to WOCCU’s continued efforts.

TOLEDO, Ohio – Two more members of a violent robbery ring were sentenced Monday to long prison sentences for their role in the series of credit union hold-ups that netted almost $1 million. David Booth and James Wyley are among five ring members convicted of the spree, which terrorized employees and members at area credit unions over a three-year period. The ring was responsible for two robberies at Jeep FCU, and heists at Toledo Public Schools FCU, Champion FCU, one at Standard S&L, and an attempted robbery at Toledo Police FCU, all between 1998 and 2001, but weren’t arrested until earlier this year. Booth, 38, the ringleader, was sentenced to 17 years behind bars; while Wyley, 37, was sentenced to four years.

CHICAGO – Credit union giant Alliant CU announced it has converted its 45,000 credit card accounts to PSCU Financial Services. Under the deal, PSCU will process transactions with its CreditAbility program for the $4.6 billion credit union. Alliant, formerly the credit union for United Airlines, serves more than 200,000 members and is the largest credit union based in Illinois.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Western Vista FCU said yesterday it has implemented Mortgage Builder Software’s online loan origination system. The system was installed and the credit union went live with it within 30 days. Mortgage Builder Software is based in Southfield, Mich.

PHOENIX – Arizona FCU said it has installed an on-demand voice messaging system offered by Akcelerant Software LLC and SoundBite Communications to collect on various types of debt. The system allows credit unions to create, manage and execute member contact campaigns through the Alcelerant Framework, a workflow and business process automation suite. The $1.8 billion credit union recently launched its first collections campaign using the messaging system and plans other campaigns to support member care and marketing initiatives.

SHOREVIEW, Minn. – Check-printer Deluxe Corp. said its restructuring has begun to show results, with the company reporting a $36 million, or 69 cents a share, profit for its second quarter. That compares to a $2.4 million, or five cents a share, loss for the same period last year when the company was in the midst of a reorganization. The net profit comes as revenues declined by 1% in the second quarter to $400 million. Deluxe said each of its three businesses performed better than expected. The financial services segment, which prints checks for credit unions and banks, swung to a $23.2 million profit from a $7.5 million loss in the year-ago quarter. Income in the direct checks segment, which sells personal and business checks, slipped 11% to $14.3 million from $16 million. The company said costs in this unit swelled because of a new type of packaging used in delivery. The small business services segment, which sells printed products such as checks and billing forms to businesses, reported income of $30 million, up from $1.3 million in the second quarter last year.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Financially ailing ATM ISO TRM Corp., said it continues to experience losses, despite a massive restructuring that included the sale of its core copier rental business and international ATM operations. The company, which operates 6,000 ATMs for the credit union-owned CO-OP Financial Services, reported a loss of $2.2 million for its fiscal first quarter ended March 31, up from $1.5 million for the same period last year. First quarter revenues plunged 31% to $8.6 million, mostly as a result of the shedding of revenue-earning assets. The company, which once operated as many as 18,000 ATMs worldwide, said it operated an average of 10,808 machines in the first quarter, down from 13,122 in the first quarter last year. The company’s shares were trading just above a dollar, at $1.03, yesterday on the Nasdaq.

DAYTON, Ohio – NCR Corp. said yesterday that second-quarter revenues for its Teradata Data Warehousing unit grew a strong 9% for the second quarter, as the company prepares to spin off Teradata this quarter. NCR also announced the board for the spun-off Teradata, which will be chaired by James Ringler, chairman of the NCR Board. NCR reported yesterday that its second quarter earnings surged 26% to $98 million, or 54 cents a share, fueled by strong ATM sales. Second quarter revenues rose 5% to $1.6 billion, compared to the same period last year. That included an 11% rise in the company's financial self-service segment, which includes ATMs, to $380 million. Second quarter results included $21 million of costs related to the Teradata spin-off.

DENVER – First Data Corp. said it plans to shutter its Tulsa call center and eliminate as many as 400 jobs there, as the company is being restructured through a takeover by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. The Tulsa center, in operations since 1992, is the second call center to be shut by First Data since the onset of the takeover, as the company announced plans last month to shut its Daytona Beach, Fla., center and eliminate 400 jobs there. First Data investors overwhelmingly approved the $29 billion deal yesterday. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Michael Capellas, former CEO of MCI, will head the post-takeover company, succeeding Henry ‘Ric’ Duques, who is retiring after completion of the deal. First Data reported last week that second quarter earnings plunged by 51%, to $228.9 million, after the company spun off its profitable Western Union operations.

WASHINGTON – The House Financial Services Committee yesterday approved a bill creating a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which would provide as much as $1 billion a year to help build affordable homes. But the Fund, which would provide new opportunities for credit unions to finance such projects, has a long way to go because its main source of funding would be the affordable housing funds that would be collected from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the long-stalled secondary market reform bill. The aim of the trust fund is to construct as many as 1.5 million affordable housing units over the next 10 years, without any federal expenditures. The available funds would dwarf the $260 million in affordable housing funds provided last year by the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks to banks and credit unions. The bill nows goes to the full House for a vote.

WASHINGTON – In an initiative modeled after the fledgling Individual Development Accounts, the non-partisan Aspen Institute proposed a child savings account yesterday with which the federal government would provide a $500 certificate to participating newborns that would provide long-term savings incentives and help spur the national savings rate. “Americans are saving too little. In part, that’s because they start too late and, like everything else, they should start saving when they are young,” said American Airlines FCU President John Tippets, who participated on the Aspen Institute’s Initiative on Financial Security, which developed the new savings idea. The proposal, similar to the IDAs that are providing matching savings accounts for low- and moderate-income families, would provide federal subsidies for new-born accounts that would accumulate tax-free until the saver is 18, when the funds could be used freely. Family, friends and other parties could deposit as much as $2,000 a year into the account, while low- and moderate-income families would be eligible for matching funds up to $1,000 a year if they were qualified to participate in the IDA program. Dozens of credit unions are participating in the IDA program, which provides matching funds for eligible low- and moderate-income savers. The concept of government-sponsored child savings accounts is already being piloted in the United Kingdom and is growing in popularity, said Lisa Mensah, executive director of the savings project. Tippets said the program will require legislation to enact. Also on the panel was William Bynum, president of ECD/HOPE, which runs HOPE Community FCU, as well a representatives from LaSalle Bank, H&R Block, the National Congress of American Indians, and several others.

TAMPA, Fla. – Suncoast Schools FCU said yesterday its Suncoast for Kids Foundation has awarded an $11,000 grant to the Braille Institute of Florida to buy a high volume embosser that will be used to transcribe textbooks for blind children. The embosser will be used by the Institute’s mobile classroom, ‘Good Bumps on a Roll,’ which will provide mobile eye screening, teach Braille and bring other services to blind individuals across Florida. The credit union’s foundation also awarded a $10,000 grant to the Guadalupe Center for Immokalee to help tham buy 2,500 books and supplies to promote early literacy at home. Suncoast for Kids Foundation is one of the largest credit union foundations in the country and awards annual scholarships to a graduate from every public high school in each of the 15 Florida counties it serves. Over the last year, the Foundation has provided $220,000 to 220 students through the program.

SALT LAKE CITY – Students at Granger High School will learn to fly–literally–with the help of a $15,000 grant from the Utah CU Association’s 100% for Kids CU Education Foundation. The grant allowed the students to buy a kit and build their own four-seat airplane, the first student-built plane in the state. Students with special skills in physics, graphics, vocational technology and aerospace technology are working on the educational project, one of 28 funded by the credit union foundation this year. Students on the building crew constructed the frame, fuel tank, rudders, elevators and control surfaces. An interior crew worked on the inside of the plane while the paint crew and students in the school's collision repair class worked on sanding and painting the body of the aircraft. Students in the school's advanced graphics courses created logos and graphics to put on the outside of the aircraft, which included the names of each student who worked on the project as well as the names of 16 sponsors. The students hope for a September take-off for their creation, dubbed Excalibur. The 100% for Kids CU Foundation has awarded more than $4 million in educational grants to schools, students and teachers since its inception in 2002.

WASHINGTON — Bankers from all over the country are up in arms about a proposal by NCUA to broaden community chartering requirements and are indicating a new legal challenge is in store if the NCUA Board approves it as a final rule.

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. – Wings Financial FCU announced yesterday it has signed with Sun Country Airlines to offer a variety of financial services to the 1,000 employees of the Minnesota-based carrier, the $1.8 billion credit union’s second airline deal this summer. Last month, Wings Financial signed a similar deal to offer services to JetBlue Airways and its 11,000 employees. Under the deal with Sun Country, Wings Financial will begin promoting its products and services immediately and will offer a customized line of checks featuring Sun Country aircraft images.

MEMPHIS – Memphis Area Teachers CU is distributing $52,500 in college scholarships under its Future Teachers program. The grants include six of $2,500 for first-time recipients and $3,000 each to 15 who are having their scholarships renewed for the coming school year. The credit union has awarded $316,250 in college grants under the program.

BELLEVUE, Wash. – Coinstar Inc., the popular provider of coin counting machinery, said it plans to expand its foreign remittance business with a deal to acquire GroupEx Financial Corp., a provider of money transfers between the U.S. and Latin America, for $60 million. Coinstar, which makes the coin counting machines found in many financial institutions and stores, entered the foreign remittance market in 2006 with the acquisition of Travelex Money Transfer. GroupEx, a privately owned La Mirada, Calif-based company, operates through 1,650 send agents in 23 states servicing 13 countries.

MINNEAPOLIS – Credit scorer Fair Isaac & Co., under pressure to sell the company, said profits for ist fiscal third quarter declined 8% to $23.8 million, or 42 cents a share, compared to $26 million, or 40 cents a share, for the same period last year. The provider of the ubiquitous FICO credit score attributed the decline in earnings to the sale of its mortgage operations and declines in professional services revenues. Fair Isaac's chief product, the FICO score, has come under increasing pressure since the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, introduced their own credit score, called VantageScore. Third quarter revenues fell slightly to $205.8 million, from $207.1 million for the third quarter last year. The company was put into play recently when a private equity fund, Sandell Asset Management, which owns a 5% stake, called on Fair Isaac management to hire an investment bank to explore a sale or other strategic alternatives.

CHANTILLY, Va. – Online Resources Corp. said it has agreed to acquire Internet Transaction Solutions, a Columbus, Ohio, competitor in the online payments business, for $45 million. ITS offers electronic payment services to utilities and the collections business. Online Resources plans to retain the company’s Columbus office and its 39 employees. The deal is expected to close in 30 days. Separately, Online Resources reported a loss of $1.2 million, or four cents a share, for its second quarter, compared to a profit of $1.4 million, or five cents a share, for the second quarter last year. For the first two quarters, the company reported a loss of $10.6 million, or 41 cents a share, compared to a profit of $2.2 million, or eight cents a share, for the first half last year.