Georgia Credit Union Taps Open Solutions

Atlanta-based Georgia Central Credit Union (GCCU) has selected Open Solutions' The Complete Credit Union Solution to handle its transaction and integration processes.

GCCU, which comprises 230 member credit unions in Georgia and bordering states, is a corporate credit union that provides investment products for liquidity and cash management, as well as loans and certificates of deposit to its members.

After learning last year that its current operating platform was no longer going to be supported, GCCU began investigating new data processing vendors. Conversations with peer corporate credit unions led to Open Solutions' core processing platform.

"Since the time had come to make a change, we took the opportunity to explore what Georgia Central really needed in a core operating system, both for now and into the future," said Greg Moore, president and CEO at $1.6 billion GCCU. "A major priority was to acquire a system that is operationally flexible and streamlines data retrieval for our reporting needs."

"Open Solutions was selected after the staff performed extensive research on a range of solutions available in the marketplace," Moore added.

Open Solutions designed the system to be an open environment application, creating the flexibility necessary for running an agile, service-oriented institution. The system delivers real-time core processing, total account creation flexibility and embedded business intelligence capabilities.

Dawn Sirras, GCCU's assistant vp of product development and information technology, said, "We needed a solution that would enable us to seamlessly integrate with our third-party vendors, and let us bring new products to market very quickly and efficiently. Open Solutions platform had that functionality and much more."

The credit union also sought to minimize conversion costs and time expenditure by selecting a product that most closely fit their requirements "out of the box."

Sirras said, "Open Solutions offered the business-to-business features to support activities that might not be required by a retail credit union, such as automated settlement and account analysis and billing, but that are integral to a corporate business objectives."

"Open Solutions was the right choice for Georgia Central because it facilitates the type of innovative, continuously-improving service we want to provide to our member credit unions," according to Moore. "Its flexible infrastructure broadens our options and simplifies the implementation of enhancements and the new product solutions we deliver."

Separately, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, Bethpage, N.Y., has contracted with Open Solutions to handle its retail transactions, consumer loan servicing and integration strategy. Bethpage CU, with more than 115,000 members in Long Island, N.Y., is undertaking the largest technology conversion in New York State credit union history.

Bethpage CU president and CEO Kirk Kordeleski said that the credit union's conversion to the new, more flexible platform would be completed by November.

"As a not-for-profit financial cooperative, Bethpage is committed to providing a full range of affordable products and services to its members. This core system conversion underscores that commitment as we expand operations and incorporate the latest technology."

The Open Solutions system will enable Bethpage CU to offer increasingly streamlined and expanded services to its members at competitive rates, said Kordeleski. Because the system is compatible with existing applications, the credit union will be able to integrate new, customized products and services seamlessly.

Bethpage CU will harness Open Solutions' software to offer such capabilities as online signature and picture verification of members, extended deposit and lending systems, enhanced business functionality, integrated optical storage for reports and forms, and customization of products.