KANSAS CITY – Two men who robbed the Mission bank in nearby Leawood yesterday morning are suspected in as many as five other area heists, including two at credit unions. Authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the robbers. The suspects are believed responsible for the March 30 hold-up at CommunityAmerica CU in Overland Park, the February 2 robbery at Cross Roads CU in Kansas City, and at least three others.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Fiserv said yesterday it has agreed to sell its Fiserv Investment Support Services operations in in two separate transactions for as much as $425 million. The company’s Trust Company and its institutional retirement plan and advisor services will be sold to TD Ameritrade for $225 million, plus contingent cash consideration up to $100 million, and will be reimbursed for $50 million in net capital in the business. In addition, Bob Beriault, group president for Fiserv ISS, has agreed to acquire the remaining accounts and net capital of the investment services business for about $50 million in cash.

TAUNTON, Mass. – The police department will have a new boat for its dive team, thanks to Taunton FCU. The credit union donated a 2004 Bayliner, valued at $16,000 through its Community Pride Checking Program, which was created last September to support community projects in Taunton and surrounding towns. The police have several other boats they use for incidents such as retrieving stolen cars dumped in the river or searching for missing or drowned people.

MADISON, Wis. – The Journal CU said it has abandoned its efforts to serve a five-county area and instead will merge into Summit CU. The credit union, which had served employees of the Milwaukee Journal Co. and their family members, had converted to a community charter serving metropolitan Milwaukee, but decided a combination with the larger $680 million credit union was its bets option. Journal CU has 3,600 members and $30 million in assets.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Two faith based credit unions that served the areas African-American communities have merged operations. The combination of the Bethlehem Community Development CU and the Church Koinonia FCU has created a credit union with more than $3 million in assets serving more than 50 area churches. Officials of the two credit unions agreed to the merger to better serve low- to moderate-income residents.

McLEAN, Va. – Long-term mortgage rates rose again this week, to their highest since last October, according to Freddie Mac. The average for the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan climbed to 6.37% this week, from 6.20% last week; while the average for the 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage increased to 6.06%, from 5.92%. ARM rates also moved higher, with the average for the one-year ARM rising to 5.64%, from 5.48%; and the average for the five-year ARM going to 6.02%, from 5.92% last week. "Stronger than expected consumer confidence and recent comments from members of the Federal Reserve raised some inflation concerns in the market, causing it to lower expectations of a Fed rate cut this year. This helped push mortgage rates higher this week," Frank Nothaft, chief economist for Freddie Mac. "We expect a gradual rise in mortgage rates over the remainder of the year with sales slipping further in the second half of the year. A gradual recovery returns toward the end of 2007 with modest increases in sales and construction during 2008.”

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA Board yesterday issued for comment a proposal to clarify its community chartering rules, which were muddled in March when the Board was forced to reject a request by Del-One FCU to serve the entire state of Delaware, even though the state's 800,000 residents are far fewer than many community charters approved by NCUA. The new proposal would require for broader, vague areas that a federal credit union demonstrate the proposed community is part of a 'core-based statistical area' used by the White House Office of Management and Budget, of at least 10,000 people:; and that the area contain a dominant city, county or equivalent containing a majority of the jobs in the CBSA. The attempt at redefining community parameters comes as the number of federal credit union with community charters has soared over the past decade from 8% of all federal charters to a third, but also as the conversion to community charters is slowing. NCUA approved only two new community charters last month, down from an average of 15 in a month in recent years.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The former CEO of Northampton-Carbon County was sentenced yesterday to 37 months behind bars for embezzling an estimated $2 million from the failed credit union, in one of the biggest credit union corruption cases in several years. Michael Symons, 67, also agreed to pay $100,000 of a $1.8 million restitution order within 60 days, before he reports to prison. Symons’ wife, Lucinda Sterling, who was vice president of the credit union and manager of one of its branch, is scheduled for trial in July on charges she participated in the scheme. The sentencing follows last year’s imprisonment of self-professed ‘shopaholic’ Betty Jean Barachie, another former Nor-Car branch manager who pleaded guilty to stealing $1.5 million, much of 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 the items she bought sat piled in her house unused with the price tags still on them. NCUA took over Nor-Car FCU in 2003, then sold its assets to nearby First Commonwealth FCU.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- NCUA proposed new regulations yesterday that would return the federal credit union regulator to the business of enforcing bylaw disputes. The proposal, prompted by recent incidents at would-be credit union converts to banks where members petitioned to recall the board of directors, would allow NCUA to enforce a federal credit union's bylaws by issuing administrative orders, such as cease and desist or prohibitions. The proposal comes as members of Lafayette FCU, angered over the $330 million credit union's ill-fated conversion to mutual savings bank, are fighting to enforce a credit union bylaw that requires 750 members sign a petition asking for a special meeting to recall the board for its failed conversion. The credit union has disqualified more than 200 names on a petition that includes 820 signatures and organizers of the petition drive are threatening to go to court to get the bylaw enforced. In this and similar cases in recent years NCUA has ruled it will not intervene in bylaw disputes unless it involves the safety and soundness of the credit union. NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson, who recommended the enforcement of bylaws, said she believes it is important for credit union members to know there is an enforcement mechanism. "The issue is members want the bylaws to mean something and that there will be someone who will enforce them," said Johnson.

PLANO, Texas – Shareholders of Viewpoint Bank on Tuesday approved a $30 million pot of stock to be awarded under the new bank’s Equity Incentive Plan; then the former Community CU handed out almost $8 million worth of stock to 11 senior executives and directors, the largest pot ever awarded by a credit union-convert. The biggest winner was president and CEO Gary Base, who received 139,259 shares valued at $2.5 million; while four top executives received 45,196 shares worth $840,000; five directors got 16,243 shares worth $300,000; and chairman of the board James McCarley got 18,950 shares worth $350,000, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares vest in five equal installments over the next five years, but each insider owns voting rights and receives dividends for each of the shares immediately. The large stock awards come just a week after another CEO of a converted credit union, John Fiore of Synergy Financial Group (Synergy FCU) received almost $6 million for his stock when he sold his converted credit union for $180 million. Viewpoint Bank, known until January 2006 as Community CU, is the largest credit union to convert to savings bank and the fastest to cash in on the conversion. Shares in Viewpoint have soared more than 80% since debuting last October, and closed yesterday at $18.20.

WASHINGTON – The House last week once again approved a bill to create a new regulatory scheme for secondary mortgage market giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, but the measure has dubious prospects because of disapproval in the Senate. In fact, lobbyists were predicting the bill will die again, as it did in each of the last two congresses, because of insistence by the Bush administration that the regulator have full authority to require Fannie and Freddie to sell some of their huge mortgage holdings. Language included in the House bill would only allow the regulator to do so when issues of safety and soundness arise. The bill has little for credit unions, except one provision which would create an affordable housing fund–similar to the ones required by the FHLBs. But the Fannie and Freddie fund would provide as much as $3 billion to qualified projects, including those involving credit unions, over a five-year period.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Shares in ATM ISO TRM Corp. plunged 25% yesterday to below $2 each after the nation’s second largest independent operator of ATMs announced its CEO Jeffery Brotman is resigning following huge losses in fiscal 2006. The company, which provides 6,000 co-branded ATMs for the CO-OP Network, reported $120 million in losses for fiscal 2006, when it exited its once core copier rental business and shed its Canadian, British and German ATM operations. TRM said Richard Stern, its chief operating officer, will succeed Brotman, who took the reigns just last year. The company also announced that a director, Edward Cohen, is resigning from the board.

RESTON, Va. – Sallie Mae, under fire from the new Democratically controlled Congress for its student loan practices, said yesterday its president and CEO Thomas Fitzgerald has agreed to resign as the company is being taken private in a huge $25 billion takeover. Chief Financial Officer C.E. Andrews will replace Fitzpatrick. The departure of Fitzpatrick, just two years after he took the helm from Albert Lord, the man who privatized the former government sponsored enterprise, was an abrupt turnaround for the group that agreed to acquire the student loan giant, which said just last month that it intended to retain Sallie Mae's management, including its CEO. Fitzgerald’s exit comes amidst a major scandal in the student loan industry where lenders have conceded providing a variety of payments and financial perks to colleges in order to gain their implicit endorsement to student borrowers. In addition, the new Congress is proposing major cuts in the guaranteed student loan program that would affect lenders, Like Sallie Mae, the largest player in the $85 billion market. Sallie Mae is being taken private by a group that includes J.C. Flowers, a private hedge fund, and banking giants Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.

NEW YORK – BISYS Group Inc. , which is in the process of being acquired by Citigroup, has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that the company violated financial reporting and internal controls provisions of the securities laws, the Securities and Exchange Commission said yesterday. The SEC charged that, from July 2000 through December 2003, former BISYS officers and employees engaged in a variety of improper accounting practices that resulted in overstatement of the company's reported financial results for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2001, 2002, and 2003 by roughly $180 million. Bisys agreed to settle shareholder lawsuits over the same charges last October by paying shareholders $66 million. And last September, the company agreed to pay $21 million to settle separate SEC charges that it made illegal kickbacks to brokers that were recommending its mutual funds to customers. Bisys has agreed to be acquired for $12 a share, or $1.45 billion, by Citigroup, which will then sell the Bisys Insurance Services Group and Retirement Services to J.C. Flowers, a private equity fund that is acquiring Sallie Mae.

TAMPA, Fla. – MacDill FCU has become the latest credit union giant to join the credit union-owned CO-OP Network, the two entities said yesterday. Members of the $1.9 billion credit union will gain access to CO-OP’s 2,100 ATMs in Florida and 25,000 ATMs across the country. The MacDill deal is a direct result of CO-OP’s new Sarasota sales office, opened in 2005. MacDill joins other Tamp credit union giants as members of the CO-OP, including GTE FCU and Suncoast Schools FCU.

BALTIMORE – State Employees CU is awarding 10 college scholarships worth $28,000 to state employees who are members of the credit union and immediate family members. To be eligible, applicants must be enrolled or accepted to a college, university or trade or technical school. One $8,000 scholarship, five $2,000 scholarships and four $500 scholarships will be awarded based on the submissions of a 750-1,000 word essay on one of the following: how SEC can deepen its financial relationship with college students or state employees; the benefits of financial education in various stages of a person's education; and your favorite financial product or service and how that product or service helped you.

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke University FCU said it plans to combine two of its offices into a new headquarters, at the Wachovia Building. The new office will provide 18,000 square-feet of space for the $75 million credit union, which conducts 95% of its transactions electronically. The credit union has 16,500 members, who are Duke University staff, alumni, retirees and the families.

EL PASO, Texas – A city police officer spotted a robber casing El Paso Employees FCU Monday, then arrested him after he discovered the would-be thief was wanted for bank robbery in Tucson, Ariz. Officer Gabriel Peralta saw wanted man, identified as 53-year-old Nathan Brownstein, outside the credit union apparently casing the building for a potential hold-up, police said. Officer Peralta detained Brownstein for questioning and learned there was a warrant out for his arrest in Arizona.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – PSCU Financial Services announced yesterday that it won a judgement of more than $2.4 million form insurance giant AIG in a civil suit surrounding a data breach at some its credit union customers. PSCU, which was insured by AIG, sought the payout after it discovered a fraud ring had taken over 125 credit union accounts and stolen $1.6 million from them. The losses were initially covered by PSCU, which sought reimbursement from the insurer. The total award represents the losses, attorney fees and related costs.

ATLANTA – Internet security providers say they have discovered a stealthier version of the Russian Trojan called Gozi that has already stolen personal financial data from more than 2,000 home PCs, including credit union and bank account numbers, as well as credit card, Social Security and online payment account numbers and passwords. The new strain of Gozi, discovered by SecureWorks, the same firm that detected the original version, is programmed to steal information from encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) streams and send the stolen information to a server in Russia. The new version, however, includes an unseen ‘packer’ that encrypts, mangles, compresses and even deletes portions of the Trojan code to evade detection by standard, signature-based antivirus programs. The new version of Gozi also has a new keystroke-logging capability for stealing data, in addition to its ability to steal data from Ssl streams. The keystroke logger appears to be activated when the user of an infected computer visits a banking web site or initiates an SSL session. The original Gozi Trojan stole more than 10,000 records from more than 30 financial institutions, including two dozen credit unions, containing information belonging to more than 5,200 PCs, companies, government agencies and law enforcement organizations before being detected.