BOSTON – Postal Community CU has initiated a second attempt to convert to a mutual savings bank and submitted disclosures on the proposed bank switch to NCUA for its approval. The $135 million credit union tried before, but the effort was denied by state regulators, who were supported by the courts. Because there was no state law enabling a credit union to convert to bank, Postal Community sought to convert to a federally chartered savings bank, but the regulator quashed the bid because of no provision enabling the unusual charter switch. So at the behest of the credit union, the Massachusetts legislature passed law earlier this year allowing state chartered credit unions to convert to a state chartered mutual savings bank.

AMSTERDAM – Wolters Kluwer NV, the provider of a variety of systems and e-learning for financial institutions, said it has received bids from five entities, most of them private equity funds, for its education division. Bidders include Bridegepoint Capital, Vestar Capital, Wendel Investissement, French private equity fund, Pearson PLC and SanomaWSOY, of Finland. The company hopes to fetch as much as $930 million for the unit.

PORTLAND, Ore. – TRM Corp., the nation’s second-biggest independent operator of ATMs and a key credit union partner, has delayed the filing of its fourth quarter and annual reports while he struggles to account for a major restructuring. The company, which reported a massive $105 million third quarter loss as it wrote down major assets, said it requires additional time to complete its consolidated financial statements. Since its third quarter report, TRM has raised more than $100 million with the sale of half of its business, including ATM operations in Canada and the United Kingdom, and its former core business of copier rentals. TRM, which operates more than 17,000 ATMs in the U.S., provides about 6,000 machines for the CO-OP Network.

ALBANY, N.Y. – Leaders among the community development credit union movement joined other community development financial institution representatives yesterday at the state Capitol to press for creation of a state CDFI fund. The group met with state lawmakers who are debating creation of a New York CDFI fund, similar to the one at the national level which has pumped almost $1 billion into credit unions, banks and other CDFIs. New York, where the National Federation of CDCUs is based, is the center of the nation’s CDFI program, and yesterday’s rally was attended by representatives of CDCUs Alternatives FCU, Lower East Side People’s FCU, Neighborhood Trust FCU, as well as the National Federation of CDCUs and the New York CU League.

IOWA CITY – University of Iowa Community CU is trying to make the most of thousands of credit cards, checks, deposit slips, letterhead, envelopes and even signs with the wrong name on them by selling them to an interested credit union. The materials, all with the Optiva CU brand on them, were made superfluous after members voted in a special meeting earlier this month to recall the new name. The unprecedented member revolt the credit union holding the new materials just hours before the new name was scheduled to take effect. “We’ve talked to a couple of credit unions about buying the brand from us,” Jim Kelley, spokesman for the $525 million credit union, told The Credit Union Journal. The credit union spent about $250,000 to have Weber Marketing Group develop the Optiva CU brand and what could be an equivalent amount on the new materials.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The House Labor and Consumer Protection Committee approved a bill yesterday that will enact MasterCard’s and Visa’s credit card security rules as law and require parties responsible for a data breach to pay the costs for affected credit unions and other parties. The credit union-backed bill, seen as a model for a national law, must now be voted by at least two additional House committees. The bill would enact into law the Payment Card Industry data security standards which require, among other things, that merchants destroy credit card information after they have completed transactions. The vote came after two credit union CEOs, Bill Raker of US FCU and Lynn Kothe of North Memorial FCU, testified that the storing of customer data, in violation of the PCI rules, is the major cause of data breaches. The bill would also require retailers, cards processors and other found liable for data breaches to pay costs for reissuance of cards and customer/member notification. Raker told lawmakers the recent breach at TJ Maxx compromised 4,500 member accounts and cost his credit union $22,700 to reissue cards and another $47,000 in fraud-related losses.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Hostile takeover or market forces at work. Those views and others on the bid by Wings Financial FCU in Minnesota to merge with Continental FCU in California by going around the board and straight to members are part of comprehensive coverage in this week's Credit Union Journal. What do you think? What is the future of credit unions? Is your credit union in jeopardy? Readers are encouraged to take just one minute and click on the Letters to the Editor button in the left navigation bar of www.cujournal.com and share your thoughts.

WASHINGTON – A group pf members angry over the failed attempted to convert Lafayette FCU to mutual savings bank plans to unveil its petition today to recall the board for its support of the initiative. They plan to present a petition signed by 800 members asking for a special meeting where they hope to vote to remove the directors responsible for the ill-fated conversion. Credit union bylaws say the credit union is required to call a special meeting of members upon receipt of a petition signed by at least 750 members. The group plans to present its petition at the credit union’s branch in the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington. Members of the $325 million credit union narrowly approved conversion to mutual savings bank during a 90-day ballot but the credit union withdrew the vote after questions of impropriety arose.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Paul Kanjorski, who introduced the credit union regulatory bill just last week, underwent triple heart bypass surgery yesterday at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, one of the foremost hospitals for coronary surgery. The operation was routinely scheduled and not the result of a heart attack, according to Kanjorski’s office. The surgery was scheduled after a physical Feb. 12 at the Office of the Attending Physician at the U.S. Capitol revealed that coronary heart disease has caused significant narrowing of three arteries feeding the 69-year-old lawmaker’s heart. Kanjorski will be in the hospital’s intensive care unit for the next day or two, then is expected to spend a week in the hospital, before returning to work in mid-April, following the spring Congressional recess. Kanjorski, the chief sponsor of HR 1151, the landmark 1998 CU Membership Access Act, introduced legislation last week to reduce regulatory burden on credit unions. The CU Regulatory Improvements Act, or CURIA, increase the allowable limit for member business loans; would enact a risk-based capital system for credit unions; allow credit unions to retain their select groups after converting to community charters; allow all credit unions to add underserved areas and make it harder for credit unions to convert to mutual savings banks.

RICHARDSON, Texas - For members at Texans Credit Union, gone are the days of talking trash with their kids.

What's At Issue

MARCH

FISHERS, Ind. - Forum CU said it will pay $26,000 over the next three years to help renovate the Hall of Champions wings in Hamilton Southeastern's two high schools. School officials will work with Forum CU to determine what signs will be placed.

RICHARDSON, Texas - For members at Texans Credit Union, gone are the days of talking trash with their kids.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - State regulators are putting together regulations that would enable the return of the private deposit insurance options for state-chartered credit unions.

BOSTON, Mass. - Simple passwords for online banking security is passé, and now, a study by researchers at Harvard and MIT finds that a popular method where users are asked to select an image, such as a dog or chess piece, that they should see every time they log in to their account, also provides little protection from scammers. When the image doesn't appear, users are supposed to realize that the site may be fraudulent. The popular system is used by BofA, ING Direct and Vanguard, among others, including some credit unions. But when researchers tested the hypothesis using 67 BofA customers using computers where the images were removed, 58 keyed in their passwords anyway. Researchers said they could not recommend using the images as a protective measure against identity fraud.

FREDERICK, Md. - Police apologized and dropped bank robbery charges against a man they wrongfully charged with last August's robbery at Spectrum FCU. James Jones, 40, sat in jail for four months after he was identified by witnesses as the man seen robbing the credit union in a surveillance video. But Jones was released and the charges dropped after another man confessed to the crime.

We have an online training module but monitoring employees' use of it is becoming a full-time job. Is there a better way to prompt employees to complete online training?

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.

MILWAUKEE - Metavante Corporation announced the release of the first receivables lockbox processing solution from its Commercial Treasury Solutions division built on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform. This development is designed to extend the reach of the solution by lowering the total cost of ownership, enhancing performance and employing stricter security standards. Benefits of VICOR RIDS 9.0 include: