ATLANTA - The Maine Credit Union League has signed with Credit Union Service Corporation to provide its member credit unions with a network for shared branching services. CUSC is the Atlanta-based national shared branch network which has a substantial amount of league participation. The initial expansion of Maine locations will occur through an outlet concept where credit unions open all or some of their existing branches to the other participant credit unions' members. The new Maine network expects its first credit union service center outlets to be in place by January, CUSC said. The entrance of Maine increases CUSC's lead in participating state networks to 23 and greatly enhances its foothold in the Northeast, where New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania are already participants. Craig Beach, Vice President of Marketing for CUSC said the League has at least eight credit unions interested in signing on, and was scrambling to accommodate the greater than expected interest. "They had an organizational meeting and anticipated about six or eight credit unions showing up," Beach explained. "But they told me later that they had 70 people representing 56 credit unions show up at the meeting," he added. "Credit unions now offer many remote access products which have been well received by members yet market research reveals that, despite significant investments in technology, members still select their primary financial institution based on the convenience of office locations," said John Murphy, President/CEO of the Maine Credit Union League. "We are fortunate to have another progressive organization join CUSC," added Carroll Beach, president/CEO of CUSC. "Maine has long been known as one of the most progressive states when it comes to fostering and serving credit unions. Their cooperative inclinations have made them very successful in developing new credit union programs that enable credit unions to better serve their members.