Terms of the deal were not disclosed and the acquisition is expected to be complete by the end of December.

Williams said the combined operation will be headed up by Tim Dolan, a Wescom veteran who becomes WRG's president as Kevin Sarber moves into a senior executive role with the parent credit union.

Alan Brunner, eCU Technologies' chief operating officer, will continue to have a senior role in the new organization although his formal title has not been decided, Williams said.

"We're excited about having Alan and the entire team on board," Williams says. "These are some great credit union technology people."

Greg Smith, Williams' counterpart at $2.9 billion PSECU, says, "The real story here is that eCU and WRG are combining the abilities they have to really take this company to a new level."

The organizations were formed around the same time in 2001 and initially were competitors, with a similar focus on home banking and service bureau solutions, Williams says.

"Then over the last few years we moved in somewhat different directions, with their focus on consulting and their very successful UPost product and our focus more on home banking, automation and service bureau offerings, among other services," Williams said.

"From there it just evolved to eventually we were discussing the fact that maybe bringing these two companies together would make the most sense," Williams said. "And that's where we are."

WRG currently has about 65 employees and offices in Pasadena, Calif,, Florida and Colorado. Its offerings include a hosted service bureau, item processing, disaster recovery, home banking, automated lending, e-statements and alerts, online membership applications and ATM deposit balancing.

eCU Technologies, meanwhile, has the first-of-its-kind UPost online deposit service, online lending, in-house and service bureau processing and home banking, member history conversion, programming and consulting services.

Both CUSOs grew out of notably tech-savvy credit unions. Smith said he and his CIO, Rick Long, would routinely host a visiting credit union or two a month and invariably would be asked to help.

"They'd tell us they couldn't get there without that. We have a fair amount of technical knowledge and felt there was a way we could charge for it so we could help others, and that's what we did. This credit union and my board have always had the feeling that our size required us to do more for others," Smith said.

He points to the big CU's leadership in the creation of a statewide surcharge-free shared ATM network for credit unions as another example.

"We gave up fee income for that arrangement, but that's how it should be," he said. "eCU was one of those kinds of ventures, too.

"But it got to the point where we just weren't ready to make the additional investment to take it to another level. Now it'll go there."

Williams, meanwhile, said he's looking forward to being able to supplement WRG's product offerings with the consulting and software development expertise of eCU Technologies, noting for, example, eCU's success with customizing the Symitar RepGen report generating software.

"We've had clients ask us for that, but that's not really the business we're in. Now we'll be able to go to our existing client base and tell them that we can do that," the Wescom CEO said.

He said WRG also plans to soon enhance the UPost online deposit service with imaging capabilities, so members can not only post, but deposit the check from home using Wescom's Check 21 expertise.

"We're extremely excited about this," Williams said of merging the operations. "We've always had the highest regard for what eCU and PSECU have done and we think it's a great opportunity to bring together some of the absolute innovators of our industry."

PSECU's Smith, meanwhile, calls Long and Brunner and the eCU staff "the real brains of the operation" and says he comes away from the experience "realizing that one thing I've learned is that people who do things really, really well make it look really, really easy."

"I've gained a new respect for people like (Symitar owner) Jack Henry and WRG and our own people who make all that look that way. And the eCU Technologies staff gets all the credit. They've done a phenomenal job for their clients and they are just super, super people."

Smith points with pride to the "fact that in all the years of their operation I had to deal with only one situation from a dissatisfied client, one of out of 130, and that client is still a client today."

Smith also notes that growing regulatory pressures which require the state-chartered CU to "maintain a strict veil, if not a wall" between the CUSO and the parent CU was a factor in the decision to sell.

"Certainly it was a recognition that they are not going to get any easier," the PSECU president said.

Smith also says that while his own IT staff of about 75 will continue its in-house development and support work, he doesn't see another CUSO on the horizon.

"I think my board would like me focusing 100% of my energies now on the credit union business," he said.

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