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 Retirement Plan Fee Transparency...Are You Prepared? (Article) (February 15, 2012)
Fees and expenses are a part of every retirement plan. The new Department of Labor fee disclosure rules are designed to help you and your participants understand what you are paying for the services that you receive and the investments that you choose in your retirement plan. What you probably didn't realize is that as a plan fiduciary, you have legal obligation to review your plan fees. Learn more about how to understand and evaluate your plan fees and expenses in this helpful guide from Pentegra Retirement Services.
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 Prospective Changes in Mortgage Servicing Compensation (Podcast) (January 30, 2012)
In this podcast, we speak with mortgage servicing expert David Allison, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Dovenmuehle, about the current structure of mortgage servicing compensation, what changes may be on the horizon, and how they could negatively impact your credit union.
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Debt Protection and Credit Insurance for Credit Unions Benchmarking Survey Results (January 26, 2012)
Whether debt protection or credit insurance, choosing the right program for your credit union can be challenging. A recent Securian Financial Group and NAFCU Services Corporation survey was conducted to identify the reasons why credit unions made the switch to debt protection or added it to their product portfolio. Download the key findings to serve as a blueprint to consider as you compare debt protection and credit insurance options for your credit union.
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2012 Q1 Quarterly Investment Outlook: Are the Nightmares Behind Us? (Article) (January 24, 2012)
Investors have had to contend with many upsetting concerns over the last year, including geopolitical uncertainty, social unrest, natural disasters, monetary tightening, new regulations, and a U.S. government downgrade. The European Sovereign Debt Crisis was underway for over a year when the worrying Nightmares began compounding in March 2011. These Nightmares have undercut confidence and global growth expectations, which impeded equity returns and drove Treasury yields lower. Uncertainty fueled much higher volatility across equity, bond, currency, and commodity markets.
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Discover Horizon (Newsletter) - Winter 2012 (January 24, 2012)
Happy New Year and welcome to Horizon. The past year brought some good news for Discover® credit card issuers, ending with positive growth in overall credit card spending, according to estimates by Mercator Advisory Group. Be sure to read more of their predictions for the 2012 credit market in this issue.
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Too Good to Fail? New Challenges for Risk Management in Financial Services (Research Report) (January 21, 2012)
With regulators, boards and investors heavily scrutinizing risk management practices, effective risk management is more critical than ever. Financial institutions worldwide have initiated risk management measures to address the most glaring deficiencies exposed by the financial crisis. But have they done enough? Get answers in the findings from a survey of risk executives from around the world in early 2011.
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2011 Q4 Market Commentary (Article) (January 17, 2012)
Although third quarter 2011 growth came in at just +1.5%, the flow of economic news in fourth quarter was surprisingly positive, with equity markets holding their own, and consumer confidence and spending rebounding sharply. Read more from NIFCU$ Fund Manager Hillary Elder in the 2011 Q4 Market Commentary.
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Avoiding Perfect Storms: Creating a holistic GRC view for early warning (whitepaper) (January 17, 2012)
This whitepaper from SAS offers a case study that illustrates the importance of integrating the elements of GRC using a detailed example involving key indicators covering performance, risk and controls. The case study will focus governance-related business pains, their causes and how an enterprise GRC solution addresses them.
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The Supervisory Committee: Focusing on Fraud Detection (Article) (January 9, 2012)
Credit unions have a “watchdog” looking out for their interests, overseeing operations and ensuring their records are maintained with honesty and integrity: the supervisory committee. The committee has a host of tools at its disposal to carry out its purpose, including an annual audit of the credit union. Information gleaned from this audit assists the committee in evaluating credit union operations and in making recommendations to the board. The supervisory committee may also perform surprise cash counts, review non-financial transactions or reconcile credit union accounts with an eye toward compliance with laws and regulations. All these activities place the committee in a prime position to catch suspicious transactions or behaviors that may indicate fraud.
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 A Case Study of Fairwinds Credit Union’s Groundbreaking Online Insurance Agency (Webinar) (December 15, 2011)
Hear straight from the source how Fairwinds Credit Union has launched a successful insurance agency, having over 160 daily shoppers a more than 30% increase in quote-to-close rates! Watch this recorded webinar to hear from an expert in outsourced insurance brokerage solutions for credit unions, Jeffrey Chesky, President & CEO for Insuritas and the first-hand experience of building this record-breaking insurance agency from Phil Tisher, COO of Fairwinds Credit Union.
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 Case Studies in Holistic Wealth Management (Webcast) (December 15, 2011)
 In this webcast we take a look at wealth management from a holistic approach, covering what your objectives as a credit union offering wealth management and financial planning should be, as well as some specific case studies illustrating successful holistic wealth management for a range of income levels and life stages.
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An NCR Intelligent Deposit Case Study: Veridian Credit Union (Case Study) (December 8, 2011)
Veridian Credit Union wanted to offer its members superior financial service and expand its geographic coverage into new locations like local shopping malls. One of the keys to this approach was making sure its ATM channel could do everything Veridian's members needed, including automated deposit functionality. Find out how Veridian solved this and other related challenges to deliver the best solution for the credit union and its members in this recent case study from NCR.
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Market Impact from the Super Committee Failure (Article) (November 28, 2011)
A deal to reduce the federal budget deficit through any combination of cutting government spending and/or raising revenue could not be reached in the “super committee” by the November 23rd 2011 deadline. Initial market reaction to the impasse was negative, but transitory and the longer term concern centers on the reaction of rating agencies and the potential for further downgrade of United States debt by one or more agencies. Read what investment expert Hillary Elder has to say about the impact of the committee's failure and the threat of rating downgrades.
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Card Products Help Extend Deposit (Member) Relationships (Podcast) (November 17, 2011)
New members have flocked to credit unions, and now you have to give them what they want! In this podcast, we speak with Stephanie Polen, Vice President of Client Portfolio Management for Vantiv, specifically about the importance of credit union card products when it comes to extending deposit relationships and fostering long-term, satisfied members.
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Credit Union Member Research Findings (Podcast) (November 10, 2011)
Credit unions are known for being close to their members, but even the most plugged in credit union leaders may be surprised at the findings of a recent consumer data report from Genworth Financial. The report provides a profile of the “typical” credit union member. Genworth Financial recently commissioned Acxiom, a well-known data processing company and leader in the industry of data collection and analysis, to compare consumers who are members of a credit union versus consumers who are not members of a credit union.
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How to Help New Members Make the Easy Switch to Your Credit Union (Podcast) (November 10, 2011)
As consumers continue to balk at new bank fees, “Bank Transfer Day” gains popularity and we see an influx of news and press attention supporting the move to credit unions, there is an obvious opportunity for growing credit union membership. In this podcast, we discuss the most effective ways new members can switch their banking to a credit union.
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