Credit union ATM airport volume nears 1 million in Denver

DENVER – It was called a credit union coup a year and a half ago when the $400 million Public Service Credit Union of Denver beat out banks the likes of BankofAmerica, KeyBanks and Wells Fargo to operate the ATM concession at Denver’s sprawling International Airport. Has Public Service made money yet, and was the effort worth it? “You bet it’s worth it, particularly when you think of the exposure we get by just being there and having the traveling people see what we can do,” declares Joseph Hasto, vice president and chief financial officer of PSCU. From March through last December, the Denver CU recorded 800,000 transactions on the 14 ATM machines scattered through airport concourses. The figure is expected to reach 1 million during 2001. PSCU also operates a branch in the facility for which it has agreed to provide the city a percentage of income as it does for the ATMs. Last year, gross revenues from the ATMs reached $1.1 million of which 50% went to the city under the five-year agreement between Public Service and the city’s Department of Aviation. The “tiered” formula allows the 50% percentage to drop to 40% in the third to fifth year of the contract. “Remember,” said Hasto, “we’re being seen and our facility used” by a segment of the public that ordinarily is used to dealing with banks. And, of course, he noted, the credit union gains surcharge income-$1.50 per transaction-from travelers who are not members of the CU or of CO-OP Network, a national CU-owned network based in Ontario, Calif. Ninety percent of the income comes from non-CU members. CO-OP Network, which operates what it calls the nation’s largest network of CU ATMS and retail POS terminals, also participates in a coalition of four Salt Lake City CUs which began servicing 10 ATMS in the Salt Lake City airport in June 2000. Previously, banking facilities in the Utah airport were operated by the old First Security Bank, now Wells Fargo, and by Zions Bancorp. which still, it was understood, maintains an airport branch. Hasto said the agreement with the Department of Aviation has worked satisfactorily with few hitches. “We may have to add an additional ATM later this fall to handle high traffic in Concourse C, and we’ve had to do more accounting work for balancing and currency,” said Host. But so far the problems have been minor, some of them related to additional reporting work done on the airport branch. Under the agreement with the city, PSCU provides the city a monthly $1,080 minimum or 4% of gross income from the branch, “and so far we’ve been at the minimum.” Hasto said the branch gets audited by the city once a year, and “we’ve created our own audit procedure to make sure” the audit is handled accurately. The airport ATMs, he said, have been useful in cross-selling other products, noting PSCU has one of the highest ratios in the nation ranking No. 4 at 99.2% on the CU service formula, produced by Callahan & Associates, Washington, D.C. “The top ATM screens have been great for cross-selling,” said Hasto. -