A reduction in overhead expenses was the largest contributingfactor to Business Partners LLC being profitable for the firstthree months of 2013, the member business lending CUSO saidMonday.

According to officials, the organization analyzed multiple areasto cut costs.

“In many ways, Business Partners is redefining itself by getting back tobasics. We have a very strong capital position so we can reinvestin the business by making improvements in technology, while at thesame time making significant improvements to our balance sheet byreducing expenses,” said Dave Maus, president/CEO of the $1.2billion Public Service Credit Union in Denver and board chairman ofBusiness Partners in Chatsworth, Calif.

These moves have allowed the CUSO to focus more on expanding itsparticipation levels and commercial real estate lending servicesfor credit unions, Maus added.

Additional moves included the formation of a credit reviewcommittee, consisting of the chief lending officers from BusinessPartners' primary owner-credit unions, the CUSO said. Their mainresponsibility is to ensure that each loan originated throughBusiness Partners meets particular lending criteria.

In November, Business Partners announced three new principalowners of the CUSO. In addition to Public Service CU, the $610million Farmers Insurance Group Federal Credit Union in Los Angelesand the $523 million Great Lakes Credit Union in North Chicago,Ill., are now the lead shareholders. The CUSO now has 15 creditunion shareholders.

“Every loan is reviewed to ensure risk tolerance levels complywith BP's guidelines, which provides our participants with an extralayer of support in their underwriting process,” Maus said.

Business Partners also said that the NCUA had reached anagreement to sell its controlling interest to a managing partnergroup consisting of the three principal owner credit unions. Theprice was not disclosed.

The CUSO said it serves more than 150 financial institutions in40 states.

Founded in 1995 by the now-defunct Telesis Community CreditUnion, for much of 2012, Business Partners had been operating underthe management of the NCUA after the regulator was appointed theconservator of Telesis last March shortly after the California Department ofFinancial Institutions shuttled the troubled credit union intoconservatorship.