ATLANTA, Ga. — Shared branching has picked up another CU; this time in Connecticut.

The $334 million Connex Credit Union, headquartered in New Haven, has become the 13th Connecticut credit union to start offering its members shared branching services, according to the CO-OP Shared Branching network.

CO-OP Shared Branching is the shared branching arm of CO-OP Financial Services, the payments CUSO which is also the parent CUSO for the CO-OP Network.

Connex made the move by joining SCCT LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the $601 million Charter Oak Federal Credit Union, which is turn affiliated with CO-OP Shared Branching.

Over the past few years, many CUs have chosen to offer shared branching as a part of a emergency preparedness strategy, but Connex highlighted shared branching's increased convenience for members as the reason for signing up.

“This is a strategic move for our credit union to expand services to our members,” says John Edwards, CEO of Connex CU. “Overnight, we have added over 3,300 branch outlets where our members can access their accounts. The benefits are twofold – our credit union saves money by not having to build expensive branches and we enhance the service relationship with our members.”

Kevin O'Donnell, vice president of Charter Oak FCU and a SCCT board member, echoed Edwards' comments. “Shared branching is an effective way for credit unions to share resources and to compete with the major expansion of bank branches occurring within Connecticut and across the country,” he said.

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Advance Financial Monkeys Around

SCHERERVILLE, Ind. — Advance Financial Federal Credit Union is now providing the latest must-have accessory for newborns at local hospitals.

Starting this month, several local hospitals, including St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago and St. Margaret Hospital in Dyer, will begin including custom baby bibs featuring AFFCU Kids' Club mascot Moe Monkey to be included in free, congratulatory packets handed out to new mothers.

The packet also includes an invitation for parents to stop by any of Advance Financial's three branches to claim a free, AFFCU Moe Monkey plush toy when they open a free Kids' Club account for their child. Advance Financial will even deposit the first $5 into the account to get the savings started.

“One of the most important skills that parents can provide their children is a foundation for forming smart financial habits that will benefit them throughout their lifetime,” said Advance Financial Marketing Director Samantha Knight. “It's important to start early and make it fun for kids to think about spending money wisely and saving money for the future. That's why we created the AFFCU Kids' Club program–and everyone loves Moe.”

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Watermark Completes Second Merger

SEATTLE — Watermark Credit Union has completed its second merger with the help of a consultant that specializes in working with the Symitar Episys core processing system.

CUTEK of Murrieta, Calif., helped $551 million Watermark with programming for four weeks of the four-month merger with Share CU that culminated on May 31.

The consultancy also helped with Watermark's merger with Northwest Retail
FCU in 2006.

Brent Evans, Watermark's executive vice president of operations, said the second merger built on the experience from the first and that credit unions shouldn't underestimate the task of merging data when they look at an upcoming merger of organizations.

“You have to pick which areas you have the energy to conquer on your own,” Evans said.

“We merged member data on our own in previous mergers but learned that this is one area where it is well worth it to bring on some outside help with proven Symitar

expertise,” he said.

Ron Murray, president of CUTEK, said, “Credit union mergers continue to occur in this industry at a rapid pace. But behind the scenes, the core database conversion work must be performed with care and accuracy to ensure a smooth transition for all parties.”

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