Hearings

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LAS VEGAS - NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson shared these thoughts on other issues:

GROVEPORT, Ohio - Professional of the Year, assets less than $150 million

RALEIGH, N.C. - Most credit unions begin operating in humble circumstances. State Employees Credit Union, for example, opened for business in the basement of an agriculture building on June 4, 1937 with 17 members and $437 in assets.

LAS VEGAS - When it comes to developing products, a credit union needs some answers about members. But as one CU learned about the process, it may be best that the credit union not ask the questions.

Small and Medium-sized credit unions, how do you measure up against larger credit unions and banks? Do you think the CU movement is heading towards a future where there are only 1,000 "mega-credit unions" as suggested by one expert on page 39 of this issue? Will there always be a place for smaller credit unions? What do smaller credit unions need to do to ensure their future? What, if anything, should the movement as a whole do to ensure that future? CU Journal wants to hear from you on these issues. Write to Managing Editor Lisa Freeman at lfreeman cujournal.com or go to www.cujournal.com and click on the "Letters To The Editor" tab in the left navigation bar.

eCU Technologies Develops UPost3.0

LAS VEGAS - When Rodney Hood talks about credit union members, he adds a second word to form a compound term: member/owners.

LAS VEGAS - The apparent inaction by NCUA during the credit union movement's first hostile takeover attempt earlier this year actually was an example of it performing proper due-diligence, according to NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson.

LAS VEGAS - When Rodney Hood talks about credit union members, he adds a second word to form a compound term: member/owners.

LAS VEGAS - Credit union expansion into underserved markets can be seen in the companies offering credit bureau information that are following them there. During CUNA's America's Credit Union Conference here, several vendors were on hand with solutions aimed at resolving a challenge in serving low-income people: incomplete or even absent credit bureau files. TransUnion, for instance, estimates that between 35 and 54 million Americans are outside the credit system.

LAS VEGAS - The retail automotive industry continues to show strength which, according to one expert, will mean auto loans will remain a vital part of credit union portfolios.

BEIJING, China - Credit union leaders from the United States and Canada joined World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) to launch a new development initiative with the People's Bank of China (PBC). The week-long June visit was led by WOCCU Second Vice Chairman Barry Jolette and EVP Brian Branch, meeting with top Chinese officials and visiting rural credit cooperatives (RCCs) in China's poorest province.

WASHINGTON - A credit union executive testified before Congress last week against a proposal to rein in runaway fees charged by banks and credit unions for overdraft protection.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Most credit unions begin operating in humble circumstances. State Employees Credit Union, for example, opened for business in the basement of an agriculture building on June 4, 1937 with 17 members and $437 in assets.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Nearly 30 specialists from across a broad range of investment categories and from some of the best-known financial services firms in the country are now in place at CUNA Mutual Group and are being credited with adding more than $60-million to the company's bottom line in 2006.

JULY

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A wife and husband who were jailed for embezzling more than $1.3 million from tiny Unified Singers FCU were formally barred from the CU industry by NCUA. Jean Pogue, former manager of the community development credit union, her husband Joseph Pogue, and their daughter Cassandra Montgomery, who ran an insurance agency out of their home-which served as the CU's office-were all sentenced to prison for siphoning more than $1.3 million in phony loans from the $1.5-million CU.

BURBANK, Calif. - Members of Vista FCU overwhelmingly approved a merger with Partners FCU to create a credit union giant to serve all of the Disney companies.