CO-OP Network staying on its national EFT network course

ONTARIO, Calif. - The CO-OP Network continues its coast-to-coast quest to become a true national EFT network for the credit union industry. At press time, CO-OP Network announced that it has made a deal to make its first entrance into Tennessee. According to the CO-OP Network, it has acquired the ATM operations of CU Services Inc., a subsidiary of the Tennessee Credit Union League. "At the start of 2000, we pledged to our member credit unions that we'd remain focused on aggressive national growth," said Robert Rose, CO-OP Network president and CEO. "The ATM acquisition in Tennessee is an important component in helping us move closer to establishing a true national cooperative of credit unions." With the acquisition, the CO-OP Network is now in 33 states. Rose and CO-OP Network have been using acquisitions to grow the network. Some key acquisitions include CU Access, which gave it greater penetration in the Northwest; and CU Link, increasing its presence in Colorado and Wyoming. CO-OP Network is currently the sixth largest EFT company, behind STAR, MAC, NYCE, The Exchange and Pulse. Rose believes that EFT merger and acquisition activity is going to increase in the next few years as smaller networks struggle to keep up. "Our plans are to continue working with Tennessee credit unions to build ATM deployment throughout the state, and to continue expanding our geographic reach across the country. With national growth, we can continue to meet the needs of our credit union clients and their members through increased deposit and surcharge-free ATM access and enhanced products and services." The latest stats on CO-OP Network show it serving 600 credit unions; operating some 3,750 ATMs in 33 states; processing 30 million transactions a month; and providing surcharge-free access to approximately 7.7 million members. One goal of CO-OP Network, said Rose, is to keep a high percentage of deposit-taking ATMs. Currently around 65% of its ATMs take deposits. Other than continued expansion, Rose said CO-OP Network wants to help credit unions with their online efforts. Just recently CO-OP Network announced that it would begin offering SafeDebit to its CU members. SafeDebit is a PIN-based debit card payment method that requires a physical presence. The physical presence is expected to reduce online fraud and make consumers feel more comfortable at time of purchase. Basically, when a member wants to make an online purchase, they need to insert a SafeDebit card disk into their CD-ROM. Members will have to do that each time they make a purchase. SafeDebit can be a revenue generator for CO-OP Network since it could increase debit transactions, which CO-OP Network earns anywhere from three to five cents on. -pgentile@cutimes.com