Links in “Credit Unions”

A federal appeals court has reversed a ruling that would have allowed merchants to add surcharges to credit card transactions. The merchant groups had argued that banning the surcharges was a violation of their free speech rights under the First Amendment. The 2^nd U.S. Circuit of Appeals disagreed. [9/30/15]

The declining value of taxi medallions could have an impact beyond the doors of the four credit unions that have traditionally originated these loans and which are now experiencing rising delinquencies. As of June 30, 2015, the four credit unions have collectively sold participation interests in more than 1,442 MBLs totaling more than $814.5 million. However, NCUA has not revealed what percentage of those MBLs are medallion loans or how many of those loans are currently delinquent. [9/30/15]

CUNA’s annual CEO Total Compensation Report shows that CEO salaries at credit unions with $100 million or more in assets have increased by an average of 4.5% over the past year, which places the current median salary at $207,000. Nearly 75% of those CEOs also received bonuses and/or incentives at the end of 2014. [9/30/15]

What must your small financial institution do to determine whether its BSA/AML monitoring system is as sound as those applied by their far larger counterparts? In Part 1 of this two-part post, we discussed the first secret weapon vital to the smaller financial institution's BSA/AML monitoring systems: sufficiency. This week, we'll examine the second and final essential element. [9/29/15]

Credit unions and other stakeholders should take the time to accept NCUA’s invitation to preview its new public website and provide feedback on the design and functionality of a preview version of the site. During the preview period NCUA staff will be continuing to make additional improvements and enhancements to content. Comments on the preview site should be sent by email to ncuapreview@ncua.gov. [9/29/15]

Registration is now open for a free, 90-minute joint agency webinar on Fair Lending. The event, which is being sponsored by the Federal Reserve, is scheduled for Oct. 15^th at 2:00 P.M. EST, will address issues ranging from how to use your data to evaluate fair lending risks to compliance management and pricing to post-origination risks. [9/29/15]

Home Depot has filed a brief to support its claim that financial institutions lack standing to sue for losses resulting from the massive data breach in 2014. Home Depot states that financial institutions are seeking injuries from possible future harm and not for previous injuries. The brief adds that the trade associations that are also parties to the class action suit lack standing because they cannot show that their entire memberships incurred harm. [9/29/15]

Women in California may soon be getting a raise. Governor Brown is prepared to sign a bill that requires that men and women receive equal pay for “substantially similar work. The new law does not define what is meant by “substantially similar” work and many questions still need to be answered. However, the expectation is that many women who work in California will see more money in their paychecks after January 1, 2016. [9/29/15]

The House Financial Services Committee is slated to mark up three bills on Wednesday that could provide regulatory relief for credit unions. The first would require NCUA to stop and conduct a study regarding its proposed risk-based capital rule before proceeding with a final rule. The other two bills affect the leadership of the CFPB and the fiduciary responsibilities of investment advisors. [9/28/15]

In the past year sales of wearable devices has increased 163%. This means that wearables are going mainstream and credit unions need a plan for how this should fit within their overall mobile banking and payment strategies. This doesn’t mean that you need to invest in a new wearable app, but you do need to consider how you can extend your current services and functionality to wearable devices. [9/28/15]