SW Corp, Fed Team On Program

PLANO, Texas - Based in a state that shares a border with Mexico, Southwest Corporate FCU is attuned to the opportunities to be had in the burgeoning Hispanic marketplace throughout the U.S.

For credit unions who want to grow their business in the Hispanic market, Southwest SVP-Sales and Marketing Bob Rehm said Southwest Corporate recently began offering a product in conjunction with the Federal Reserve and Banco de Mexico known as Directo a Mexico.

"It is a program that allows a person in this country to transfer funds to a person in Mexico via the ACH system," he said. "It is, in effect, an international ACH transfer. The advantage is it is very low-cost: under a dollar to the credit union to do this transfer on behalf of their members. It can cost $10 to $15 out in the marketplace. And, the exchange rate is very good. It offers a very low-cost way to move money from the credit union to someone in Mexico."

On the money savings side, Rehm said teller capture is a way Southwest Corporate is helping CUs reduce branch expenses by removing much of the expense of collecting checks, using either branch capture, in which there is one scanner used by all tellers, or teller capture, in which there is a scanner installed at every teller station. For branch capture and teller capture combined, he said Southwest currently has 115 CUs live and several more in the talking stages.

Another good deal: structured certificates of deposits. "We can offer credit unions 10 to 15 basis points above agency securities. This is a good help on the bottom line, and these days, credit unions are looking to add wherever they can."