ONTARIO, Calif. – CO-OP Financial Services announced yesterday it extended its long-term relationship with EFD, known until last month as eFunds Corp. The deal calls for EFD to processing transactions over the CO-OP network, including ATM access, ATM processing, debit/credit card services and shared branching. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

WALL STREET – A British couple is being investigated for insider trading in a number of recent takeover deals, including the $1.7 billion acquisition of John. H. Harland Co. by M&F Worldwide. A federal judge froze $5.3 million in assets of Sunil and Seema Sehgal last week after the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the husband and wife of insider trading in options to buy shares of TXU Corp., just before the Texas utility agreed to a takeover by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. last month. The SEC said it is investigating the Sehgals and other investors for suspicious trading in the options or stock of several other merger candidates, including John H. Harland, Caremark Rx and Hydril Co.

NEW YORK – Wall Street analysts were predicting yesterday that private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. will quickly break up First Data Corp. and sell off its parts soon after the $29 billion takeover of the payments processor is completed. One report predicted that KKR would sell First Data’s Institutional Services unit, even listing the potential buyers, General Electric or Citigroup; then break up First data’s Chase/Paymentech joint venture. First Data’s STAR electronic funds transfer network is another candidate for sale, said several reports. Analysts said First Data, which itself spun off its Western Union unit just five months ago, may be worth more in parts, than as a whole. After completion of the KKR deal, Henry ‘Ric’ Duques, who came out of retirement two years ago to head First Data, said he will retire, again. KKR has agreed to acquire First Data for $34 a share, a 26% premium over its Friday trading price , in one of the largest going-private deal ever. The First Data acquisition is one of $100 billion worth of deals pending for the buyout giant.

MILWAUKEE – Marshall & Ilsley is nearing a deal with private equity firm Warburg Pincus to spin-off its Metavante back-office services provider and take the unit public in a so-called ‘sponsored spin’. Under the deal, Marshall & Ilsley, the regional bank holding company, would spin off Metavante to its shareholders in a tax-free transaction, with Warburg Pincus paying cash for a minority state in the newly public firm. Metavante a offers check processing, electronic payments and ATM services through a conglomeration of services providers it accumulated over the past five years, including NYCE, Advanced Financial Services, NuEdge Systems, Response Data and Kirchman Corp. It is also owner of one of four competing electronic image/check networks, known as Endpoint Exchange. The deal is expected to be announced in the next few days.

TOMS RIVER, N.J. – First Financial FCU said yesterday it has moved its credit card processing to TNB Card Services. The $180 million credit union converted 5,400 cardholder accounts to TNB. TNB is a unit of credit union-owned Town North National Bank.

LA HABRA, Calif. – South Western FCU announced yesterday it has signed with SecureWave to implement the company’s Sanctuary endpoint security software. Sanctuary safeguards against unknown viruses, worms and Trojans and data theft, as well as information leakage. The system will helps the $172 million credit union develop a ‘white list’ of devices that are allowed to run on corporate PCs, laptops and servers. Any media not on the list is simply denied by default. SecureWave is based in Herndon, Va.

VIENNA, Va. – Navy FCU said yesterday it has selected iDashboard’s business intelligence software to allow its employees to view key performance indicators in real-time. iDashboards is a dashboard application that helps improve operational efficiency and customer service. Navy FCU plans to have 100 dashboards in production by the end of the year, and ultimately hopes to have at least one dashboard created for each of its 5,000-plus employees.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – PSCU Financial Services, the credit union-owned provider of payments processing, announced a $25.8 million payout to its member credit unions yesterday, the largest dividend payment in credit union history. This year’s payout s 13% more than last year’s $22.9 million, the previous record. The CUSO said $9.8 million of this year’s dividend will be paid immediately in cash, and the rest at a later date. PSCU, which was founded in 1976, added 900,000 new accounts last year and increased revenues by 8%.

RALEIGH, N.C. – State Employees’ CU Foundation yesterday announced the renewal of its ‘People Helping People’ program, the largest credit union scholarship program in the nation. The three-year-old program provides a $10,000, four-year college scholarship to a graduating senior form every one of the state’s traditional public high schools and two charter high schools to help pay tuition at school in the University of North Carolina System. The program has already provided $7 million in scholarships since its 2004 inception, and will top $10 million in the latest round. The scholarships are funded solely by SECU members, who have agreed to route their $1 monthly checking fee to the $14 million credit union’s charitable Foundation.

HOUSTON – Cardtronics, the world’s largest operator of ATMs, reported yesterday that an additional analysis of its books caused it to reduce net income by $200,000 for both the fourth quarter and fiscal 2006, pushing it deeper into the red. The analysis resulted in a $200,000 increase in the company’s income tax provision for the fourth quarter, and certain reclassifications of deferred assets and liabilities. As a result, Cardtronics reported a $2.2 million profit for the fourth quarter and a $531,000 loss for the fiscal year. Cardtronics is the operator of more than 25,000 ATMs and the owner of Allpoint network, the surcharge-free network popular with credit unions.

ATLANTA – E-payments provider CheckFree Corp. announced yesterday it has completed its $206 million acquisition of Carreker Corp., the Dallas-based provider of ACH servcies and financial institution consulting. Completion of the deal comes as CheckFree is working to finalize the acquisition of Corillian Corp., the provider of online banking services for credit unions and banks, for $245 million. The two acquisitions represent a broadening of services fo CheckFree, which has focused on electronic bill payment and presentment until now.

DENVER – Yesterday’s agreement by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. to acquire First Data Corp. includes a 50-day ‘go-shop’ provision that will allow the giant payments processor to shop for a better deal than the $34-a-share, $29 billion takeover. This kind of ‘go-shop’ clause is being used increasingly to deflect shareholder criticism that companies are agreeing to buyouts without holding auctions to get the highest price. After that period, First Data is subject to a ‘no-shop’ provision, which restricts its ability to solicit, discuss or negotiate competing proposals, according to proxy materials filed yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the huge deal. Over the last two months, KKR, the buyout firm immortalized in the best-selling book and movie ‘Barbarians at the Gate,’ has embarked on an orgy of deal-making totaling more than $100 billion. Just last month the firm completed a deal that will rank among the largest buyouts ever, a $45 billion acquisition of Texas Utilities. Also pending are KKR deals for Dollar General Corp., Laureate Education Inc., and last week the company and Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina increased their bid for Alliance Boots Plc, the largest U.K. drugstore chain, to 10.1 billion pounds ($20 billion). If the First Data deal is scotched, First Data could be required to pay KKR a $700 million break-up fee, a typical part of corporate acquisitions, but unusually large. KKR, the recognized leader in corporate takeovers, has provided First Data with comprehensive financing arrangements to complete the deal. First Data has been restructured several times since its spin-off from American Express in 1992. Originally a processor of transactions, the company acquired two major electronic funds networks, STAR and NYCE, three years ago (an antitrust settlement with the Justice Department forced it to sell off most of NYCE). Prior to that First Data acquired the venerable Western Union brand and rebuilt it into the world’s largest international money transfer provider, before spinning Western Union off again last November.

WALL STREET – Speculators pushed credit union outsourcing stocks higher yesterday after the latest deal for a credit union vendor, the proposed $29 billion takeover of First Data Corp. by leveraged buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Stock that had been boosted by recent takeovers of credit union outsourcers, continued to move higher, with Fidelity National Information rising 4% to close at $47.35; Global Payments rising 5% to $35.88; Fiserv moving 2% higher to $53.94 and Jack Henry & Associates moving slightly higher to $24 a share. These stocks have moved near all-time highs in recent weeks as numerous competitors in the back-office market for financial services have been taken over, including Open Solutions Inc., Digital Insight Corp., John H. Harland Co., PHH Corp. and Corillian Corp. Ever since the takeover mania began six months ago, investors have been speculating which company would fall prey next. Shares in First Data soared 26% yesterday after announcement of the KKR deal, to close at $32.45, still less than the $34-a-share offer from the famous buyout firm.

DENVER – First Data Corp., the giant payments processor, announced this morning it has agreed to be acquired by leveraged buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $29 billion. First Data, which owns and operates the STAR payment network, serves 4.9 million businesses and 1,900 card issuers. First Data, which spun off its Western Union remittance operations just four months ago, was itself spun off from American Express in 1992. Terms of the deal call for the giant buyout firm to pay $34 a share for First Data, a 26% premium over Friday’s closing price of $26.90. KKR, which is in the process of completing the largest buyout ever, the $45 billion takeover of Texas energy giant TXU, was the focus of a best-selling book called ‘Barbarians at the Gate,’ chronicling its $31 billion acquisition of RJR Nabisco. The takeover of First Data follows other recent takeovers of major credit union outsourcers, including Open Solutions, Digital Insight, John H. Harland Co., PHH Corp. and Corillian Corp.

LAS VEGAS - Small Business Administration loans bulk up a credit union's bottom line, according to an executive with Mountain America Credit Union.

Throughout 2007, the Credit Union Journal, in conjunction with ENCORE Card Services, are profiling the credit unions of each U.S. state and D.C. Rather than appear in alphabetical order, the states are being featured in the order they became states. For info: visit www.encore-ecs.coop.

Security Service FCU, San Antonio, Texas, promoted Natalie Garza to Culebra branch manager.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - The role the Internet plays in the communication strategy and distribution of services to investment clients at credit unions and banks was discussed at a panel as part of the Bank Insurance & Securities meeting here.

1. CU* Answers-www.cuanswers.com

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