In brief: snapshots and stories of interest
WaMu holds a wake for its brand
Listen to a fascinating podcast from NPR’s “All Things Considered.” WaMu is laying off more than 9,200 employees as JPMorgan Chase takes over, so WaMu held a wake to give employees the chance to grieve and mourn.
“Make more loans? We’re not going to change our business model or our credit policies to accommodate the needs of the public sector as they see it to have us make more loans.”
– John C. Hope III, Chairman
Whitney National Bank
New Study: Banks Slash Direct Mail By 25% in 2008
The worst three months in 2008 were September, October and November, when the country’s financial crisis intensified. Say goodbye to credit offers and hello to loyalty and retention messages, which saw a a whopping 85% increase.
– MediaPost’s Marketing Daily
The Sandpit
The Sandpit is a Gen-Y financial education site from Australia bearing the tagline, “Money. Get it. Grow it. Blow it.” It’s geeky and hip all at the same time.
“Things have changed. The turmoil in the economy — especially in the banking arena — led us to change our views of what is best for our members. Plus, there’s an extreme reluctance by federal regulators to approve a new bank charter in this environment.”
– Scott Jorgensen, CEO/Beehive Credit Union,
on why he is abandoning plans to become bank
$4,120.18
That’s how much Linda Lance of Akron, Ohio got when she took her 5 gallon jug of coins down to Towpath Credit Union for Roll Your Change Week. The topically-themed promo, timed perfectly to synchronize with President Obama’s inauguration, is part of a wider Akron Saves initiative. Akron was chosen to be the nation’s first “Savings Community” by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and America Saves, a nonprofit group. In one week, the credit union took in 833 deposits including 188 new accounts, totaling $266,000 in coins. This is perhaps the most unusual deposit promotion to come around in quite a while.
This article © 2012 by The Financial Brand and may not be reproduced.
More stories about: Briefs, Beehive, direct mail, NPR, Sandpit, Towpath, WaMu, Whitney National 
A bunch of great briefs; I feel compelled to comment on two of them.
@John Hope: Please drop your “us vs. the unwashed masses” attitude. You serve at the pleasure of people. The people grant you incorporation to do business and they can take it away if you keep up that attitude.
@Scott Jorgensen: I hate to hate on you because your VP of Marketing has been a long time member of EverythingCU, but WTF? I think you should go ahead and proceed with your plans to become a bank, because you are obviously clueless about what it means to be a credit union. If you are interested in joining the credit union movement, for real this time, please spend a day at: 418 Notre Dame Avenue, Manchester, NH 03102 and become enlightened.
It’s okay Morriss. Let it out… let it all out.