CHATSWORTH, Calif. — With this year's theme of Built to Compete, Business Partners LLC's business services symposium in April focused on collaboration and best practice exchanges.

Mark Sievewright, corporate senior vice president of Fiserv, spoke on the opportunity for credit unions in a time when profitability has decreased. Bill Hampel, senior vice president of research and policy analysis and chief economist at CUNA, shared insights on the economy's outlook and impact on credit unions. Margaret Dengler Ross, member business lending program specialist at NCUA, also provided her perspective on building programs that meet regulatory audit review.

"As credit union growth and profitability continued to decline in 2007, it has become essential for credit unions to recognize the value in developing expanded business services programs," Sievewright said. "With the small business financial services market worth around $150 billion and business owners displaying an increasing propensity to use a variety of financial products, credit unions can benefit greatly from making those products available to their business members."