Mexico's second largest credit union has launched the country's first non-bank ATM network, LIBERred. The network comes 18 months after the World Council of Credit Unions launched a one- year technical assistance program at Libertad, with support from the Arizona league.
Fifty ATMs have gone live, and by the end of the first quarter of 2005, 25 more will have been added. During the next phase ATMs will be installed in companies and malls throughout Queretaro and Guanajuato-the states in which Libertad has the largest presence.
A crowd of more than 450 was on hand for the launch of the network, including Francisco Garrido Patron, governor of Guanajuato and Gary Plank, president of the Arizona league and first vice chairman of WOCCU.
Libertad has 69 branches spanning 12 Mexican states and 32 cities. It serves more than 480,000 members across Mexico and has combined assets of US$365 million. In 2005 the credit union will open six new branches in the states of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, all with ATMs, as well as four new rural branches in Veracruz.
