SAN ANTONIO - Some fellow Texans are getting together to try to make their mark on the indirect auto lending industry in credit union land. Southwest Business Corp. of San Antonio, an established provider of risk management, insurance and technology solutions to more than 600 credit unions for nearly 30 years, is now offering the SAIL (Software Application for Indirect Lending) platform from Teres Solutions Inc. as an ASP hosted on SWBC's servers. The deal also calls for Teres Solutions to market SWBC products, and marks a milestone for the Austin-based company, which started in 2002 and now serves 24 credit unions. (See related story on Teres on page 28.) "SWBC is recognized not only as an industry leader but a trusted partner with credit unions. Having it endorse our product and our company carries a tremendous amount of weight with the credit union industry," said Bruce Callen, president of Teres Solutions. The new offering can expect to encounter stiff competition, including from CUDL, the CU Direct CUSO that already serves hundreds of credit unions in more than 30 states. The SWBC-Teres partnership expects to compete on price and technology, company officials said. SWBC said it will operate the SAIL application on its servers and enable credit unions to review and approve loans using a Web browser, requiring minimal involvement from IT staff. Multiple software licensing and servicing options also will offered, and the SAIL system already is "a more cost-effective solution than any of the other systems and programs we looked at," and will be offered at a discounted rate, said Mark Hein, CEO of the Credit Union Division at SWBC. "By packaging this with SWBC services we are able to be very flexible, which will allow more credit unions to participate," Hein said. Hein said SWBC's arrangement with Teres Solutions joins its partnership with San Antonio Federal Credit Union that offers other credit unions a "turnkey" indirect solution if they don't want to create their own. However, creating their own should not be problematic with the SWBC-Teres solution, the companies said. "The ASP model offered by SWBC allows a credit union to process indirect loans with no upfront cost and the ability to start almost instantly," said Callen. "Smaller credit unions appreciate the lack of upfront cost and larger credit unions appreciate the simplicity and the fact that it does not take up valuable from their IT departments," he said. Perhaps the most noteworthy technical challenge was linking the two companies themselves. "SWBC is SAS 70 certified and we had to develop a delivery platform with Teres that did not degrade the security of information," Hein said, adding that the San Antonio-based company has a 29-person programming staff to develop its various products and services. -
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