SAN DIMAS, Calif. — The Financial Service Centers Cooperativeexpects to award $2 million in dividends to its members fortransactions concluded in 2006, the network said.

The dividend will represent a 12% increase over 2005 and willcome after the network's annual audit in April. The dividend ispaid to network member credit unions for transactions acquired attheir branches.

The dividend comes on top of $400,000 distributed to creditunions in December 2006, which was the final cash payout ofdividends from 2002.

The network processed 45 million transactions in 2006, FSCCsaid, with deposits of over $5 billion, withdrawals of over $1billon, credit advances of over $18 million and payments of $255million.

“There is no shared branching without credit unions willing toshare their branches, so we are deeply grateful to our acquirersfor this level of cooperation,” states Sarah Canepa Bang, CEO ofFSCC. “At the same time, we continue to invest resources towardeven further expansion of the network including kiosks, our callcenter and more–this benefits all issuers and acquirers.”

In November 2006, the FSCC Board of Directors approved the 2007Patronage Dividend strategy, which will again be based on acquiredtransactions.

FSCC has been able to return sizeable Patronage Dividends yearafter year, with some credit unions receiving annual dividends inthe hundreds of thousands of dollars, the network said.

Currently, FSCC is working with the 7-Eleven convenience storechain to expand shared branching services through select 7-Elevenstores, allowing members to access their credit union accounts atover 2,000 additional locations across the country, the networkadded.