SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A California credit union known for being on the cutting edge of technology has signed on to offer a bank's remittance services not only to its own members but to other banks and credit unions as well.
The $801 million KeyPoint Credit Union said a CUSO it established a decade ago-KeyPoint Financial Services-will handle the sale of remittance services provided by the Bank of New York Mellon both to its own members and to other financial institutions that wish to offer them.
Bank of New York Mellon is a $23 trillion bank formed in 2007 from a merger of Mellon Financial Corp. and the Bank of New York Co. "The Bank of New York Mellon is a leading asset management and securities services company, uniquely focused to help clients manage and move their financial assets and succeed in the rapidly changing global marketplace," the bank said. In practice, this translates into a focus primarily on serving other financial institutions or on high-income, high-asset individuals.
This also means, when it comes to remittance services, that the bank offers a combination of the ability for account-to-account international remittances at a cost far lower than comparable services offered by Western Union and other providers.
Juli Ann Callis, chief operating officer for the CU, described the new offering as a service that practically came looking for the credit union.
"Financial institutions have been looking for a way into the remittance space without a lot of the costs and technical problems," Callis explained. "We have a long history of being a technologically savvy credit union, and we had members who have also been interested in remittances and had been using other providers."
In a release announcing the service, the bank described it as unlocking the global remittance door, allowing client banks in the U.S. to capture a bigger share of this growing market without incurring undue technology risk or development expense.
"Since our inception, we have focused on technology as the key resource in meeting the banking needs of our members," Callis said. "The Bank of New York Mellon's Remit Worldwide platform measures up to the global interests and technologically advanced expectations of our members, and we're delighted to be adding remittance payments to our extensive list of service offerings."
Callis said that the KeyPoint had become particularly interested in Remit Worldwide after it became clear that the demand for remittance services among its members was not falling off.
Although the majority of remittances from the U.S. have flowed to Mexico, along with Central American and South American countries, Callis said KeyPoint's members that use the services have been from places like the Philippines and Vietnam.
These members have been drawn to the Santa Clara area by the opportunity of the tech sector as well as by a commitment to entrepreneurship, Callis said.
She added that the credit union sensed an advantage in the Remit Worldwide's emphasis on signing up other financial institutions for the service, noting that even a credit union alternative such as IRnet, offered by the World Council of Credit Unions, was not readily available in the area. Additionally, it was not something offered to financial institutions broadly.
KeyPoint has emphasized technology ever since its inception in 1979 as the credit union for the AeA (then called the American Electronics Association), and has since expanded its field of membership to include employees from high-tech firms such as Apple Computer and, in 2004, adopting a community-based FOM as well.
–dmorrison@cutimes.com

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KeyPoint CU to Offer Remittance Services for Members-and Banks

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