TACOMA, Wash. – Everything continues to go as planned for Harborstone CU to launch its business banking unit in October. Harborstone CU, the third largest credit union in Washington State with $550 million in assets, is already offering small business investment services through its CUSO, Harborstone Investment Services. The CUSO has a total of $60 million in assets under management, and $5 million of that is from 50 small business clients. The CUSO has a total of 1,500 clients. John Rudisill is president of Harborstone Investment Services, and Dennis Flem is the CUSO's vice president. The new Small Business Banking Unit, however, will operate directly through the credit union. It will offer various small business services such as commercial loans and lines of credit, business checking and deposits, employee benefit programs such as 401K plans, business insurance, and business owner financial services such as Keogh and retirement planning. The credit union has shored up its small business management team with the hiring of Mike McKeon as vice president of business services. He has over 30 years of experience in community banking and commercial lending management. Harborstone CU has 50,000 members, and it estimates about 2,500 of them are small business owners. The credit union defines small business as having $10 million or less in revenue. "Most credit unions, when they start out offering small business services, begin on the loan side," said Harborstone CU spokesman John Renforth. "We started out on the investment side because our small business members approached the CUSO." Renforth said it's important for credit unions offering small business services to offer an array of products. "When talking with a small business member, you never know where your opportunities to be of service to them are going to be. That's why you have to be ready to offer them any type of service they need," he said. Renforth said Harborstone's objective is to integrate its small business services in to its branch system. Instead of having the team "just sit in the corner, we want everyone in all the branches to be able to handle the business banking services, particularly on the deposit side," he said. Harborstone CU's members primarily reside or work in the South Sound market from the cities of Aubern to Olympia. The CU currently has eight branches, as well as a call center, and plans to open two more branches later this year in the Puget Sound and Lacey areas. -

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