ALEXANDRIA, Va. - NCUA has granted a charter to a new faith-based low-income credit union to serve parishioners of the New Covenant Christian Church and students of its affiliated parochial schools in the Bronx.

Hearings Senate banking, housing and urban affairs, April 11, will hold a hearing on "An Examination of the Availability and Affordability of Property and Casualty Insurance in the Gulf Coast and Other Coastal Regions."

12-month 12-month 12-month 12-month Net 12-month 5-year

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

JACKSONVILLE - Community First Credit Union of Florida hit the brakes on indirect auto lending, saying it will gladly forego up to $100 million in annual loan volume.

WHAT: Credit Union Journal's Business Development & SEG Conference

APRIL

1. CU* Answers-www.cuanswers.com

PONTIAC, Mich. - Three small Michigan credit unions are seeking to control their own destiny through a partnership with the aptly named Affinity Group CU here in the fulfillment of the "networked" credit union model.

NEEDHAM, Mass. - Credit unions have relied on the fact that banks tended not to be interested in smaller business loans, but that is beginning to change, according to new research by TowerGroup.

Adobe and Wolters Kluwer Team Up

Adobe and Wolters Kluwer Team Up

ROCKVILLE, Md. - MCT FCU has signed a three-year contract with PSCU Financial Services to implement the company's PayLynx online bill payment service. MCT FCU will convert its 3,500 online bill payment subscribers in May. The credit union has 58,000 members and $400 million in assets.

PENSACOLA, Fla. - PenAir FCU has signed a five-year processing agreement with PSCU Financial Services. The $740-million credit union will convert 16,000 credit card accounts from an in-house program to the CreditAbility platform in August.

MADISON, Wis. - The Networked CU model is a variation on a theme put forward by several CU executives and officials and organizations, but there doesn't seem to be a definitive copyright to it. It has evolved from the cooperative structure itself and passed through several iterations, including the formation of CUSOs, ATM and shared branching networks and remains fertile ground for further development. A recent Filene Study by researcher Steven C. Michael from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, looked into "strategic options other than mergers through which credit unions can fulfill the need" for economies of scale, and an earlier report by Bob Hoel and Bill Kelly in 1999 first examined the characteristics of thriving small credit unions, proposing a "number of strategic recommendations and options for small credit unions, among them a franchising system through which certain operations could be standardized."

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.

12-month 12-month 12-month 12-month Net 12-month 5-year

WASHINGTON - A new proposal to regulate the secondary mortgage market was passed by the House Financial Services Committee last week, for the third straight Congress.

What's the best way to increase employee productivity, improve member service and ensure that everyone is taking advantage of all the functionality of your core system and applications? The answer is a continuing education program. An ongoing training program not only helps to ensure high performance, it is a boost to morale.

Hearings Senate banking, housing and urban affairs, April 11, will hold a hearing on "An Examination of the Availability and Affordability of Property and Casualty Insurance in the Gulf Coast and Other Coastal Regions."