Three Hurricane-Stricken CUs Start Shared Branching to Help Members

ATLANTA. – Three credit unions striving to serve their members in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have either begun or ramped up their use of shared branching, according to the CUSC, one of the nations three shared branching networks. Two of the three, the $48 million Jefferson Parish Employees FCU, headquartered in Jefferson, Louisiana, and the $7 million Sewage and Water Employees FCU, headquartered in New Orleans, have begun newly using shared branching. The $1 billion Keesler FCU, headquartered in Biloxi Mississippi, upgraded its previously limited participation. “The service center network has saved the Louisiana credit union movement from a PR nightmare,” said Anne Cochran, CEO of the Louisiana Credit Union League, “and given many of the New Orleans and surrounding affected parishes members with a method to get cash into their hands fast.”