CO-OP Network - CO-OP Financial Services

Fourth Quarter 2005
Message from Stan Hollen
C
O-OP Network is
structured to embrace
change. Perceptive
corporate blueprints,
CO-OP Network: Back-to-Back
1 Billion Transaction Years
ATM, Shared Branch, Debit and Point-of-Sale Transactions
Add up to a New Company Record for 13th Straight Year
such as our recently
drafted Tucson Plan,
CO-OP Network posted a record 1.1 billion EFT
map future strategies
transactions in 2005, setting a new volume standard
and policies that allow
for the 13th consecutive year.
the organization and our
membership to prosper in an industry seemingly
Since the streak began over a decade ago, transactions
in constant flux.
have increased 2,307 percent. During this stretch,
CO-OP Network’s membership has grown from 197
Looking back at 2005, one of the most eye-opening
credit unions into the largest financial institution-owned
trends was when the number of credit unions
network in the U.S. (1,835 members in 2005).
dipped below 9,000 nationally, the lowest level since
CO-OP Network has evolved to accommodate all types
the late 1940s. In the last 10 years alone, due
“In football, a record-setting running back has a great
of EFT services, including debit, point-of-sale and online
primarily to deregulation, rampant consolidation and
offensive line working for him. At CO-OP Network, our
activity, and by the end of 2005 the Network included
aggressive competition, more than one-quarter of all
record-setting transactions have been mainly fueled
20,000 surcharge-free ATMs nationwide and
U.S. credit unions have disappeared.
by our membership and innovative EFT products,” said
24 million credit union cardholders. The year’s most
Jim Hanisch, CO-OP Network Executive Vice President
significant jump in CO-OP Network’s 2005 transaction
Network Operations & Corporate Development. “And
totals was the 20 percent increase for signature debit
there are a lot of other ingredients that have blended
and PIN POS. Several other factors contributed to
to create the transaction record, including seamless
CO-OP Network’s 2005 record transaction growth,
processing and offering a suite of electronic payment
including the addition of more than 5,000 ATMs and
options to credit union members.”
4 million cardholders.
continued on page 6
What’s Inside
Page 2 Three Executive Positions Filled
CO-OP Network Trade Show Schedule
Page 3CO-OP Network’s ‘Cooperative
Advertising Program’ Promotes
Credit Union Industry
Page 4Product Spotlight: CO-OP Network
Debit Processing
CO-OP Network PIN and
Debit Conversion
Page 5New Orleans’ RiverLand CU Turns to
Shared Branching to Serve Members
Redeployed Across the Country
“The Next Chapter” Begins May 24-26
The 2006 CO-OP Network Conference and Annual Shareholders’
Meeting is May 24-26 at the newly-opened Wynn Las Vegas Resort
and Country Club. The 25th CO-OP Network anniversary celebration,
“The Next Chapter,” includes an in-depth look at ID theft with industry
experts, a special evening performance by Michael Cavanaugh, the
Tony Award nominated star from Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out,” a golf
tournament at the exclusive Wynn and Fazio-designed course and an
array of surprises.
Register online by visiting www.co-opnetwork.org (where you will
find the 2006 Annual Conference registration form). For more
Page 6The Bottom Lines
information, contact Jenni Oberan at (800) 782-9042, ext. 4076.
EFT
CO-OP Network Fills Three Executive Positions
During the last quarter of 2005, CO-OP Network welcomed three industry
professionals into the company.
In October, Lynn Kneebone, a 16-year financial service veteran, was named the
Southeast Region Sales Manager. Kneebone, who now leads the sales team
in Florida, Georgia and Puerto Rico, previously served a six-year stint at First
Data Corporation, where she grew their electronic commerce and payment
service business by 414 percent. And in 2003, as a Regional Vice President
at Certegy Inc., she was honored with the company’s “President’s Award” for
being the top sales producer.
Lynn Kneebone, Southeast Regional Sales Manger
Later in October, Samantha Smyth was selected to fill
the newly created Vice President, Marketing position. With nearly
a decade of integrated marketing experience, including eight years
working directly with the credit union industry, Smyth now directs
CO-OP Network’s strategic marketing for all products and lines of
business, including EFT, shared branching and risk management.
In November, Leah Work was named National Relationship Manager
for CO-OP Network. With more than 20 years in the credit union
industry, Work now provides technical and network sales guidance
Samantha Smyth, Vice President, Marketing
for the company’s client base and manages software vendor
relations out of the newly opened
West Chester, Pa. office. She joins CO-OP Network after
spending four years at GenPass Technologies, Inc., in
Fort Washington, Pa., where she managed marketing
implementation projects and technical sales for financial
institutions and ISO clients nationally.
2006 CO-OP Network Trade Show Schedule Through April
CUNA – GAC
Sacramento, CA
California CU League – Big Valley Eductional Conference
Monterey, CA
Minnesota CU Network – Annual Meeting
Bloomington, MN
February 26-March 1
Leah Work, National Relationship Manager
March 12-14
April 7-8
Texas CU League – Annual Meeting & Exposition
Galveston, TX
April 18-20
Illinois CU League Conference
Chicago, IL
April 20-21
Colorado CU System – Annual Meeting
Colorado Springs, CO
April 20-22
Montana CU League – Annual Convention
Helena, MT
April 20-22
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CO-OP Network’s ‘Cooperative Advertising Program’
Promotes Credit Union Industry
In its first five years, the CO-OP Network cooperative
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advertising program (COAD), which partners the Network
with participating member credit unions, has created more
than 70 ad campaigns in 142 markets across the U.S.
In 2005 alone, 18 credit unions evenly split the marketing
campaign dollars with CO-OP Network, doubling their
advertising impressions to a targeted audience for half
the cost.
Credit unions select from various media options
(billboard, bus, TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, direct
mail advertising and promotions at sports events)
to connect the benefits of their credit union and
CO-OP Network’s surcharge-free ATM network in the
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minds of consumers and cardholders. Together, both
parties develop the campaign plan, the ads and decide how
to measure results.
“CO-OP Network’s cooperative advertising program works
and delivers sizeable results,” said Mike Fletcher, VP of
Marketing and Business Development for Point West CU
in Portland, Ore., which has been a COAD participant for
the past two years. “We opened 191 new membership
accounts in September and a big part of that can be
attributed to our partnership with CO-OP Network and
the radio advertising we collectively produced. Historically,
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September has not been one of our busier months; with
this program we set a record for new memberships.”
For more information about how your credit union can
participate in the 2006 cooperative advertising program,
contact Samantha Smyth at (800) 782-9042, ext. 2570.
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[1] Schools Financial CU (Sacramento, Calif.) bulletin
and bus ads featuring former Sacramento Kings’
star Bobby Jackson; [2] First Tech CU (Beaverton,
Ore.) direct mail; [3] Bellwether Community CU
(Manchester, N.H.) ads in Nashua Telegraph and
New Hampshire Sunday News; [4] LA Financial CU
(Los Angeles, Calif.) tri-vision bulletin ad.
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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
CO-OP Network
Debit Processing
A Proven Benefit For
Credit Unions
With more than 650 current participants in
CO-OP Network’s debit processing program,
member-credit unions are finding substantial benefit
in having a single settlement generated for both PIN
and debit transactions.
“Debit processing makes life a lot easier in the
accounting department,” said Steven Dahlstrom,
President and CEO of Spokane (Wash.) Teachers
Credit Union. “By consolidating our PIN and debit
processing with CO-OP Network, only one software
package is utilized when making our transaction
settlement at the end of the day.”
According to CO-OP Network CEO Stan Hollen,
“One of the best things about our debit processing
package is that it’s more profitable for
CO-OP Network member-shareholders. Since
debit processing can help credit unions generate
more transactions, member-shareholders can
potentially obtain a higher patronage distribution.”
To help protect participants from fraudulent activity,
CO-OP Network also includes Falcon Fraud Manager
in its debit-processing package. As the industryleading fraud prevention tool, Falcon Fraud is a
neural network that quickly recognizes false
card activity.
When members do report a potentially fraudulent
debit transaction, CO-OP Network’s “back office”
support team will fight the merchant disputing the
payment on behalf of the credit union.
Additionally, while some processors take a
percentage of the interchange income generated
from each transaction, CO-OP Network passes this
money back to its debit processing participants.
“It’s another added value gained through processing with
CO-OP Network PIN and Debit Conversion
Credit Unions Find Process Painless, Easy
Many new and existing member credit unions
According to Pervis, “there were a few late
are finding that CO-OP Network offers an easy,
nights and early mornings, but the people at
efficient choice for conversion of their PIN and
CO-OP Network were right there alongside us
debit processing.
every step of the way. No conversion program
is perfect, but because of the diligence and hard
“Conversion has a reputation
“Converting to
CO-OP Network
full processing
was easy, and
it’s increased
our efficiency.”
among credit unions of being a
complicated, time consuming
process,” said Kimberly Hester,
Executive Vice President of
Network Sales for CO-OP Network.
“We strive to make that process
as simple and valuable as possible
for the credit union.
CEO Chuck Pervis, Coastal FCU
work of the CO-OP Network team, our
conversion process went flawlessly.”
Kathy Fisher, CEO of the Electrical
Workers Union #474 Federal Credit
Union in Memphis, Tenn., also had
praise for the two-person team
that recently helped deliver debit
and PIN service to more than
1,200 cardholders.
“One of the main benefits is that participants receive
a single-point settlement report for their PIN and
“The CO-OP Network trainers who helped
debit transactions. Additionally, credit unions adding
implement our debit and PIN programs were
a debit program to their existing services garner
spectacular,” said Fisher. “They were extremely
more transactions and higher profits.”
patient and professional, and we look forward to
working with an organization that retains such
Coastal Federal Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C.,
high-quality personnel.”
which serves more than 148,000 members living
and working in the Research Triangle, joined
Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union, based
CO-OP Network as a full-processor in 2004.
in Lafayette, Ind., is another recent processing
convert. As part of an ongoing initiative to
“Converting to CO-OP Network full processing was
review upcoming contracts with current
easy, and it’s increased our efficiency,” said Chuck
vendors, Purdue Employees had been considering
Pervis, President and CEO of Coastal Federal
several processors for their member’s
Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C. “We no longer
PIN-based transactions.
manually enter data on deposit logs and our Loan
Services department saves
time each day by not having to
perform routine maintenance on
cards, such as updating
expiration dates.”
When Coastal first converted
ATM transactions to CO-OP
Network, their 44 machines
“After several years of
“The CO-OP Network
trainers who helped
implement our debit
and PIN programs
were spectacular.”
CEO Kathy Fisher,
Electrical Workers Union #474 FCU
required significant custom
receiving excellent service as a
network access member of
CO-OP Network, we became
convinced it was an organization
that could effectively process our
PIN-based transactions,” said
Bill Connors, President and CEO
of Purdue Employees FCU.
“CO-OP Network’s commitment to
development. CO-OP Network employees
service and their ability to provide our members
completed this while retaining complete
with nationwide ATM access made them the best
functionality of every ATM.
overall choice.”
a credit-union owned organization,” said Dahlstrom.
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“In spite of all the available electronic account
access, people still like brick and mortar branches, so
shared branching allows us to provide our members
When Hurricane Katrina blew through New Orleans
Aug. 29, RiverLand Credit Union made the cover
of Newsweek magazine. In normal circumstances
this would have been nice publicity, but RiverLand’s
headquarters is located in the storm ravaged
Louisiana Superdome complex.
with personalized access to their accounts across
the U.S.,” says Irby.
After being relocated to
Houston for a few weeks,
Irby and her RiverLand staff
returned to New Orleans to find
In the aftermath of Katrina, the Entergy Corporation,
which produces and distributes electricity and is the
primary sponsor of RiverLand Credit Union, relocated
thousands of its metro New Orleans employees to
Baton Rouge, La., Little Rock, Ark., Houston, Texas
and Jackson, Miss.
that all employees had some
degree of damage to their
houses and five employees had
“We could open a new branch.
Or we could use CO-OP shared
branching and have
1,900 branches
around the country.”
CEO Carol Irby, RiverLand Credit Union
completely lost their homes.
They’d made contingency plans prior to Katrina and
had gone through mock disaster drills, but, according
to Irby, “nothing could have prepared us for when
we returned.”
“It was eerie,” she says. “Downtown was essentially
closed and there was complete havoc everywhere.
Amazingly, though, our office was unscathed – no
water, no damage. We’re open again, but it will be a
while before there’s any normality.”
An example of the abnormality is New Orleans’ mail
service. Because the local post office was completely
(credits to come)
“We called CO-OP Network and learned that establishing
a temporary Jackson branch would cost much more than
partnering with the Network, which already has several
shared branch outlets around the city,” says RiverLand
CEO Carol Irby. “Besides, with many of our members
relocated across the country, we also quickly gained
access to an additional 1,900 branches through the
national shared branch network.”
CO-OP shared branching is a partner in the
“CU Service Centers” network that offers access to
shared facilities in 41 states and five countries.
flooded, RiverLand only began receiving mail in late
October. However, during those seven weeks after
the hurricane, many members continued their usual
bank-by-mail habits with the credit union, like sending
deposits and making payments. They were unaware
there was nowhere for the mail to go.
“Despite all of our preliminary planning, Katrina
caused some unexpected challenges for the city and
people of New Orleans as well as our credit union, but
everything will be fine,” says Irby. “I deeply appreciate
Shared Branching
New Orleans’ RiverLand CU Turns to Shared Branching
to Serve Members Redeployed Across the Country
CO-OP Network stepping in to help, bringing a small
degree of order to the lives of our members. They’re
a class act. A shared branch conversion normally
takes at least 90 days, but CO-OP Network hustled to
complete everything within 30 days.”
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Stan Hollen (continued from page 1)
A
While the financial industry ground rules shift and
All of the transaction and ATM records are great,
the size of the credit union playing field shrinks,
but no matter how successful the organization may
s we examine the business environment today and
CO-OP Network looks to the future intent on upholding
become, my foremost ambition for CO-OP Network will
the spirit of cooperation and service. Credit unions
always be to provide quality service. CO-OP Network
how financial services are performed, and consumer
were built upon this cooperative premise, and this is
exists to serve its credit union constituency.
payment options will continue to multiply.
Since beginning my CEO duties in Ontario last June, I’ve
Because managing all of these payment alternatives
into the future, change will no doubt remain the
constant. New technologies will assuredly restructure
precisely how the credit union movement – and
CO-OP Network – will succeed.
been amazed by the yeoman’s work that occurs here
will be essential for credit unions to maintain positive
For the present, though, I’m pleased to announce that
behind the scenes. I knew CO-OP Network was a hard-
member relationships, CO-OP Network has evolved
amid all the changes in the payments industry, 2005
working organization, but with all of the credit union
to become the electronic payments processor for the
was another record-breaking year for CO-OP Network.
conversions we’ve had to manage across the country,
credit union industry, providing delivery services for all
Led by an agreement that placed thousands of
our superb level of member service has not wavered.
ATM, debit and online applications. By foreseeing this
CO-OP Network ATMs in 7-Eleven convenience stores
type of change, CO-OP Network will continue providing
across the country, as well as a series of other accords
Linda Pearsall, Executive Vice President from
superior global access and a robust national network,
that boosted Network membership to 1,835 credit unions,
Energy Capital Credit Union, a new Network member
as well as developing new products and services,
CO-OP Network continued its remarkable national
in Houston, Texas, wrote, “Our EFT conversion
ranging from check imaging to stored value cards,
expansion. In fact, nearly one of every four U.S. credit
went well because of the dedicated efforts of the
which can help our credit unions create long-lasting
unions are now members of CO-OP Network.
CO-OP Network team, which was with us from
relationships with their membership.
beginning to end. They left no task undone and I
Year-end stats also show CO-OP Network is sitting on
would convert again in a minute.”
the brink of 6,000 deposit-taking ATMs for the first
Stanley C. Hollen, CO-OP Network CEO
time, and for the second consecutive year we topped
the 1 billion transaction level.
The Bottom Lines
Membership Reaches 1,835 Credit Unions
(The following credit unions have joined CO-OP Network since October 1, 2005)
california
Continental Fcu
Long Beach Firemen’s CU
Nebraska continued
Lincone FCU
University of Nebraska FCU
Delaware
Delaware FCU
New York
Elizabeth NJ Firemens FCU
Ledge Light FCU
Mutual Security CU
Novartis FCU
Nutmeg State FCU
Olean Area FCU
Illinois
Oak Ridge Schools FCU
St. Francis FCU
The CU at the University
of Chicago
Route 1 CU
Minnesota Ore Operations ECU
Indiana
Marion Independent FCU
Purdue Employees FCU
Louisiana
RiverLand CU
Michigan
Macomb Schools & Government CU
River Valley CU
Missouri
First Financial FCU
Nebraska
Centris FCU
Liberty First CU
Texas
Division 694 Motor Coach
Emp FCU
Randolph Brooks FCU
San Antonio Water System FCU
Subiaco FCU
Temple-Inland FCU
washington
Coulee Dam
Safeway FCU
Spokane Teachers CU
2005 EFT Statistics
2005 Shared Branch Statistics
(as of December 31, 2005)
(as of December 31, 2005)
Incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1981
Incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1975
Credit Unions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,835
Credit Unions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Cardholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Million
National Shared Branch Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,003
Total ATMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,159
Year-To-Date Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,908,135
Year-To-Date Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . 1,118,179,682
wisconson
Superior Community CU
Wyoming
Meridian Trust FCU
CU Cooperative Systems,Inc. 3500 Porsche Way, Suite 300 Ontario, CA 91764 (800) 782-9042 phone (909) 941-0979 fax www.co-opnetwork.org
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