Transcription
MEMBER ACCESS PACIFIC NEWSLETTERPAGE 2Inside this issue.Beyond Business Checking: HowCredit Unions can Strengthen TheirBonds with Business Accounts andRetain Their BusinessPAGE 3PAGE 4Member Access Pacific 2006 UsersConference HighlightsMAP and Visa NewsMember Access Pacific Participates inBizKids Junior Achievement ProgramSponsored by PBSPAGE 8Member Access Pacific OffersMembers New BancVue RewardsChecking ProgramMember Access Pacific Makes it Easyto be Free with MoneyPassPAGE 9PAGE 6NWCUA Annual LetterPAGE 5News CapsulesLetter from the CEOIssue 9 Oct. 2006Waterfront Credit Union Migratesfrom Positive Balance File toOnline Processing InterfaceWaterfront Credit Union made thetransition from Positive Balance File(PBF) to online processing to deliverbetter service to its members,improve its card fraud combatingcapabilities and equip staff withbetter tools and business processesin card services operations.cards to more members becauseour real-time card informationnow allows us to better managethe cards of members who arehigher risk,” said Holguin. “Beforewe had real-time information oncard balances, we had to managethis risk by not issuing themembers cards at all.”“We wanted to optimize the services weprovide in this area to our members, andwe also felt that there were more areas ofour membership that we could serve withstate of the art online card processingand fraud prevention programs,” said BillHolguin, Waterfront’s CEO.The new online card processinginterface also brings Waterfrontthe benefit of an industrialstrength card fraud fighting systemlike Falcon. “The information weget from the Falcon system hashelped us combat fraud, and ouremployees now have abundantinformation at their fingertips forboth hot carding and card problemresolution,:” said Holguin.The new online processing solutionprovides real-time card balances thateliminate situations where members havetransactions denied because card activitybatch updates are out-of-sync with what theactual card balances are. “We have alreadyseen a significant reduction in phone trafficconcerning questions on balances,” saidHolguin.Holguin also said that Waterfront was nowable to serve areas of its membership that itcould not serve before. “We can offer debitEqually important, the transitionto an online card processingenvironment was totallytransparent to members.Continued on page 5
MEMBER ACCESS PACIFIC NEWSLETTERIssue 9 Oct. 2006Beyond Business Checking:How Credit Unions can Strengthen TheirBonds with Business Accounts and RetainTheir BusinessTMCBusinessaccounts aregrowing inTotal Merchant Concepts, Inc.Tnumber andbalances in credit union account bases.These businesses might be retailersthat are Internet-based, mail ordertelephone, over-the-counter or serviceoriented.Regardless of how a business conducts sales,taking credit cards makes it easy for customersto buy products and pay for services. If acredit union wants to keep or grow businessaccounts, it will have to provide access to thebusiness services that merchants need. At thesame time, credit unions must find a way todeliver these services without necessarily havingto build their own internal merchant servicesoperations.Why Outsource?In order to support merchant servicinginternally, a CU must provide technicalexpertise and the operational infrastructurein clearing and settling card transactions tosupport merchant servicing internally. Theseservices include: Credit card draft capture; Settlement; Reporting; Service fees; Reporting and statement generation; Exception (chargeback) processing;Page 2 POS terminal support; and Risk management.Since many credit unions want to offer merchant services butdo not have the expertise, outsourcing is an economical way tooffer merchant services.The Member Access Pacific SolutionRecognizing the importance of the merchant market to itscredit union members, Member Access Pacific has negotiateda business partnership with Total Merchant Concepts (TMC)of Vancouver, Washington. TMC has been providing merchantservices to credit unions and community banks for over tenyears, and is endorsed by the Oregon Credit Union League as aPreferred Provider.“Member Access Pacific is pleased to add Total MerchantConcepts as a business partner,” said Cyndie Martini, Presidentand CEO of Member Access Pacific. “Since its inception,TMC has delivered services in a fashion consistent with thecredit union philosophy, basing its business on service andrelationships. In partnering with TMC, MAP will enhance itsportfolio of services and solutions by adding a “best of breed”provider of merchant services that has a credit union servicephilosophy.”News Capsules4 King County Chapter of Credit Unions’Annual Meeting and Tradeshow isOctober 26. The King County Chapter of Credit Unionsis holding its 2006 Annual Meeting and Trade Show, headlined“The Power of Partnerships.” The event begins at 5 p.m. onOctober 26 at the Harbor Club in Seattle, 801 Second Avenue,13th Floor, Norton Building. Reservations are 50 per personfor an event that features four, four-minute presentations bybusiness partners between four courses of Greek appetizersand wine. To attend, please contact Dori Alpert at 866-5980698 x7114 or dori.alpert@mapacific.com.
MEMBER ACCESS PACIFIC NEWSLETTERIssue 9 Oct. 2006NWCUA Annual Letterbroadcasts to its new and existing members. Membershipprovides many institutions peace of mind regardingunforeseeable surcharge changes that could occur andnegatively impact their members. “The freedom to selectyour ATM processor while maintaining a competitive,economic, surcharge free alliance is also a tremendousbenefit and value of NWCUA participation,” said JimFish, VP Operations, Alaska USA FCU and 1st ViceChairperson of the NWCUA Executive Committee. Jimadded, “The NWCUA helps our members save money byproviding a stable, no-surcharge ATM network solutionthat is affordable and service driven.”2005 was a year of increased growth andexpansion for the Northwest Credit UnionAlliance (NWCUA) as the alliance providedover 242,179 surcharge free ATM transactionsto credit union cardholders at over 275Washington state locations.The NWCUA closed out 2005 to announce anothergreat year of transaction growth. NWCUA creditunions praised the value and benefit of expandingthe low-cost, no-surcharge ATM solution now 24Members strong. Now stepping into its fourth year,the NWCUA has grown to serve regional credit unionsand cardholders with a no-surcharge ATM alliancetailored to Northwest Member specifications. “Werecently added SHARE Credit Union and NumericaCredit Union. NWCUA ATMs now extend well intoEastern Washington, and the alliance offers surchargefree access at over 314 ATMs throughout WashingtonState” said Grace Semingsen, VP Operations, BECU,and founding NWCUA Executive Committee Member.Grace continued, “BECU is proud to support thisnon-profit coalition dedicated to serving credit unionsregardless of size or processor affiliation. NWCUAvalue, benefits and access far exceed the “token” dues toparticipate.”NWCUA growth continues at a steady pace. As ofAugust 2006, NWCUA volumes exceeded 20,000transactions per month. Credit unions appreciate the“insurance policy” benefits and approach the NWCUAThe NWCUA and its participants are dedicated tothe cooperative strengthening of the credit unioninfrastructure in Washington State. “Supplying ourregion and members with economical, surcharge freeATM access is the NWCUA’s primary focus” saidWilliam Hayes, President and CEO of Verity CreditUnion, chairperson, and long standing NWCUAmember since 2002. “The NWCUA is dedicatedto providing a low cost, regional, surcharge-freeenvironment for participating members and theircardholders,” said William. “Alliance participation affordscredit unions the freedom to select their ATM processorbased on price and performance while maintaininga strong, no surcharge network defined by the creditunions of our region.”NWCUA Members look forward to meeting withlocal credit unions to further alliance growth anddevelopment. For many credit unions of smaller assetsize, surcharge-free ATM access is a critical componentof their continued growth and viability. “NWCUAmembership provides deposit and surcharge free ATMaccess other ATM solutions priced outside of our reach,said Demaris Krummel, President and CEO of InlandEmpire Trades Credit Union.Demaris added, “NWCUAparticipation requires minimal involvement. Cardholderbenefits and cost savings to participate made it anexcellent choice for us. The NWCUA has a wide varietyof locations, many of which are deposit taking. And, thecost of membership is significantly less than joining anational ATM network.”Page 3
MEMBER ACCESS PACIFIC NEWSLETTERIssue 9 Oct. 2006Member Access Pacific 2006 UsersConference HighlightsMember Access CEOCyndie Martini spokeabout the increasedcompetitiveness in thecard marketplace, andon MAP’s positioningto assist its memberswith the success of theirprograms. Cyndie alsomentioned that MemberAccess Pacific would bemaking its own changesover the coming months,and that some of theitems under considerationwere company name andbranding.Jill Geier, Sales Director forVisa USA, talked about thepower of the Visa brand, whichis the most widely used cardbrand in the U.S. Ms. Geieradded that cash and check usagecontinue to be major marketsthat credit unions can targetfor debit card growth, and thatmore and more consumersand businesses were becomingcomfortable with small-ticket,card-based transactions. OtherVisa products that offeredexcellent market penetrationopportunities included giftcards, reloadable cards andpayroll cards. Ms. Geier alsomentioned that Visa haschanged the composition ofPage 42006MEMBER ACCESS PACIFICU S E R’ S C O N F E R E N C EJuly 25-26, 2006 Seattle, WAits Board to involve more members fromoutside industries. The move improves thediversity of skills on the Board, and willbring additional perspectives to decisionmaking. Visa is also consolidating its debitprocessing service platforms on VisaNet inOctober, 2006. A client implementationguide is available on Visa DPS online, and allclient implementations must be completed bySeptember 30, 2007.Stuart Chontos-Gilchrist, Principal ofE3 Technology, Inc., a security audit andcompliance firm, discussed the topic ofpayment card industry compliance. Mr .Chontos-Gilchrist emphasized that securitythreats come from many sources, includingcredit card data and check transactions stolenfrom stores, and security breaches frominternal sources. 50% of identity theft isrelated to credit cards, one in 50 consumers isa victim and the average cost to clean up thedamage is 1,000 per incident. To respondto these challenges, Visa, Mastercard andother card industry players have defined thePayment Card Industry Data Standard, whichrequires audits of merchants processing over6,000,000 transactions per year. PCI coversareas like secure networks, protection ofcardholder data, vulnerability managementprograms, network monitoring andinformation security policies. Credit unionsare also likely to see some of these areas comeup in their audits and exams.3rd AnnualCheri Perry, President of TotalMerchant Concepts, Inc.,discussed the merchant marketand value-added services thatwere available to it.Vanessa Wolf, BusinessDevelopment Manager atDiebold, talked about ATMsecurity and solutions. Thethreats are very real for creditunions and their members,because of the risk of data ornetwork compromise—and therisk of losing member trust.Steps that credit unions can takefor a safer ATM environmentinclude deterrence through videosurveillance, remote monitoring,member education programs,adherence to governmentregulations and instituting anintegrated security program thatcovers virtually every entry andtouch point to an ATM.Anthony LaMann, VicePresident of Visa GlobalNetwork Services, discussed newtechnology initiatives at Visa.Continued on page 5
MEMBER ACCESS PACIFIC NEWSLETTERUser Conference Highlights. ContinuedWaterfront Credit Union Migrates. ContinuedDon Shafer, Chairman ofBancVue, presented the valueadded benefits of identifyingprofitable members throughtheir card use histories and otherMCIF information—ultimatelylinking this information toincentives like free checkingaccounts that pay high interestand that refund ATM fees.Shafer projected end results ofmore profitable members andstronger member retention.“The end to end project takes 120 days,because there is thorough testing andcertification of all transactions before thecredit union goes live with the onlineinterface—but the impact to credit unionmembers and staff is virtually nil,” said MikeMurphy, Member Access Pacific’s Directorof Implementation. “The credit unionemployees continue to use the same systemthat they used with their batch processingenvironment, except that it now functions inan online, real-time mode.”Member Access Pacific hostedattendees in a private box at theMariners game, and the Marinerswon!MAP performs all project management andimplementation for online processing. Itmeets with the credit union, Visa and thecredit union’s data processor to developthe project plan, and then sees to it thatthe plan is executed through a successfulimplementation. “We work with a singleIssue 9 Oct. 2006point of contact at the creditunion,” said Mike Murphy.“We see to it that everything isthoroughly tested so that all wehave to do is to “flip the switch”and online processing is there.”Waterfront’s Bill Holguin agreed.“Member Access Pacific did agood job of staying on top ofthe project. It eliminated all ofmy worries.MAP is one of ourtop vendors. They were a criticalingredient in making this projectan overwhelming success for usand our members.”For more information on theonline Visa card processinginterface, contact Mike Murphyat 866-598-0698 x7112.MAP and Visa News4 Visa Promotions. Visa has teamed with Disney on the Magical GatheringsTM program, which gives creditunion members a chance to win a vacation at Walt Disney World Resort. The Magical GatheringsTM promotionwill run until the end of October, and turnkey marketing materials are readily available from Visa.Visa has financial and educational materials available for the Hispanic community. The materials discuss reloadable,prepaid cards; check cards and credit cards—and can be customized with your logo and contact information.For more information on the above two programs, contact Herb Tajalle at 866-598-0698 x7116.4 Visa Extras. Visa has inked a multi-year agreement with Maritz Loyalty Marketing as its new Visa Extraspartner. Maritz is a leader in providing full service marketing solutions with superior awards and fulfillments. Thenew program takes effect September 30, 2006.Page 5
MEMBER ACCESS PACIFIC NEWSLETTERMember AccessPacific Participatesin BizKids JuniorAchievement ProgramSponsored by PBSMember Access Pacific was part of a nationalcommunity of credit unions, service providers andindividuals around the United States that came togetherto support the production of a PBS television seriesentitled BizKid , and to combine the lessons fromthis series with Junior Achievement efforts in FinancialLiteracy for kids.The producers of BizKid also produce Bill Nye, theScience Guy. They have earned 26 Emmy awards fortheir achievements in children’s educational television.The goal of BizKid is to teach kids aboutentrepreneurship and financial literacy through humorand real life success stories and financial challenges. Theshow will also feature a 30-second sponsorship plug atthe beginning and end of each program that highlightscredit unions and demonstrates the “credit uniondifference.”Like others in the credit union and public educationsectors, Member Access Pacific is committed toeducating youngsters in sound financial managementpractices. One BizKid episode teaches kids aboutpersonal finance, with practical applications ofbalancing a personal budget. A second episode teachesyoungsters about commerce, and how individual effortsaffect relationships with other businesses.In today’s environment, more teenagers file forbankruptcy than graduate from college. The ongoinggoal of BizKid supporters will be to continually fundraise to support ongoing programming and educationaloutreach targeted toward young Americans who are juststarting to learn about the world of finance.Page 6Issue 9 Oct. 2006Member Access PacificOffers Members NewBancVue RewardsChecking ProgramIn a businesspartnership withBancVue, providerof Rewards Checking, Member Access Pacificis bringing clients an innovative approach toreward their members with high interest andATM refunds that goes hand in hand withdebit card usage. “Member relationships aremulti-faceted, and must deliver value to bothcredit unions and their members in many areas,including debit cards and checking accounts,”said Cyndie Martini, President and CEO ofMember Access Pacific.The focus on checking accounts is critical.“Over the last year, the fastest-growing website forincrease in hits in the United States belongs to HSBC,a major bank” said Don Shafer, Chairman of BancVue.“This is a bank that currently offers 5.05% interest ona savings account. ING Direct, Immigrant Bank andCitiBank are also following suit. At the same time,current data indicates that over half of the credit unionsin the United States are closing more checking accountsthan they are opening.”Shafer says that what credit unions need is a strongerchecking account product that can give credit unionsmore profitable members, when combined with cardactivity and other factors.Shafer says that the average productivity of creditunions’ traditional free checking programs has been:Free Checking customers maintain an averageaccount balance of 1,200;Continued on page 7
MEMBER ACCESS PACIFIC NEWSLETTERIssue 9 Oct. 2006BancVue Rewards Checking Program. ContinuedThey only make about six debit card transactionsper month;Fewer than 35% actually use Direct Deposit;About 1% sign up to receive an e-statement;Only about 25% use online banking serviceThese free checking members only stay with their creditunions for an average of 5 years, generating an averageof 215 per member account in annual profit.The results of what Rewards Checking hasaccomplished illustrate how credit unions can competewith the larger banks in a highly competitive market.RC customers have average balances of around 8,500;They use their debit cards 20 – 30 times monthly;80% of Reward Checking customers use DirectDeposit;Almost 80% receive e-statementsMore than 80% use online banking .By targeting areas of membership with higher accountbalances, higher transaction activity and higher use oftechnology, credit unions can improve their per accountprofits to nearly 455 per member annually, basedon BancVue’s empirical results. BancVue research alsoreveals that these rewards checking members stay withthe credit union for an average of nine years, which is70% longer than the retention rate of traditional freechecking programs.In a nutshell, here’s how the BancVue program worksin combination with Member Access Pacific debitprocessing:The program is built around a free checkingproduct that offers two rewards; an attractiveinterest rate comparable to CD rates andrefunds of all ATM fees.The member receives the rewards when theymeet certain requirements.Monthly debit card transactions are trackedfor each account as one determining factor ofmember qualification for rewards checking;Other criteria for the member to receive therewards may be utilizing direct deposit or otherACH, using online banking, making online billpayments and signing up for e-statements.Institutions find that they can pay the higher interestrates on checking accounts through the savings theyrecognize from fewer paper checks and statements toprocess, the lower costs of electronic (versus tellerbased) transactions, and the increase in interchange feesfrom the higher debit card usage.“On the consumer side, we have found that refunds ofATM fees are a huge perceived benefit,” said BancV
Members New BancVue Rewards Checking Program Member Access Pacifi c Makes it Easy to be Free with MoneyPass Letter from the CEO P A GE 2 P A GE 3 P A GE 4 P A GE 5 P A GE 6 . Grace continued, “BECU is proud to support this non-profi t coalition dedicated to serving credit
