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Two Florida consulting firms that work with credit unions nationwide, BankSmart and engage fi, have partnered to jointly market their services and further enhance their offerings for credit unions and community banks, the organizations announced Thursday.
The Tampa-based engage fi, formerly CU Engage, assists financial institutions with key vendor decisions related to payments, digital offerings and technology, with services including vendor evaluations and contract negotiations; conversion and implementation services; assessments of platforms including processing, technology, digital, payments and analytics strategy; and key vendor invoice analysis against contracted items.
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BankSmart, a community bank consulting firm based in Clearwater, runs the related entity CUSmart, which offers credit union-exclusive consulting services related to data processing vendor evaluation, new/renewal contract negotiation, de novo formation, payment card/interchange optimization services and "SmartKit" services for institutions to effectively self-manage merger, branch opening and data processing conversion projects.
According to the announcement, the partnership between the two organizations is "an opportunity to strengthen and expand their current offerings to existing and new clients as well as collaborate on industry best practices for the ultimate success of their clients with technology and payments strategies, improved efficiency and reduced operating expenses."
Jennifer Addabbo, CEO and co-founder of engage fi, stated, "We are excited to collaborate with Jim [Wilkson] and his team of experts at BankSmart and look forward to continuing to guide our mutual clients through their critical vendor evaluation process and educating our clients as to the M&A and branch opening offerings that BankSmart & CUSmart provide, especially in a very active acquisition market."
BankSmart President Jim Wilkson added, "We have admired Jenn, James [Guild] and the engage fi team for many years as a highly respected source of counsel for the financial institution community across the country. Their suite of services has proven its value to clients and will be a strong supplement to our BankSmart offerings as we work together for the benefit of the financial services industry."
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
