ALBANY, N.Y. – Empire Corporate received such a strong response from a Membership Capital Account investment opportunity, dubbed "Premium MCA", it offered its CU members, that it had to expand from the initial offering by about $35 million. Member capitalization is voluntary at the $4.7 billion corporate, and it's not required to take advantage of any of the corporate's products and services. Members invested some $85 million in Premium MCA. In June Empire originally offered $50 million Premium NCUA. The investment is targeted to pay a spread of 100 basis points over the three-year Treasury rate. It will settle on October 1 and be priced according to market levels on that date. According to Empire, the offering was in response to new regulations that allow credit unions to place up to 2% of their assets into any one corporate's membership capital program. This program was offered to all credit unions currently participating in Empire's MCA program.