CO-OP Financial Services will continue getting paymentsettlement services from Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Unionand the two organizations said they plan to expand theirrelationship.

CO-OP has been getting the service from Western BridgeCorporate. The NCUA in December awarded Catalyst the right to buy the conserved Western Bridgeand its settlement services, which include check clearing, ACH, EFTand ATM transactions.

“The agreement expands the business partnership between CO-OPFinancial Services and Catalyst, which also markets network access and otherservices from CO-OP,” the Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., CUSO saidin a statement.

“From the standpoint of technical power, and as an existingbusiness partner, Catalyst will conduct high-quality paymentsettlement services without disruption of any kind for ourclients,” said Stan Hollen, CO-OP president/CEO.

“CO-OP continues to be a solid supporter of corporate credit unions and this partnership demonstrates thatcorporates have a key role in the future of our movement,” hesaid.

Texas-based Catalyst was formed late last year as amerger of Southwest Bridge Corporate and Georgia Corporate andsaid it currently serves more than 1,000 credit unions.

CO-OP Financial Services is the largest CUSO in the country interms of number of associated credit unions, assets and members,according to a 2011 survey by Callahan & Associates. It said itnow has more than 3,000 credit union clients, 30 millioncardholders, 28,000 surcharge-free ATMs, 4,400 shared branchlocations and handles more than 2.2 billion annualtransactions.