Payment Industry Insider

This series of posts will outline the sessions at the 2008 Partnership Symposium.

Session Speaker

Robbie Wright, General Manager, fi-linx

Session Overview

How do you turn an obstacle or problem into a potential business opportunity? In this session, Robbie from fi-linx, a CUSO of MaPS Credit Union, will discuss how the CU has taken challenges and turned them into new CUSO ventures and partnerships. He will review the CUSO industry and discuss past and present CUSO ventures, the role that credit union employees play in the formation of new a CUSO, and what the CUSO landscape may look like in the not too distant future.

Session Notes

Below are some of my highlights from Robbie’s session.

MaPS Credit Union had a problem (deposit reclassification) and turned it into a CUSO, fi-linx.

A CUSO is a subsidiary of one or more CUs that provides FI services and operational services primarily to CUs and/or members of affiliated CUs. CUSOs enhance the ability of CUs to serve members and earn revenue from additional sources.

Considerations for CUSOs include:

• board representation
• legal structure
• 51% of sales/clients must be CUs
• credit union culture

Many CUSOs that have been started were created as a result of a problem being experienced by CUs, rather than an idea to create a business for the sake of creating it.