WASHINGTON – CUNA has joined BITS, a financial services trade group that studies e-commerce and electronic services in relation to financials. BITS was originally the acronym for Banking Industry Technology Secretariat. It shortened its name to just BITS to reflect its diverse membership. It represents the nation's 100 largest financial services providers. "Through our membership in BITS, CUNA will be receiving, facilitating and sharing with credit unions information on the very latest developments affecting financial institutions in the crucial areas of financial aggregation, online financial services and e-signatures," said CUNA President/CEO Dan Mica. CUNA will be allowed to name CU reps to BITS working groups, forums and task forces. Among the working groups: Aggregation Services, Wireless Technologies, Business Method Patents, Electronic Signatures and Documents (E-Sign), Consumer Privacy and Information Use, Security and Risk Assessment (SRA) and others. CUNA's tech footprint has grown in recent years with a CUNA eCommerce division, as well as a new Credit Union Technology Advisory Center (www.cutac.com), a joint venture with the Tower Group.