ENOLA, Pa. – AmeriChoice FCU said yesterday it has agreed to acquire a Pennsylvania State Bank branch here. The branch will replace an AmeriChoice branch in the local shopping center. The deal is scheduled to close on April 30, and the credit union plans to open at the new location on June 1.

DENVER – First Data Corp. announced yesterday it has signed a long-term licensing pact with PrivaSys Inc. that will enable First Data to process contactless and other emerging payments for financial institutions and other clients. By licensing the PrivaSys patents, First Data will be able to expand and develop its contactless product offerings and migrate quickly to other emerging payment offerings, such as mobile payments for debit, credit and stored value accounts. First Data is the parent of the STAR EFT network.

SHREVEPORT, La. – A branch manager of Shreveport FCU was arrested this week and charged with felony theft after confessing to stealing almost $300,000 from the credit union over a two-year period. Connie White was arrested after the president and CEO Hellen Godfrey-Smith contacted police about discrepancies uncovered in an internal audit.White worked for the $60 million credit union for 11 years.

BILLINGS, Mont. – Valley FCU announced it signed a 10-year, $80,000 agreement to put its logo and advertising messages at MetraPark, the local venue for sports events. Under the deal, Valley FCU logos, each up to 100 square feet, will appear on the basketball floor. Previously, the floor has featured only the MetraPark name. Credit unions logos will also appear on street signs surrounding the sports arena. The credit union is the second local company to sign a multiyear ad contract with MetraPark and Daktronics Inc., which manufactures and markets electronic advertising equipment that will be used inside and outside the sports and entertainment facility.

ST. CHARLES, Ill. – A teller was charged with complicity in last year’s armed robbery of $38,000 from Corporate America FCU here. Crystal Bass, 22, was arrested by FBI agents at her home Monday after being charged by a federal grand jury of conspiracy with three others in the June 1 hold-up. Also charged in the case are: Joshua Hreha, 21, Steven Ross, 21, and Brian Nelsen, 22.

ALBANY, N.Y. – Taking advantage of a new federal law, SEFCU will introduce check cashing and money orders for non-members next month. The credit union, formerly State Employees FCU, will charge a fee of 1% of the check and $1 per money order, about half the going-rate for these services. The program, called Check Advantage, will be available at two SEFCU branches. The service to non-members with a credit union’s field of membership was allowed by last year’s regulatory relief bill.

ELGIN, Ill. – Lending Solutions said yesterday that three credit unions, Associated Healthcare CU, KC Police CU and Eastern New York FCU, have contracted for its WebClose service. WebClose is an interactive online service designed to optimize the online lending process. After approval of an online loan, an additional window appears on the member’s screen and invites the member for an online chat to confirm the rate, terms and payment of the loan. The service also enables staff members to cross-sell other products and services to the member.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Navigating through financial turbulence, officials of Continental FCU unveiled a plan yesterday to reverse the credit union’s declining financial profile and fend off a hostile takeover from fellow air transport credit union Wings Financial FCU. The news came after the $1.6 billion Wings Financial asserted it will press on with its attempt to acquire the much smaller credit union, and insisted Continental members would be better served as part of the much larger institution, even as the Continental board rejected a merger proposal from Wings Financial a fourth time. Thomas Glatt, president of the embattled $176 million credit union, acknowledged his credit union’s declining financials–assets, loans, shares and net income all declined last year and the credit union has lost 21% of its members over the past five years–but insisted Continental, like its corporate sponsor, has a turn-around plan. The plan includes last August’s roll-out of a full service securities brokerage under the aegis of XCU Capital; the pending addition of more than 4,000 branches by joining Financial Services Centers Cooperative, and yesterday’s initiation of 20,000 new ATMs as part of the CU24 network., to go with the 25,000 ATMs already available as part of CO-OP Financial Services. In addition, Continental FCU plans to open a new branch, its sixth, in Houston, and is negotiating for an additional branch at Philadelphia International Airport. That’s how Continental plans to use some of its 17% of accumulated capital, amounting $30 million–targeted by Wings Financial. “We don’t want to talk to the past,” Glatt told The Credit Union Journal, of the credit union’s deteriorating financials of the past five years, “We want to talk to the future.” Glatt, the well-known credit union consultant who took the pilot’s seat at Continental on August 1, also noted that since both credit unions have TIP charters serving the entire air transport industry, Continental members are already fee to join Wings Financial if they want.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – The Board of Continental FCU voted a third time yesterday against a proposed acquisition by Wings Financial FCU, rejecting the $1.6 billion credit union’s latest hostile bid by a 7-0 vote. The Wings proposal “clearly does not bring any compelling value to our membership,” said Allan Cooper, chairman of the Continental board. “The dilution of our members’ independent voice, the risks associated with this proposal and its questionable value proposition led us to determine that Wings Financial’s proposal is not in our members’ best interests.” Wings Financial, formerly known as Northwest Airlines FCU, submitted its fourth unsolicited merger proposal in the last 18 months on March 9 in a letter to the board of the $176-million credit union. At the same time, the much larger credit union began to solicit members of Continental FCU on behalf of its proposal, offering members a $200 apiece payment, initiating the first hostile takeover bid of a natural person credit union. Wings officials even went so far as to visit Continental FCU’s branches and Continental Airlines terminals at Los Angeles International Airport and Newark International Airport to solicit members for their proposal.

PASADENA, Calif.-- Wescom CU announced yesterday its Wescom Insurance Services CUSO of Wescom Credit Union, has acquired the Grentner & Litzinger Insurance Agency, a property and casualty company in nearby La Palma, Calif. G&L Insurance, which offers auto and home insurance products, will continue to operate out of its current offices. The deal represents the third insurance acquisition for the $3.5 billion credit union over the past three years, following acquisitions of the Lopez Insurance Agency, Inc. and Hallmark Insurance.

ALBURQUEQUE, N.M. – The CU Association of New Mexico said yesterday it has signed a co-branding deal with PAYjr for the company’s youth financial education program. Under the deal, the state league will offer a PAYjr CU Succeed Prepaid Card that allows parents to program allowances and rewards for their teenagers. The card allows parents to track and manage their teenagers’ expenses and spending. The PAYjr system also allows text messaging and email notifications to keep parents and teens aware of card activity, including balances and loads to the card. Parents can also use the PAYjr program to assign, manage and track household activities and to track money earned by their children.

EAST CHICAGO – Prosecutors brought new theft charges against a former teller at Advance Financial CU after the woman rejected a plea deal that would have saved her jail time. The deal would have sentenced Kathryn Bernacet, 41, charged with stealing $25,000 from the credit union, to a year of probation and $10,000 restitution. After rejection of the offer, prosecutors charged Bernacet with stealing $1,200 in 2003 from Fifth Third Bank, where she formerly worked.

PHOENIX– Arizona FCU said yesterday it has contracted with USERS’ Maestro Projects Group for a multi-phased business process improvement project. The Maestro Projects Group provides integration and business process management services that seek to help credit unions make better use of the technology solutions they already have in place in order to generate greater efficiencies. During phase 1, Maestro will integrate the many third-party applications the $1.6 billion uses during account enrollment, including functions such as OFAC identity checking, social security number verification, postal address verification and retail credit history checking. During phase 2, Maestro will standardize Arizona's process for setting up employee authorizations on the core system, which will boost security. The credit union has more than 700 employees. USERS is a unit of Fiserv.

PEORIA, Ill. – Citizens Equity First CU said yesterday it has signed to move processing for $80 million credit and debit card portfolio to PSCU Financial Services. The deal calls for the $3.1 billion credit union to convert its 97,000 signature debit, 110 PIN debit and 45,000 credit card accounts to PSCU’s CreditAbility and DebvitAdvantage programs in 2008. CEFCU has 229,000 members and is the second largest credit union in Illinois.

WASHINGTON – Federal authorities are tracing a new virus, traced to Russia, that has stolen PIN and identifying information and other personal data from thousands of credit union and bank accounts. The malware, a Trojan named Gozi, embeds itself in personal computer files after a user has visited vulnerable websites, then downloads the users personal information on a server located in St. Petersburg, Russia, according to Don Jackson, a researcher for SecureWorks, who discovered the virus. The information is then being sold over the Internet to individuals to access accounts and other purposes, Jackson told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. So far, more than 10,000 accounts at over 30 financial institutions, including as many as two dozen credit unions, have been compromised by the Trojan. “These are real conservative estimates,” he said. SecureWorks has notified law enforcement agencies and is working with them shut down the operation. The subscription service selling the stolen data was disabled on March 12, however, the server hosting the data is still receiving stolen information. Account and login information from more than 300 companies and organizations was stolen through the infected home PCs.

WASHINGTON – Lawyers representing Wings Financial FCU are downplaying connections between their powerhouse Washington lawfirm, Venable LLP, and the banking lobby, even as Venable represents the thrift lobby’s America’s Community Bankers and ACB’s vehement anti-credit union President Diane Casey-Landry is married to a Venable partner. Wings, which is pursuing Continental FCU in one of credit unions’ first hostile takeovers, is being represented by well-known credit union attorneys Bill Donovan and Bruce Jolly. “Our firm is representing Wings and I am working on the Wings matter,” Donovan, long-time NAFCU lobbyist, told The Credit Union Journal. But Donovan denied his firm’s role had anything to do with its work for the banking industry, noting it represented credit unions banks and many corporations all over the country.

WASHINGTON – CUNA reported yesterday it contributed $200,000 to members of Congress last month, almost half of it to key players who will influence debate over the newly introduced CU Regulatory Improvements Act, better known as CURIA. CUNA made the maximum allowable $10,000 contribution to Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee; to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, as well as $5,000 to Pelosi’s leadership PAC, known as PAC to the Future; and to House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina. Also, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland received $2,500 and House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio received $5,000. CUNA also contributed $51,000 to a variety of leadership PACs, including $5,000 to Pelosi’s PAC and to Citizens for Action PAC (Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa.); Battle Born PAC (Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.); RAD PAC (George Radanovich, R-Calif.); Eureka PAC (Ken Calvert, R-Calif.); Mary’s PAC (Mary Bono, R-Calif.); KING PAC (Peter King, R-N.Y.); Searchlight Leadership Fund (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Congressional Black Caucus PAC; Bluegrass Committee; and $1,000 to TOM PAC (Tom Davis, R-Va.).

WASHINGTON – Members of Lafayette FCU proceeded yesterday with their initiative to recall the board of the $330 million credit union for trying to convert the institution to a mutual savings bank. “We think the board hasn’t represented the fiduciary interest of the members,” said Amber Brooks, one of the members, of the petition containing 821 member names presented to the the manager of the credit union’s Ronald Reagan Federal Building branch. The petition asks the credit union to call a special meeting where members would vote the recall of seven of the nine members remaining who voted for the ill-fated conversion (two directors have resigned since then). The vote to convert to a mutual savings bank won by a narrow margin, but credit union officials withdraw their petition to convert charters after improprieties in the 90-day ballot were discovered. The voting process is currently being investigated by NCUA. Credit union officials would not return phone calls seeks comment.

CHULA VISTA, Calif. – Once-volunteer directors of First PacTrust Bancorp, formerly known as Pacific Trust FCU, had got healthy stock awards in 2006, pushing up their annual compensation for work they once performed for free. The bank directors, who converted the credit union to mutual savings bank in 2000, earned an average of $77,000 in board fees and stock last year, according to a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Topping the list was Alvin Majors, former comptroller at the credit union sponsor Rohr, Inc., who has served on the board since 1985. The 66-year-old Majors, chairman of the board, earned $81,513 last year, including $62,601 in stock awards, $3,046 in dividends on that stock, and $15,867 in directors’ fees. Other non-management directors and their compensation are: Kenneth Scholz ($77,647); Francis Burke ($76,180); Donald Purdy ($76,713) and Donald Whiteacre ($75,047). Burke, 67, and Purdy, 75, are also Rohr retirees. Each of the former volunteer credit union directors have built up significant stock holdings in the ex-credit union, with Majors holding $2 million in First PacTrust shares; Scholz $1.9 million; Burke $1.9 million; Purdy $1.9 million and Whiteacre $1.7 million. CEO Hans Ganz, who engineered the credit union-to-bank shift, has accumulated 211,472 shares valued at $5.6 million.

WASHINGTON – This week’s surgery for Pennsylvania Congressman Paul Kanjorski will slow down progress on the newly introduced CU Regulatory Improvements Act, as congressional rules require the author of any bill to personally approve the addition of any co-sponsors to his measure, credit union lobbyists concurred yesterday. Kanjorski, the chief sponsor of both CURIA and of HR 1151, the landmark 1998 CU Membership Access Act, is recovering in a Boston hospital after successful triple heart bypass surgery. As a result, the more than 100 other House members who signed on to the bill in the last Congress will have to wait for Kanjorski’s expected return to work, after the April congressional recess, to add their names to the bill, according to CUNA President Dan Mica. Eleven other House members have signed on to the initial bill as co-sponsors, including Kanajorski’s partner on HR 1151, Steve LaTourette, of Ohio, and New York’s Carolyn Maloney, chairman of the Financial Institutions Subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee, where the bill will originate. The bill would: enact a risk-based capital system for credit unions; increase the limit on member business loans and make it tougher for credit unions to convert to mutual savings banks, among other things.