NEW YORK – U.S. Bancorp said yesterday its U.S. Bank unit, one of the largest bank’s in the country, has begun exchanging check and item images over the SVPCO Image Payments Network. U.S. Bank is the 17th large bank to join network, which reported 99 million check images exchanged in October. U.S. Bank is linked to the network by a direct connection through a dedicated Distribution Traffic Agent, one of several connectivity options to the network. Other participants in the network includes its owners Bank of America, Bank of New York, Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BB&T, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, PNC, Wachovia and Keybank.

DEARBORN, Mich. – Members fighting the failed conversion to mutual savings bank at DFCU Financial expect to put forward as many as seven candidates for the three vacancies on the credit union board, giving the opponents a potential foothold on the panel. The candidates put forward by the self-styled DFCU Owners United include Linda Malec, a leader of the group who once served as chairman of the credit union, when it was known as Dearborn FCU. The group’s candidates will be running against three candidates endorsed by the board’s nominating committee. The election will be held Feb. 15. In the meantime, the group is asking a state court to enforce the credit union’s bylaws and call a special meeting where members can vote whether to throw out the remaining directors who voted for the ill-fated conversion to bank.

ONTARIO, Calif. – CO-OP Financial Services rolled out full check imaging at the ATM yesterday. The system will allow credit union members to make no-envelope deposits using cash or a check at the ATM. Members will receive an image of the check and a receipt. The system has been beta tested California Center CU for the past few months. The credit union said it has increased deposits at its ATMs by six-fold since introducing the system and members like it because it gives them a complete receipt. The credit union-owned network notified its 2,000 credit union members yesterday of the system’s general availability. The CO-OP will provide driving and other electronic services for credit unions while Diebold, NCR and Wincor Nixdorf will provide the necessary hardware for the machines, according to Jim Hanisch, vice president for CO-OP. As many as 15 credit unions are ready to go live with the system at about 45 ATMs, he told The Credit Union Journal.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Shares in Internet services provider Digital Insight surged 16% yesterday to close at $38.18, after financial software giant Intuit agreed to acquire the company for $39 a share. Intuit’s planned acquisition of DI promises to bring changes to credit union services aimed at the small business market, as soon as the first quarter of 2007, an Intuit executive promised yesterday after the $1.35 billion deal was announced. “Online banking is growing like a weed, but it’s not solving the problems faced by small business owners today,” Paul Rosenfold, director of product management and marketing, told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. Intuit, maker of QuickBooks, Quicken and TurboTax software, has been working with Digital Insight, a leading provider of online banking services to more than 1,700 financial institutions (almost half of which are credit unions) for nine months. The two have been developing a strategy to fill the needs of the vast number of small businesses in the U.S.--estimated at 26 million. Rosenfold said Intuit’s acquisition of Digital Insight will allow it to provide services like tracking accounts balances, payment inquiries and bill payments to complete cash management and planning of all aspects of small business operations.

COLUMBUS, Oh. – In a groundbreaking deal, Corporate One FCU announced yesterday it has signed to provide surcharge-free ATM access to recipients of state benefits in Indiana and Illinois. Corporate One and its partner, Affiliated Computer Services, will allow recipients of benefits, like child support and unemployment insurance, to access their funds with state-issued debit cards. The cards will be accepted at 600 Alliance One ATMs, the corporate’s own surcharge-free ATM network, in Indiana, and another 250 ATMs in Illinois. Almost 250,000 recipients of unemployment benefits in Indiana will have the option of receiving their funds through an Alliance One ATM. The 300 credit union participants in Alliance One plan to use the network to promote credit union membership in the two states.

CALABASAS, Calif. – Digital Insight Corp., one of the leading providers of Internet anking services, announced today it has agreed to be acquired by financial software company Intuit Inc. Intuit, which is headquartered down the road in Mountain View, Clif., will pay $39 a share, of about $1.35 billion. Together, the companies will serve more than 5,000 financial institutions, nearly 25 million consumers and nearly 7 million small businesses. The acquisition will combine Intuit's culture of customer-driven innovation and leading brands with Digital Insight's best-in-class distribution and application service provider model. With the acquisition, Intuit will be able to combine work flows in its financial management tools with online banking capability offered by Digital Insight to create new, easier, and better-value offerings for consumers and small businesses.

TORONTO – Members of the Canadian payments industry, including payments network Interac Association, Visa Canada and MasterCard, as credit union and bank group, said yesterday they are conducting a test pilot of a chip-based card, in preparation of a national roll-out. A chip card is a credit or debit card that contains an embedded computer chip, which provides increased security, as well as a platform for a variety of other services. The Canadians will be using the established EMV chip standard, which is currently used by Europay MasterCard.

BROWN DEER, Wis. – Metavante Corp. said it is trimming its workforce by about 180 employees to help reduce costs. The lay-offs were conducted over the last 60 days, the company said. Metavante is a wholly owned subsidiary of banking holding company Marshall & Ilsley which employs about 5,600.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. – Restaurant chain Noodles & Co. said this week it will start letting diners pay for their meals by cell phone. The service will also allow diners to receive messages from their favorite restaurants and retailers in various formats, including text messages and personalized web pages. The technology was developed by Feed Tribes, a company based in Boulder that built a proprietary text messaging payment system that works on almost any cell phone. Feed Tribe will charge a flat rate for the service.

WASHINGTON – Library of Congress FCU said yesterday it has signed with Zix Corp. to implement the company’s Email Encryption Service. Xix Corp.’s network allows seamless encrypted email delivery to companies and institutions, including four of the five federal banking regulators. Zix Corp. is based in Dallas.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – TraceSecurity said yesterday it has completed an interface of its TraceAuthenticate multifactor authentication system with Fiserv's USERs data processing system. TraceSecurity’s TraceAuthenticate multifactor online authentication system with its PCU Internet Banking solution. TraceAuthenticate includes a hybrid technology that gives financial institutions the option of strong authentication by installing an add-on toolbar, called TraceAssure, which helps validate the authenticity of the web site as well as the identity of the user. TraceAuthentication is compatible with most Internet banking systems, including Symitar, Fidelity IFS and Open Solutions.

WASHINGTON – A broad coalition of consumer groups under the umbrella of the Consumer Federation of America set its sites yesterday on reform of credit card pricing, payday loans, military credit, check-cashing laws and check holding laws among their top priorities during the next Congress. The group appeared buoyed by the prospects of a Democratic-controlled Congress as it prepares its lobbying plans for the 100th Congress. “The CFA feels there will be more opportunities for positive legislative initiatives and that they will spend less time defending against legislation that they disagree with,” said Mark Wolff, chief spokesman for CUNA, which has a permanent seat on the CFA board. The priority list was voted by the board Wednesday, as the CFA begins its annual Financial Services Conference. Travis Plunkitt, chief lobbyist for the CFA, said they are enthusiastic about the new leadership in the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee, who share some of the same goals on issues like bans on some credit card charges; reducing check-holding times in light of the Check 21 law; and barring some predatory mortgage practices. Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, who is expected to be the new chairman of the Financial Services Committee, is scheduled to discuss his priorities for the next Congress this morning at the conference.

ATLANTA – Authorities are warning bank and credit union customers of a new phishing scheme that gains access to accounts by directing victims to sign up for their financial institution’s new multifactor authentication system. The phishing scam directs the customer, via an email, to enter their account number and pin so they can register for their new “dual authentication code and phrase.” The email tells them the multifactor authentication code and phrase is now required for them to log on to their Internet account. Authorities have recently taken down several web sites that were being used for this kind of scheme. All financial institutions are required to adopt a multifactor authentication for all online transactions by year-end.

WASHINGTON – Some of the key players responsible for the growing conversions of credit unions to mutual savings banks denied yesterday that top managers and directors were motivated by greed. Reporting of multi-million dollar windfalls by executives of credit union-converts are “greatly exaggerated by the press,” insisted Alan Theriault, chief executive of CU Financial Services, the firm that engineered almost every one of the 39 conversions to date. “The decision is made not to enrich managers and directors,” Theriault said during a conference at conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, “but because it makes good business sense.” Peter Duffy, an executive with Sandler, O’Neil, another consultant helping to convert credit union, insisted he has never tried to convince a board by suggesting they could reap financial rewards. “I’ve never sold it on the money they can earn,” said Duffy. But Kirk Cuevas, partner in Dollar Associates, suggested the two consultants were being untruthful with their denials. “I actually think it is a component in the decision,” said Cuevas, partner with former NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar. “I think it’s disingenuous to say otherwise.” Duffy told the group that the credit union model is under heavy pressure from the current economy, claiming that more than 4,200 credit unions lost member this year.

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Police and firefighters continue to search the surging Chicopee River yesterday for the body of local contractor Douglas Smith, but hope was fading they would find Smith, charged with his mother Carol Aranjo in a massive fraud that sunk prominent community development credit unions D. Edward Wells FCU. “At this point, if in fact he went in, I’m sure he perished,” said Chicopee Police Capt. Bill Jebb yesterday, of questions whether the apparent drowning was staged by Smith to evade prosecution. Smith has been missing since Sunday morning when he was reported to have taken a neighbor’s canoe into the rain-swollen waters to retrieve his own canoe. Police Capt. Jebb told The Credit Union Journal it is not unusual for people to drown in the river, especially during times of accelerated flow. “Unfortunately, it happens all too often,” he said, recalling a burglar chased into the river by police who disappeared under water and was never found. Authorities are not pursuing the possibility that the accident was faked to let Smith escape justice. “We’re going to go under the assumption that in fact he went in,” said Jebb. The apparent accident occurred just days before Smith was scheduled to appear in court on federal charges of embezzlement and fraud in connection with the looting of the once-prominent CDCU. Prosecutors charged that Smith accepted illegal loans that he never repaid from the credit union, which was run by his mother, and filed false tax forms to cover the scheme. He was among dozens of friends and family members, including Aranjo’s husband Alphonso Smith and two other sons, charged with accepting illegal funds from the now-defunct credit union. Carol Aranjo rose to become the leading spokesman for CDCUs as chairman of the National Federation of CDCUs, and testified before Congress on their behalf.

MILWAUKEE – A daring bandit who gained access to several credit unions and check-cashing businesses by breaking into employees' homes and threatening them or kidnaping loved ones was sentenced yesterday to 41 years in federal prison. Among the robberies committed by Lamar Ray, 28, was the December 2002 heist at Educators CU, when he kidnaped vice president Julie Loyo from her West Milwaukee home at gunpoint and bound her husband and five-year-old daughter. The husband, Hector Loyo was able to contact police by dialing 911 with his tongue, but not before Ray had forced his wife to open the cash vault at the credit union and empty it out. In another robbery, he broke into the house of the manager of Cashland Check Cashing, telling the man his son had been kidnaped and wouldn't be returned until he turned over money from his workplace. The manager turned over the money, then learned his son actually had not been kidnaped.

MIDLAND, Texas – A 33-year-old teller at Complex Community FCU who staged a phony bomb scare to steal $9,200 told a federal judge Monday she did not “feel like a criminal” just before he sent her away to prison.

ELGIN, Ill. – Lending Solutions Inc. said yesterday it has joined with RelyData to provide identity theft resolution and credit monitoring services to its credit union customers. RelyData’s Credit Report Notification E-mail–or CRANE– system is a free alternative credit monitoring for consumers who want to monitor the status of their credit report. CRANE allows individuals to schedule credit report retrieval throughout the year. RelyData is based in Chicago.

ALBANY, N.Y. – Three credit unions will receive a total of $360,000 targeted for women and minorities under New York’s Empire State Development program. The grants will help the credit unions make more loans to women and minority-owned businesses. The credit unions are: Alternatives FCU, in Ithaca; Syracuse Cooperative FCU and Bethex FCU, in the Bronx.