CUJ News Review: 2 New England CUs Join Network

Two large New England credit unions have entered into shared branching agreements with Financial Service Centers Cooperative (FSCC). The $1.6-billion Digital Federal Credit Union here and the $700- million Service Credit Union, Portsmouth, N.H. both plan to join the network, which includes 786 branches in 35 states, Guam, Japan, South Korea and Italy. Seven-hundred CUs currently participate.

Prior to signing this agreement, Digital FCU was an "issuing" credit union for three years, meaning its members could use other network member credit unions' branches. Now Digital FCU will accept transactions (as an "acquiring" credit union). Service Credit Union enters the program as both an issuer and an acquirer. Service plans to become an issuer on June 1 and to begin processing acquirer transactions in October. The new agreements are the first signed under a sales and marketing agreement New England Credit Union Services, LLC signed with the FSCC shared branching network.