Minnesota League Names CEO

As DFCU Financial officials were preparing for the latest round in a suit against the credit union over its ill-fated conversion, CU officials announced they would issue one of the largest dividends in credit union history-$17.5 million.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Industry insiders know credit unions are frequently on the cutting edge of new technology, but a new report shows that CUs are spending as much as twice as much money on technology as mid-size banks.

Southwest Corporate FCU's new CEO is in a unique position to hit the ground running, having been with the $10-billion organization since 1992.

Valley FCU has contracted with SEDONA Corp. to implement the company's Intarsia member relationship management tool.

CUNA was out writing campaign contributions of $38,000 just days after the elections, having already spent more than $3.5 million on the mid-term elections.

BILLINGS, Mont. - Valley FCU has contracted with SEDONA Corp. to implement the company's Intarsia member relationship management tool.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State FCU may possibly have cornered the market on a multi-factor authentication tool that can save a CU $50,000 per year in user costs-because the credit union created it itself.

AUSTIN - With the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Committee's deadline for implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) looming, a series of hacking efforts that have managed to use the MFA movement against itself has some in the industry asking: is MFA really the answer to security issues?

NEW ORLEANS - ERF Wireless, a League City, Texas, start-up, said it has signed with the Louisiana State Police to build a $5 million statewide wireless broadband network that will be used by police and financial institutions for regular and disaster communications.

WASHINGTON - Vermont's Bernard Sanders, the leading advocate of credit unions in the House who was elected to the Senate last month, won't be serving on the Banking Committee, where he hoped to introduce the CU Regulatory Improvements Act. But Sanders, who has vowed to introduce CURIA in the early days of the 110th Congress, will still be able to champion the credit union cause in the Senate.

GRANTSVILLE, Utah - The former president of Grantsville FCU was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution for embezzling an estimated $120,000 from the credit union.

A new Filene Research Institute study offers tangible proof of the credit union difference, showing CU pricing to be consumer driven, while bank pricing is profit-driven.

The uproar over online fraud could be a boon to Internet banking, according to one credit union information technology (IT) manager here.

WASHINGTON - Prompted by the recent onslaught of natural disasters or emergencies and the massive dislocation they have caused, CUNA last week issued a national disaster preparedness plan for credit unions that coordinates responses to financial, communication and operational challenges that have resulted.

NEW YORK - United Nations FCU has purchased PortAuthority Technologies' Information Leak Prevention system to protect its confidential information and member data, the $1.3-billion credit union announced.

Vermont's Bernard Sanders, the leading advocate of credit unions in the House who was elected to the Senate last month, won't be serving on the Banking Committee, where he hoped to introduce the CU Regulatory Improvements Act. But Sanders, who has vowed to introduce CURIA in the early days of the 110th Congress, will still be able to champion the credit union cause in the Senate.

* NJ Gateway Federal Credit Union, South Brunswick Township, N.J., co-sponsored a project that donated 900 new Webster dictionaries to third grade students.

Tech Council Examines 'Under-Utilized' Technologies

The turnout was nothing to brag about-about 60 people showed up last month at the local library where a credit union here held its first online services exposition-but the good news was that members rushed the bill pay booth, spiking adoption rates, and learned a little bit more about navigating the Net.