BURBANK, Calif. – A story in the June 25 edition of The Credit Union Journal Daily incorrectly said the newly merged Disney Co. credit unions, Partners FCU and Vista FCU, will retain the Vista name. It will be Partners FCU.

DALLAS – The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas said yesterday it has raised its second quarter dividend to 5.26%, to be paid June 29 in capital stock. The Dallas Bank paid a 4.91% dividend for the second quarter last year. On July 31, 2007, the Bank will repurchase the portion of members' excess stock identified as surplus stock as of that date. Surplus stock is currently defined as the amount of capital stock held by a member that exceeds 105 percent of its minimum investment requirement. A member's surplus stock will not be repurchased if the amount of surplus stock is $250,000 or less. The Dallas FHLB has more than 900 members in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and New Mexico, including more than 100 credit unions.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – PSCU Financial Services said yesterday it has added real-time online travel booking capabilities for free airline ticket redemption to its CURewards credit and debit card loyalty program through a deal with Montrose Travel. Montrose is also delivering more than 60 new travel products for card loyalty point redemption used by more than 220 credit unions through PSCU. Montrose Travel is based in Los Angeles.

WALL STREET – M&F Worldwide, which recently acquired John H. Harland Co., said yesterday it paid MacAndrews and Forbes, the holding company owned by corporate financier Ronald Perelman, a $10 million management services fee for the $1.7 billion acquisition, and has contracted for an additional $10 million fee for the next 12 months. Since commencement of the Harland offer, M&F shares have quadrupled in value to almost $64 each, earning Perelman more than $400 million. Perelman, known for his takeovers of Revlon, Marvel comics and other large companies, owns MacAndrews and Forbes, which owns a controlling 38.5% stake in M&F Worldwide. M&F is in the process of combining Harland’s check-printing operations with Clarke American to create the largest check printer in the country.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Continental FCU has installed InfoStreet Inc.’s StreetSmart workflow management system that allows employees anytime, anywhere access to office applications. The $180 million credit union said StreetSmart has allowed it to unite all of its offices across the country in real-time, and has improved collaboration and communication among its disparate sites. StreetSmart also facilitates telecommuting by allowing employees to work at home with full access to all systems. InfoStreet is based in Tarzana, Calif.

BOWIE, Md. – NASA FCU said yesterday it has signed with Quality Associates Inc. to provide it with document management, imaging and archiving services. Quality Associates will convert receipts, deposit slips and other paperwork relating to daily transactions into an electronic document management system, where digital images can be searched, retrieved and archived bu authorized credit union personnel. Quality Associates will be performing the work for the $800 million credit union at its Columbia, Md., offices.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve announced yesterday it plans to trim another 1,740 jobs in its check processing operations as increasing numbers of checks are being processed online. As part of the ongoing consolidation that has halved the number of Fed processing sites to 22 since 2003, the Central bank said it has selected Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta and Dallas as regional check processing sites that are expected to provide a full range of processing services through 2011. Other sites will have their operations scaled back. The cutbacks are part of the implementation of Check 21, the 2003 law that made electronic check images full legal tender, thus eliminating the need for paper checks, in many instances.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington State Employees CU announced yesterday it has implemented a new telecommunication network from AT&T. AT&T has provided the $1 billion credit union with Internet Protocol-enabled Frame Relay services. Under the contract, AT&T used its Multiprotocol Label Switching backbone to connect all of the credit union’s 22 branches and stand-alone ATMs. The credit union is also using AT&T’s network to implement new Voice over Internet Protocol phone systems and to prioritize critical business applications with MPLS, to provide an improved networking environment for each part of its operation.

WEST ST. PAUL, Minn. – A West St. Paul police officer was cleared in last month’s fatal shooting of a man who had just robbed a Retail Employees CU branch here. The Dakota County grand jury found that Sgt. Brent Nagel was justified in using deadly force. Nagal shot and killed 46-year-old James Hines as Hines was making his escape after holding up the credit union. Police said Hines aimed his gun at the officer and threatened to shoot, and Nagel ordered him to drop his gun twice. When Hines refused, Nagel shot him. Nagel is a 14-year veteran of the West St. Paul Police Department.

PEORIA, Ill. – CEFCU has rolled out its own payday loan product, a 31-day loan at 18%. Members can borrow up to $500 four times a year, with no credit check and instant approval, with CEFCU’s Quick Advance. Members have up to 31 days to repay. Interest on a $350 Quick Advance for 31 days is $5.35. That compares to $51.07 of fees and interest charges on the average payday loan of $350 in Illinois.

DURHAM, N.C. – The Center for Responsible Lending, a growing consumer lobby created by Self-Help CU, got a boost yesterday when the Pew Charitable Trusts awarded it a $2 million grant, part of the national foundation’s new fight against predatory mortgage lending. The announcement came as Michael Calhoun, president of the Center, was testifying on Capitol Hill that the crisis in subprime mortgages is not over, despite assertions in the mortgage industry. The gift from Pew will enable the credit union-backed lobby group to expand its work supporting anti-predatory loan legislation. “This will be a continuation of our work,” Carol Hammerstein, spokesman for the Center, told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. That work has made the Center into an emerging influence in the new Democratically controlled Congress, which is pursuing legislation to address abusive practices in mortgage lending and credit cards. The Center is already supported by several major foundations, including MacArthur, Ford, Annie Casey, Rockefeller Foundation and the Sandler Family, among others.

COLORADO SPRINGS – Air Academy FCU is billing its new payday loan product as a smart solution to the short-term cash problems of its members, many of them Air Force cadets. The $320 million credit union is offering loans up to 60-days, dubbed Smart Solution loans, at 18% APR, a fraction of the average rates charged by payday lenders. To be eligible a members must earn at least $1,200 a month–$1,000 after taxes. The Smart Solution loan is limited to $300 for the first three loans, and up to $500 after that. Members who take out six loans in a year must enroll in the credit union’s financial education program to get another loan. Other area credit unions that serve military personnel, including Ent FCU and Security Service FCU, also offer payday loan products.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.– Summit Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, said yesterday it has acquired 85% of Life of the South, a provider and third-party administrator of credit insurance for credit unions, banks, and others. The management-led buyout will leave 15% of the company owned by top managers. The deal was valued at $100 million.

BOONE, N.C. – State Employees CU said it has contributed $8,500 to start an annual scholarship in healthcare at Appalachian State University in the name of Leigh Ann Cable, a freshman who died last year. The scholarship, which was founded by Cable’s parents in her name, was funded through the SECU Foundation, the credit union charity. Income from the endowment, house in the Appalachian State university Foundation, will fund a scholarship to be awarded each year to a student majoring in healthcare. The first scholarship will be granted in 2008. The SEC Foundation is one of the largest grantors of college scholarships in the country and provides more than $7 million of awards each year to attendees at every one of the state-run colleges or universities.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services said yesterday it has acquired Applied Financial Technology, a provider of risk analytic modeling for the mortgage industry. AFT’s quantitative analytics, which can be fully integrated into a variety of third-party systems, are used by credit unions, banks, brokers and investors to price, fund, trade and hedge mortgages and mortgage backed securities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Arrowhead CU said yesterday it signed a long-term agreement for processing its POS, debit and ATM programs with PSCU Financial Services. Under the terms of the agreement, PSCU Financial Services will convert more than 115,000 PIN debit accounts and 33,000 ATM-only accounts to its DebitAdvantage platform. Arrowhead CU has worked with PSCU Financial Services on the credit side for years.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – CommonWealth CU said it has contracted with Lending Solutions Inc. to implement the company’s 24/7 call center and Internet lending services. The $400 million credit union is also using Lending Solutions’ WebClose service, an interactive online member service system that aids in the Internet lending process. Lending Solutions, based in Elgin, Ill., provides loan systems for more than 300 credit unions.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Stanford FCU said it has installed Catbird Security’s V-Agent security network for its virtual private network. The $750 million credit union, a leader in technology among credit unions, first implemented the company’s standard Catbird Agent on its main network, then added the V-Agent as it sought coverage on all network segments without deploying additional hardware. The system is 100% plug-and-play for virtual environments. Security data is maintained even as Catbird V-Agents ate shut down or redeployed. Catbird is based in Scotts Valley, Calif.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Golden 1 CU announced yesterday it has implemented Arcot Systems’ multi-factor authentication solution for online banking. The system offers authentication risk management, authentication and digital signing capabilities. Arcot Systems is based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

WASHINGTON – The American Bankers Association and America’s Community Bankers, the lobby group for the S&Ls, are seeking to finalize their decade-long courtship and announced yesterday they have tentatively agreed to merge, again. The merger would pit the largest and best funded credit union foe, the ABA, with the most virulent credit union opponent, the ACB. The two lobby groups had tentatively agreed to combine five years ago, but called it off at the last minute. The new group will be retain the American Bankers Association name and be headed by the ABA’s President Ed Yingling. Diane Casey-Landry, current head of the ABA, will be executive vice president and chief operating officer of the group. Both Washington-based trade groups have been around for more than 100 years.