PSCU Financial Services Issues $45.4 Million Dividend, Largest Ever Paid by a CUSO

Dividend Included Proceeds from Sales of Visa, MasterCard Stock

St. Petersburg, FL, April 13, 2009 – PSCU Financial Services achieved an impressive milestone today as it issued the largest dividend ever paid by any credit union service organization: $45.4 million for its 2008 operations. Member-owner credit unions received a record 85 percent of the total dividend in cash. This is the fifth year in a row the cooperative’s dividend has exceeded $20 million. In addition to the dividend, financial savings of $12.6 million were passed along throughout 2008 in the form of lower costs—creating a total benefit to members of more than $58 million for the year.

The 2008 distribution included special cash dividends of $35 million resulting from the sale of the Visa and MasterCard stock. The cooperative set a standard for the industry by returning all stock proceeds to its member-owners. PSCU Financial Services was the first CUSO to pass along the proceeds from the stock sales to its shared owners.  

The nation’s largest credit union service organization also reported 2008 revenue of $633 million—a dramatic 12% gain over 2007. The CUSO has posted double digit growth in revenue over the last several years including revenue gain of over 12 percent from 2007 to 2008. 

"The root of our financial accomplishments is greater usage of our core services: credit, debit, online bill payment and Contact Center support. We also posted dramatic growth in member satisfaction and overall leadership within our market segments. And we achieved one of our key objectives, financial value creation of $61 million, through price reductions, dividends, proceeds from stock sales and net income,” said David J. Serlo, President and CEO of PSCU Financial Services. 

“By equipping credit unions with industry-leading, cost-efficient products that serve their members better than ever before, and returning financial value throughout the year, we hope we are helping relieve the pressure felt by all credit unions in these uncertain economic times,” Serlo added. “This difficult economy can be the perfect storm for our industry. It’s time for credit unions to expand programs and offer new services that drive members to make their credit union their primary financial institution. That loyalty will boost revenues and reverse the current trend of decreasing return on assets.”

The cooperative processed more than 950 million credit, debit and bill payment transactions, a 17.4% increase. The total number of accounts serviced by the company grew by over 1 million to 13 million, which represents a 8.6% jump over 2007. In addition, the cooperative’s Contact Center handled 16 million calls, or 1.7 million more calls than the previous year.
 
The cooperative structure enables PSCU Financial Services’ earnings to be distributed to member-owners as tax-free patronage dividends. It has issued more than $226 million in patronage dividends since it became a cooperative in 1994.

PSCU Financial Services provides industry-leading financial services that include credit, debit, ATM, prepaid, bill payment, home and mobile banking, lending, collections and Contact Center solutions.

PSCU Financial Services

Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, PSCU Financial Services is the nation's largest credit union service organization (CUSO) and serves more than 1,300 financial institutions nationwide. As a non-profit cooperative, the company is owned by more than 600 member credit unions representing over 13 million accounts and 822,000 subscribers. Its Contact Centers handle more than 16 million inquiries a year.

PSCU Financial Services offers 24/7 member support through four Contact Centers: its Eastern operations center in St. Petersburg, Fla.; a Western operations center based in Phoenix, Ariz.; and two call centers in Detroit, Mich. These Contact Centers perform member servicing and new member acquisition, cross-selling and automated lending solutions as well as support for debit/credit/prepaid cardholders and online bill payment subscribers.

Established in 1977, the company provides a broad array of cost-effective, high quality financial services that include credit, debit, ATM, prepaid, bill payment and contact center solutions. PSCU Financial Services uniquely offers its members a full range of processing options, any combination from full service to in-house pass through processing for credit, debit and ATM transactions. As a leader in the credit union movement, the company offers gateway access to national and regional networks. It also provides full function ATM terminal driving services. For more information, visit PSCU Financial Services’ website at www.pscufs.com.

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