MADISON, Wis. – A self-admitted heroin addict and drug dealer was sentenced to six years in prison Monday for her role in nine armed robberies, including two at Great Wisconsin CU. Amanda Green, 26, told the judge she became a heroin addict at 18, then turned to selling the drug, before moving on to the more lucrative business of robbing banks and credit unions to finance her drug habit. Green faced a much longer prison term but was granted leniency for testifying against her boyfriend and accomplice, Jeffrey Dempsey.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Polish & Slavic FCU, which has been beset by political turmoil for the past eight years, said yesterday it has hired Bogdan Chmielewski, a former branch manager, as its new president and CEO. Chmielewski, 42, was most recently a vice president at HSBC where he was responsible for the bank’s business in northern Brooklyn, and was a PSFCU branch manager for nine years before that. Chmielewski replaces Alicja Malecka, who was fired from the $1.1 billion credit union in early February. Polish & Slavic has weathered various political upheavals in recent years and was run under conservatorship by NCUA from 1999 to 2001.

ATLANTA – S1 Corp., the provider of enterprise and ATM solutions, said yesterday it earned a profit of $3 million, or five cents a share, for its fiscal first quarter, as revenues climbed a strong 9%. That compares to a loss of $440,000, or a penny share, for the first quarter last year. In addition, the company announced plans to buy back up to $30 million of its shares.

MONETT, Mo. – Jack Henry & Associates Inc., one of the few surviving independent credit union vendors, said yesterday that profits for its fiscal third quarter rose 12% on strong sales in its support and service division. Net income for the third quarter was $26.4 million, or 29 cents a share, up from $23.5 million, or 25 cents a share, for the third quarter last year. Revenues rose a strong 16% to $168.9 million, compared to last year’s third quarter. For the first three quarters of its fiscal year, Jack Henry reported a 13% rise in revenues to $429.9 million, and a 17% increase in net income to $75.6 million, or 82 cents a share, compared to the first nine months last year.

DENVER – Top executives at both First Data and Western Union pretty much doubled their money with last October’s spin-off of the world’s largest money transmitter. While executives and other shareholders of First Data received Western Union shares in the spin-off, First Data agreed to issue one option for Western Union shares for every option of First Data share–reaping tens of millions in additional compensation for top executives, according to both companies’ annual proxy statements. And while the exercise price for Western Union options was set at $19.13, the company issued millions of options to long-term executives for as little $6.09. Michael Whealy, First Data’s general counsel who had been with the company since 1992, was granted 40,000 options at $6.09, and almost one million options to be exercised at various prices up to $18.25, worth millions of dollars at Monday’s closing price of $21.55. First Data CEO Henry ‘Ric’ Duques also received more than one million Western Union options, as did Ed Labry, head of commercial services. As a result of the spin-off, the executives also hold an equivalent number of First Data options, valued at tens of millions of dollars as a result of the agreement to sell the company to private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $34 a share. Duques, who earned $96.2 million last year on his First Data options, still holds more than one million First Data options worth more than $20 million.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA reported yesterday it awarded three low-interest loans totaling $475,000 last month from its Community Development Revolving Loan Fund. The 1% loans went to: Consumer’s FCU, Gregory, S.D. ($200,000); Pacific Hawaii FCU, Honolulu ($200,000) and Renaissance Community Development FCU, Somerset, N.J. ($75,000). NCUA has made four loans totaling $645,000 from the fund so far this year.

CHICAGO – Fitch Ratings said yesterday it affirmed the long-term Issuer Default Rating of Members United Corporate FCU at ‘AA-‘, following its proposed acquisition of Central CU Fund, and expects to upgrade the smaller corporate’s investment ratings after the combination. The long-term IDR rating for the $260 million Massachusetts corporate of ‘A’ had been placed on rating watch positive and Fitch expects the ratings to be upgraded to be aligned with the $11 billion Memebrs United’s current rating after the merger. Fitch’s outlook reflects the fact the Central CU Fund, the nation’s oldest corporate, will become part of a much larger and more diverse institution. Fitch views the integration risk as modest given the size of the transaction and Members United’s track record of successful mergers, referring to last year’s combination of Mid-State Corporate FCU and Empire Corporate FCU creating Members United.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. Central Corporate CU said yesterday it will pay a refund of $20 million in Member Capital Share Deposit accounts on July 1. CenCorp is reducing the mandatory MCSD for individual members to the lesser of 0.7% of year-end assets or $700,000, from the current 0.8% of assets or $800,000. The current rate paid on MCSDs at the $2.6 billion corporate is 6%.

EL PASO, Texas – Six families will compete against each other to be the best savers–with up to $30,000 in prizes to be awarded by Government Employees CU. The contest, aimed at teaching financial literacy, reducing family debt and promoting financial responsibility, will award $10,000 to each of the two families who save the most and $2,500 to each of the other participants. The families are being featured on local television ads and on the GECU web site and newsletters. The families were selected from about 100 applicants and each given financial ‘coaches’ by GECU, who are helping them set goals and monitor their progress. The contest began on New Year’s Day and will run until November 30. Winners will be announced in December.

WAYCROSS, Ga. – The second-step conversion of ex-credit union Atlantic Coast Federal Bank could reap as much as $1 million in underwriting fees for investment bank Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., adding to millions of fees already earned by the company for selling stock in former credit unions. The former Atlantic Coast FCU announced this week it will follow up its October 2004 limited initial public offering by selling a majority stake to the public–a two-step conversion that could yield in excess of $120 million. Friedman, Billings earned $580,000 from the 2004 IPO, in which just 36% of the converted credit union was sold to the public and a mutual holding company retained a controlling 64% stake–which it plans to sell now. At the traditional 1% commission, the two-step offering could yield as much as $1.2 million in fees for the investment bank. “The reason that they want to make the mutual holding company a fully stock company is there’s a whole lot more money to be made. It’s a second trip to the well,” said Steven Bisker, a Virginia attorney who has fought credit union conversions. Friedman, Billings is just one of several investment banks that have earned millions of dollars by serving a multitude of functions for credit union converts. One Wall Street bank, Sandler O’Neill, for example, has not only advised credit unions on the switch to bank, but earned fees underwriting one IPO, then traded millions of dollars in stock in former credit unions. The company’s Sandler O’Neill Asset Management unit is one of the biggest shareholders in First PacTrust Bancorp, (once Pacific Trust FCU) with stock valued at $4.2 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Keefe Bruyette & Woods, another Wall Street bank, has earned more than $6 million in fees from underwriting deals for converted credit unions, including $1.2 million for last October’s hugely successful IPO for Viewpoint Bank, known until January 2006 as Community CU. KBF is also expected to be the underwriter for the IPO of OmniAmerican Bank (OmniAmerica CU), to come to market any day and expected to raise more than $100 million.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – PSCU Financial Services said yesterday it has signed with CheckFree Corp. to offer the company’s Web for Small Business electronic bill payment, invoicing and accounts receivable service for small business members. The new version builds on CheckFree Web electronic billing and payment service. PSCU expects to pilot the new service in August.

PEMBROK PINES, Fla. – Power Financial CU announced yesterday it has added five more of its Miami-Dade county branches to the CU Service Centers shared branch network, making a total of its 10 branches on the grid. Members of other credit unions need only their account numbers and a valid government photo ID to use their branches. Power Financial, a $550 million credit union, was formed earlier this year by the merger of Power 1 FCU with Pan Am Horizons FCU.

IOWA CITY -- The University of Iowa Community CU has pledged $52,500 to the University of Iowa Foundation to establish 10 scholarships. At the credit union’s direction, the foundation will award 10 annual $1,000 scholarships to students from the credit union’s service area, comprised of 14 surrounding counties. At least three of the scholarships will be awarded to help fulfill the University of Iowa's commitment to diversity

SAN DIEGO – San Diego Metropolitan CU said yesterday it has selected TFactor’s KnowledgePortal360 program to provide online compliance and service training for its employees. KnowledgePortal360 will allow the $300 million credit union to build e-Learning content, develop surveys, distribute content over a secure Internet connection, and manage e-Learning and traditional classroom training. TFactor is based in Las Vegas.

SPOKANE, Wash. – Numerica CU announced yesterday it has signed a three-year contract with TraceSecurity to provide it with data protection and online compliance services. Under the contract, the $650 million credit union will use TraceSecurity’s Compliance Manager software; TraceTunnel, an encryption tool for TCP/ISP services; and TraceSecurity’s penetration testing, vulnerability and security training services. Numerica CU also hired TraceSecurity to perform its ‘social engineering’ service, in which the company attempts to gain unauthorized access to restricted areas and classified information to determine vulnerability of online data.

WAYCROSS, Ga. – Atlantic Coast Bank, the former Atlantic Coast FCU, announced yesterday it is leaving behind its mutually controlled format and becoming a fully public company. The former credit union is currently 64% owned by a mutual holding company and plans to raise millions of dollars of new capital with the sale of enough shares to put the majority of shares in public hands, the company reported yesterday. The second step of the so-called two-step conversion must be approved by federal regulators at the Office of Thrift Supervision and by the company’s shareholders, which are controlled by the management by virtue of the mutual holding company structure. The ex-credit union was chartered in 1939 to serve employees of Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, then converted to mutual savings banks in November 2000, before floating 36% of the stock in an initial public offering in October 2004 that raised more than $50 million. The credit union convert said it will give its depositors first chance to buy the new shares. Atlantic Coast’s shares traded up almost 3% yesterday to close at $19.72, almost twice the IPO price.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Payment Alliance International, a provider of ATM and transaction services, announced it has agreed to acquire control over 8,500 ATMs from NetBank Payment Systems, creating one of the nation’s largest ATM networks. The $18 million deal give PAI management over almost 9,000 ATMs, which it will be marketing to credit unions and banks and other providers of financial transactions. Tremont Capital Group of Boston, a leading consultant in the ATM market, advised PAI on the deal. John Jackson, a spokesman at PAI, told The Credit Union Journal yesterday the company hopes to build a national brand out of its ATM network and is looking at other acquisitions, as well. Among the possible targets are TRM Corp., the Portland, Ore., the financially troubled operator of 15,000 ATMs—including 6,000 on the CO-OP Financial Services network. Jackson would not comment on the possibility of a merger with TRM. NetBank, one of the first virtual banks, acquired the ATMs after its management realized that it needed a physical presence to expand its market.

TAMPA, Fla. – INVEST Financial Corp., a unit of Jackson National Life Insurance, announced yesterday it has acquired the institutional securities contracts of PFIC Securities Corp., a unit of Morgan Keegan & Co. The deal gives INVEST access to 57 banks and credit union giant Lockheed FCU, which accounts for more than 20% of the PFIC contracts. INVEST, which already serves 10 credit unions, hopes to use the Morgan Keegan contracts as leverage for more credit union business, according to Andrew Silver, a spokesman for the company. “We see this market as a growth opportunity for INVEST,” he told The Credit Union Journal yesterday.

FT. JACKSON, S.C. – AllSouth FCU announced it has signed with Wal-Mart Stores to open branches in four Wal-Mart Supercenters this year. The branches will be in Batesburg-Leesville, Sumter, Camden and on Platt Springs Road. The $375 million credit union serves residents of eight local counties.

PURCHASE, N.Y. – Consumers will be able to pay for small purchases with the flick of a wrist with new technology launched by MasterCard Worldwide yesterday; a wristwatch equipped with the company’s PayPass contactless technology. Under the pilot program, conducted with Turkey’s Garanti Bank, users can make payments by passing their watches by an RFID reader at 600 locations in Turkey, including major names like Burger King, Starbucks, Cinebonus, the Istanbul Ferry and the airport. The PayPass watch will allow users to make purchases under 15 euros ($18), with no signature or PIN required. Larger purchases will still require a signature under the pilot. The launch follows MasterCard’s introduction of the first wristwatch equipped with PayPass in Asia, to coincide with the 2006 World Cup of soccer in Germany.