"Changing market conditions can make it challenging when it comes to balancing the needs of our individual members with the best protection against fraud and other inherent risks," said Jay Caldwell, consumer loan manager at $426 million Merrimack Valley FCU.

"With APPRO's advancement in account acquisition, we are ever more ready to service our members' needs while minimizing the credit union's risk exposure," Caldwell said.

BITS Offers White Paper on Subcontractors

WASHINGTON — A white paper on managing vendor subcontractor relationships is now available from BITS, the technology division of the Financial Services Roundtable.

The paper examines risk and provides guidelines for financial institutions who find their primary vendors increasingly distributing services to subcontractors. Regulatory requirements, policy and contracting considerations, due diligence and monitoring are among topics discussed.

"Financial institutions must increasingly manage risks associated with vendors with whom they have no direct relationship," said Leigh Williams, president of BITS. "This paper helps outline some of the key areas that may be incorporated into a vendor management program."

The white paper was developed under the guidance of the BITS vendor management steering committee and other BITS member companies and is available at www.bitsinfo.org.

The Financial Services Roundtable represents 100 of the largest integrated financial services companies providing banking, insurance, and investment products and services to the American consumer.

CUTEK Signs Its 100th Client

MURRIETA, Calif. — CUTEK is marking three years in business by celebrating the signing of its 100th client.

The century mark was crossed with the sale of address validation server and automated wire transfer products to $1.1 billion Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union of Fairfield, N.J.

CUTEK (www.cutek.net) specializes in serving credit unions running the Symitar Episys core processing system and was founded by former staffers of the San Diego-based subsidiary of Jack Henry and Associates.

The company began in 2005 with six clients using its onsite consulting, project management and custom programming services: San Diego County CU; Matanuska Valley FCU of Palmer, Alaska; Atlantic Financial FCU of Hunt Valley, Md.; IR FCU of Riverdale, Md.; Toyota FCU of Torrance, Calif.; and Watermark FCU of Seattle.

CUTEK also has grown from four to 10 employees, all but one a former Symitar employee.

The company calls Correio AVS–an address validation server that uses U.S. Postal Service's nationwide address database to vet credit unions' member databases–its signature product.

Along with consulting, its other products include wire transfer forms, CAMS alerts, bulk transaction software, dual signature forms and ID scanning software.

"We're so thankful to our clients for this opportunity to leverage our expertise, helping them optimize their operations or provide them with our unique products," Murray said.

"It really is exciting and we look forward to seeing what the next three years and beyond bring us to help enhance the value of credit unions through technology," he said.

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