With the mission of sharing best practices in the business lending arena, 15 CUSOs have come together to form Regional CUSO Alliance to promote sound business loan participation activity in their local markets.

The new alliance represents 15 regional business lending CUSOs, 422 credit unions, 149 full-time employees and an aggregate loan portfolio of $2.2 billion. Together, the CUSOs represent

California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New England Area, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The partnership aims to collaborate in business lending by leveraging local knowledge and shared expertise to promote sound lending practices to credit unions in the communities they serve, according to Regional CUSO Alliance.

The regional business lending CUSOs are:

Business Lending Group Inc.

Centennial Lending LLC

Commercial Alliance

Community Business Lenders

Cooperative Business Services LLC

CU Business Solutions LLC

East Coast Business Lenders LLC

Heartland Business Services

Innovative Business Solutions LLC

Keystone Business Lending Solutions

Members Business Services

Michigan Business Connection LC

Northeast Member Business Services LLC

Spectrum Business Resources LLC

The Cypress Group LLC

"This new and unique initiative provides opportunity for all CUSOs within the Alliance to better serve their consortium of credit unions by utilizing a fresh approach to business lending," said Keith Reed, president/CEO of Cooperative Business Services.