A Nevada credit union service organization looking to provide more choice to users of its online banking software has struck a reseller alliance with Metavante Technologies Inc.
It is the second reseller alliance this year for Connect Financial Software Solutions LLC of Las Vegas, which Nevada Federal Credit Union formed in 2007 to offer its online banking technology to other credit unions. iPay Technologies LLC of Elizabethtown, Ky., announced in March that Connect would offer its consumer and business bill-payment services.
"We're trying to bring what we think are the best products out there to our potential customers," Charles McCluer, Nevada Federal's chief information officer and the president of Connect Financial, said in an interview Tuesday.
Connect took over hosting for Nevada Federal's online banking service after its formation. Its second hosting client, the $335 million-asset City and County Federal Credit Union of St. Paul, is to go live in October, also using Metavante for bill pay. Mr. McCluer said he expects to be able to announce additional customers in 60 to 90 days.
Metavante, which announced the alliance Tuesday, said Connect had integrated all the functions of Metavante's Bill Payment Manager service into its online banking platform, which Connect can host or which credit unions can install on their own servers. The features include online bill presentment and payment, including Metavante's expedited payments capability.
The integration means that Metavante's hosted service will have the same look and feel as Connect's online banking site.
Jeff Lewis, the president of Metavante's ePayments Solutions division, said that, unlike other major providers of online bill payment, his company does not offer online banking products or services.
"The reseller market is really key to our strategy," Mr. Lewis said in an interview. "These alliances, like the one with Connect, gives us a fuller, deeper reach into the market to reach credit unions we might not otherwise be able to reach."
Most of Metavante's resellers also have a second bill-pay provider they work with, he said. "They like to have that balance because it keeps both of us honest."
The $826 million-asset Nevada Federal has used the Metavante bill-pay system since early this decade. Mr. McCluer said its bill-pay transaction volume and the number of active bill-pay users are growing at double-digit annual rates.
"In the last two and a half years, our adoption rate has increased dramatically," Mr. McCluer said. He estimated that 53,000 of Nevada Federal's 80,000 members bank online and 11,000 pay bills online.
Nevada Federal has hired Metavante Growth and Retention Services to help it run an adoption marketing campaign this year.
