Credit: desinko/Adobe Stock
The $113 million Clean Energy Federal Credit Union in Englewood, Colo., and fintech Atmos Financial, PBC in San Francisco announced last week that they have formed a new CUSO named Atmos Clean Energy Solutions.
The new CUSO’s mission is to make clean energy lending easy and accessible for every credit union.
Atmos offers banking-type products, including clean-energy loans via its former partnership with Five Star Bank in Warsaw, N.Y. Last year, however, the bank’s parent company announced it would begin winding down its Banking-as-a-Service offerings to focus on its core franchise. In March, Atmos announced it would be shifting its deposit program to Clean Energy to prioritize clean energy lending.
Atmos Clean Energy Solutions’ aim is to provide credit unions with a turnkey, customizable platform to launch and scale clean energy lending programs in less time and cost.
According to the CUSO, distributed clean energy lending (such as rooftop solar, home battery systems and energy efficiency upgrades) is one of the fastest-growing segments of consumer finance, but launching a program from scratch requires significant time, capital and expertise.
Terri Mickelsen, president/CEO of Clean Energy, said adopting a plug-and-play model for solar lending would have been a game-changer when the credit union launched in 2017.
"After using the Atmos solution for over six months, I've been impressed by its simplicity and the support behind it,” Mickelsen said. “It's incredibly accessible and easy for our small team to manage. We spent an extraordinary amount of time and resources building our solution from scratch; being able to offer credit unions a ready-made path, backed by seasoned industry veterans, isn't just convenient, it's invaluable."
Clean Energy’s 40 employees manage a $72.2 million portfolio and serve more than 13,000 members.
“Credit unions have always been at the forefront of community-based finance, and now they have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead in the clean energy transition,” Atmos Financial CEO Ravi Mikkelsen said. “Atmos Clean Energy Solutions was designed to eliminate barriers, accelerate program launches and empower credit unions of all sizes to offer their members affordable, resilient and sustainable energy solutions.”
Peter Strozniak can be reached at pstrozniak@cutimes.com.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.