Trusted News for Credit Union Leaders
APRIL 6, 2016 | VOL. 27 | NO. 11 | CUTIMES.COM
FOCUSREPORT:
CUSOS
In this Focus Report, gain collaboration
insights from the winners of NACUSO’s
CUSO awards. Plus, find out how
regulation continues to challenge the
nation’s CUSOs, which many say are
crucial to the credit union industry’s
survival. Y6
Delivering on
Collaboration
Member business
loan participations
offer prime opportunities. Y16
Mining MBL
Success
Form a new CUSO
partnership to
unearth a pot of
gold. Y12
erri Cannon said
she is not a racist
even though she
admitted to writing
a racial slur in a social media post.
The action ignited a fierce Facebook firestorm, which caused her
to lose her job in March as a mortgage loan services officer at the
$158 million MTC Federal Credit
Union in Greenville, S.C.
Many users of Facebook and
other social media sites called
Cannon a racist and applauded
MTC for firing her. Others argued her constitutional right to
free speech was violated and she
should not have been fired because she posted the comment on
her personal time and personal
Facebook site.
Although the First Amendment
prohibits the government from
limiting free speech, legal and
social media experts agree that,
in general, the First Amendment
does not apply to private employers who can fire anyone for any
reason.
Nevertheless, Cannon, her lawyer, and legal and social media experts said this incident provides
valuable lessons such as leveraging best practices to ensure employees are educated about
Facebook
Post Firing
Teaches
Lessons
PETER STROZNIAK
pstrozniak@cutimes.com
HUMAN RESOURCES
Y22
SECURITY
SAFE CU Fights Skimming
In the world of ATM skimming,
thieves typically hit the same
machine over and over until they
are stopped.
After enduring a number of
hits in 2015, the $2.3 billion, Folsom, Calif.-based SAFE Credit
Union implemented multiple,
effective anti-skimming measures and shared its tips for other
credit unions.
Skimming, which accounts
for global losses that exceed $3
billion annually, according to
ATM company NCR, is a growing problem for credit unions in
the U.S. Skimming groups work
in waves, hitting financial institutions in a single region before
moving on to their next territory.
The thieves store card data
using a magnetic stripe reader,
which is usually part of a hidden
camera designed to record the
PIN sequence from an unsuspecting customer at a compromised machine.
Vigilantly inspecting machines is not enough to stop the
crimes, SAFE found.
“We tried that and it is difficult to inspect our 82 ATMs often enough to detect when skimming devices are placed,” Henry
Wirz, president/CEO for SAFE,
said.
He noted a gang working
along the West Coast recently hit
SAFE along with other banks and
credit unions.
“If they are ever successful,
they’ll keep hitting the credit union until they get Y20
Must Reads
ith many state
legislatures in
full gear this time
of the year, credit
unions across the country report-ed they are pushing for new laws
ranging from full blown rewrites
of statutes to bills dealing with
new threats such as patent trolls.
“We had an extremely success-
ful session,” Jared Ross, senior
vice president for
association ser-
vices at the League
of Southeastern
Credit Unions and
Affiliates, said as
he looked back
at the session of
the Florida state
legislature.
Ross cited legislation that
would require the state Office of
Financial Regulation to share in-
formation with the Federal Home
Loan Bank of Atlanta. The office
had not been providing the home
loan bank with the data needed
to give Florida’s state chartered
credit unions access to the bank’s
secondary mortgage market
program.
The Florida legislature also
passed legislation that would allow credit unions to designate one
location for the service of documents in legal cases. While the bill
sounds like a minor change, Ross
said that in the past, pro-
CUs Take Issues to State Legislatures
DAVID BAUMANN
dbaumann@cutimes.com
Y24
POLITICS
Ross