After a year-long re-examination of its member business lendingoperations, Northeast CUSO announced Monday that it will close shopand distribute capital to its six credit union owners.

Steve White, chairman, and Scott Anderson, CEO of the Keene,N.H.-based CUSO, made the announcement.

Northeast said it will continue to provide services to itscurrent 20 partners until April 2013, after which, it will wind upoperations over a period of months.

The CUSO offers business lines, term loans and commercial realestate loans for member-owned businesses. The credit union ownersare:

• $892 million Workers' Credit Union in Fitchburg, N.H.
• $790 million RTN Federal Credit Union in Waltham, N.H.
• $1.1 billion Metro Credit Union in Chelsea, N.H.
• $1.9 billion HarborOne Credit Union in Brockton, Mass.
• $219 million Westerly Community Credit Union in Westerly, R.I.
• $332 million Heritage Family Credit Union in Rutland, Vt.
• Medical Area Federal Credit Union (Effective Dec. 2, Medical Area FederalCredit Union merged with RTN FCU).

“It is not easy to make a decision like this, particularlywhen you have a successful business”, said Anderson. “We are aboutto conclude our sixth straight year of profitable operations and ifwe ran the company based solely upon that measurement, we mightcontinue.”

Anderson said looking ahead, Northeast's management and theboard agreed that now is an ideal time to exit this business andput the capital to use in other ways.

“We decided to do this now, while we are making money and have alot of cash, which allows us to protect the interests of ourcustomers and employees,” Anderson said.

Northeast was formed in 2004 to help credit unions develop smallbusiness portfolios. The CUSO said it processed over $1 billion ofsuch loans for 20 customers in eight states.

In February 2011, the CUSO said it boosted its 2010 revenue by 19% and doubled itsnet earnings that year after a profitable showing in 2009 aswell.

“We started and built a successful business,” White said. “Thereare a lot of credit unions that got into business services and arethere to stay, thanks to the work of Northeast CUSO and itsteam.

White said “when management – Anderson, and Chief OperatingOfficer Rick Slater – said that the MBL environment was changing,our board listened, and we collectively agreed to a new approachthat does not require a CUSO. At that point our main goal was totake good care of customers and staff, and we will do that.”

Slater said the staff and board members remain the CUSO's mostvaluable assets and without them, Northeast would not havesucceeded.

“I greatly appreciate our credit union customers, without whomthere is no business,” Slater said. “We did a lot of good worktogether and I believe they have a bright future in businessservices. It really has been fun and rewarding.”