Performance reports

VICTORVILLE, Calif. – The Members Own FCU, buried under $4 million of losses for 2008, said Wednesday it is searching for a merger partner.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – State regulator approved an application from The Golden 1 CU to acquire Steinbeck CU, the $50 million Salinas credit union that reported more than $800,000 of losses last year.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Members of WesCorp FCU, describing the devastating effect of last month’s failure of the corporate credit union giant, are petitioning NCUA for repayment of their lost capital.

ORLANDO, Fla.–Dr. Barry Asmus, a well-known free-market economist, is giving the thumbs up to the recent changes in mark-to-market accounting rules by FASB, “I like mark to market, but not when there is no market to mark to,” Asmus told PSCU’s annual meeting here. “Mark to market makes no sense. I can’t tell you how I’m breathing a little easier having this asinine rule revoked. Mark to market was the biggest liquidity bubble on earth.”

WASHINGTON — Though the Federal Reserve Board remains the leading candidate to assume oversight of systemically risky firms, two Senate votes last week demanding that the central bank hand over details about its activities demonstrated its waning political support.

ARLINGTON, Va.–NAFCU is pressing NCUA for clarification on accounting issues should Congress pass legislation creating a Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund.

KEY WEST, Fla. – Keys FCU, which lost $1.8 million in 2008, said it trimmed its staff by an undisclosed amount, including its well-known vice president Charlie Bickford.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee endorsed a measure that would provide as much as $24 billion in funding for the National CU Share Insurance Fund on an emergency basis, moving ahead with help for NCUA's corporate credit union bailout.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Going "green" is red hot, which is why MAX CU created the EcoMAX Home Expo, an inititiative that not only created buzz for the CU but has become part of its overall growth strategy.

NORWALK, Conn. — The Financial Accounting Standards Board voted several changes to its mark-to-market rules last Thursday to ease the strain on CUs and other financial institutions-but rejected requests to allow the entities to apply the changes retroactively to their 2008 financials.

SAN DIEGO — With his studded collar and fierce name, Spike is not about to back down just because the economy's in flux-just one of the reasons USA FCU chose the 59-pound bulldog to be its official "spokesdog" for the credit union.

NORWALK, Conn. – Credit union observers around the country see yesterday’s action by the Financial Accounting Standards Board as easing some of the strains on credit unions, but too late to help others.

NORWALK, Conn. – The Financial Accounting Standards Board voted several changes to its mark-to-market rules this morning to ease the strain on banks, credit unions and other financial institutions–but in a major blow rejected requests to allow the entities to apply the changes retroactively to their 2008 financials.

MIRAMAR, Fla. – State regulators said yesterday they issued a cease and desist order against Eastern Financial Florida CU, the ailing credit union giant, for unsafe and unsound practices as it struggles to dig out from under the state’s growing mortgage crisis.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA said yesterday credit unions should expense the premium it assesses to recapitalize the National CU Share Insurance Fund when the premium is assessed, probably in the fourth quarter of this year.

NORWALK, Conn. – After a withering lobby by banks and credit unions, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is expected this morning to approve new guidance changing aspects of controversial market-to-market accounting rules, but the changes may come too late for some credit unions, especially corporates.

NORWALK, Conn. – NCUA and the banking regulators told the Financial Accounting Standards Board Friday they support proposed changes to mark-to-market accounting rules that would allow entities to separate expected losses from market-value losses on their financial reports, but only for the just completed quarter and not retroactively, as many credit unions are requesting.

APPLE VALLEY, Calif.–High Desert FCU, which was placed under conservatorship by NCUA in October 2008 after losing $15.4-million in the first three quarters of the year, is to be merged with another credit union. But which credit union will make the purchase and assumption has yet to be identified, according to High Desert, which announced the pending P&A on its website.High Desert’s new management had earlier indicated to Credit Union Journal that it was not looking to merge, even though capital had declined to just 2.3%. In December, 2008, HDFCU laid off 16 staff members.“Based upon a thorough review of High Desert, NCUA representatives have decided to combine High Desert with another credit union,” the credit union is telling its members. “We expect the process to be complete by June 30, 2009. Rest assured NCUA has a strict process for analyzing credit union consolidations.”

NORWALK, Conn. – Credit union executives were calling on the Financial Accounting Standards Board last week to change the rules on mark-to-market accounting in order to ease the controversial rules’ effects on their books, stretching back to last year.

MONTEREY, Calif. — A few years back economist Christopher Thornberg appeared before California's credit unions during the era when markets only went "boom" with a message that things were likely to go "bust."