Credit unions have gotten stronger support from their regulators to do business with pot companies, but banking agencies are showing signs of softening just as more states legalize marijuana.

Utah Community Credit Union and state officials as part of an experiment are letting consumers use electronic ID to open accounts and conduct other business. It's easier said than done.

Splash recently raised $44 million from investors. It plans to use the funds to aid small institutions that lack the resources to build their own loan platforms but are flush with deposits and looking for new lending opportunities.

Cannabis, though still illegal at the federal level, continues to inch into the financial mainstream. Small credit unions and lenders as large as Valley National and East West have moved beyond just taking deposits from marijuana companies.

Bank lobbyists are once again calling on Congress to reexamine credit unions’ tax-exempt status, this time citing the proliferation of bank acquisitions by credit unions. So far, their pleas have gone largely ignored.

Car sales are booming, but credit unions are financing fewer purchases of new vehicles as borrowers migrate to digital channels.

The retiring head of the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors spent years working to rein in a contentious funding mechanism used by the National Credit Union Administration that drew money from the Share Insurance Fund.

The move brings state-chartered banks and credit unions in sync with their federal counterparts by enabling them to open checking accounts for consumers who have had accounts closed for writing bad checks.

The Curql Fund, an investor in upstart technology companies, is trying to help credit unions build relationships with cutting-edge firms.

Advocates for depositor-owned banks want regulators to block the combination of a one-branch thrift and Minnesota’s largest credit union, for fear it will lead to similar deals.

The National Credit Union Administration changed course late last year and proposed changes that would in effect give members more time to resolve overdrafts. However, consumer activists and even some credit unions say the proposal falls short.

Some say Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are too slow to investigate grievances, prompting more complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But the big three say other forces are at work.

The state's Department of Financial and Professional Regulation will reduce assessments by 61% this year because of overpayments in 2020, helping state-chartered credit unions deal with economic fallout from the pandemic.

Larissa Thurston, who will also become the Massachusetts credit union's president, will succeed James Garvey, who is retiring.

Regulators recently eased field-of-membership rules to promote growth of federal credit unions. A handful of institutions are taking advantage of the changes to recruit more members, but some may find the process too cumbersome.

Cal Poly Federal Credit Union's recent merger into SchoolsFirst highlights the difficult choice many small institutions face: diversify your field of membership or risk going out of business.

Credit unions are warning members that fraudsters are trying to prey on them by asking for data in exchange for appointments that turn out to be bogus.

Some institutions for more than a year have reduced or eliminated overdraft and funds transfer fees to help members hard hit by the economic downturn, but it's unclear how much longer they can keep coasting on other sources of noninterest income.

As more states legalize online gambling, the credit union is preventing members from using their credit and debit cards on those sites. Others could follow its lead.

Banking trade groups have called for congressional hearings following the Jacksonville, Fla.-based credit union's agreement to purchase the $1.6 billion-asset Heritage Southeast Bank, the largest deal of its kind to date.