ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA has received nearly $5.4 million in restitution from a fraud prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's office of the Northern District of New York.

FERGUSON, Mo. — All around Alliance Credit Union's office here, businesses have broken windows, knocked-down doors, and one has even been burned to the ground amid the riots that have followed the deadly shooting of a local young black man by a white police officer.

MADISON, Wis. — CUNA Mutual Group is expanding its credit union member-facing insurance options through an alliance with private health insurance marketplace GoHealthInsurance, which will allow CUs to market health insurance directly to members.

As consumers warm to the idea of using their phones to make payments and manage accounts, they are flocking to merchant apps to do so. Instead of using one unified wallet, a shopper's phone may be stuffed with any of these payment-capable programs.

NEW YORK — The U.S. payments system's march toward EMV is gaining steam, according to the Payments Security Task Force.

KENSINGTON, Md. — Lafayette Federal Credit Union has entered into a unique partnership with Hitachi Government Finance to drive the CU's commercial lending.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The $562 million FAA Credit Union became the first CU in Oklahoma to receive the Cornerstone Credit Union League's "Juntos Avanzamos" or "Together We Advance" designation for its "dedicated service" to the Hispanic community.

WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill's interest in the risk-based capital rule — possibly reaching record levels for NCUA's proposed rulemaking — may lead to greater change to the final rule than what the agency has said is coming, according to several Capitol Hill observers.

MADISON, Wis. — Credit unions continued to hand out pay increases to staff members in 2013, and most expect to do the same this year.

BILLINGS, Mont. — The $36.7 million Rimrock Credit Union has selected core processor provider Sharetec System as its new core system.

LAKE BLUFF, Ill. — The practice of ordering consumer payments from highest to lowest is declining among financial institutions, according to a new study from Moebs Services.

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — A leadership change is on the horizon at Pioneer West Virginia Federal Credit Union.

Credit Union Journal has invited all CUs to participate in this year's "Day In The Life of Credit Unions" project.

There are 105 U.S. financial institutions providing banking services to marijuana dispensaries and other pot businesses, a top federal official is expected to reveal in a speech Tuesday.

LOMPOC, Calif. — Following a conversion from federal to state charter last month, the $750 million CoastHills Credit Union is expanding its services and field of membership to five contiguous Central Coast California counties to include Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura.

BREA, Calif. — Members of the $130 million South Western Federal Credit Union voted "overwhelmingly" in favor of merging into the $781 million Credit Union of Southern California, all but finalizing the union of the two CUs.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA said Monday it will provide free consulting services to nearly 180 credit unions during the second half of the year.

WASHINGTON — With credit unions finally hitting the 100 million member mark last week, analysts and executives said the most powerful impact of reaching this milestone is the increased awareness of one of the "best-kept secrets" in financial services.

Directors talk about succession planning for both board and management recruitment.

When Westpac New Zealand recently took its Google Glass app on a road show to branches up and down the country, customer reactions took the bankers by surprise.