Six more credit unions sign on with ShareBuilder online investing program

BELLVUE, Wash. – One million new members will have access to custom, online portfolio-building thanks to a partnership between ShareBuilder Securities Corp. and six new credit union clients. The online-based investing and provider of e-finance solutions has secured alliances with Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union (PSECU), Desert Schools Federal Credit Union, Kinetca Credit Union, OmniAmerican Federal Credit Union, Langley Federal Credit Union and Schools Financial Credit Union. To date, ShareBuilder has linked with nine million members at 17 credit unions. Through ShareBuilder, members can choose from more than 4,000 stocks and over 60 index products starting with any dollar amount to invest and whether they want to invest on a weekly or monthly basis. Member can also opt to either pay $12 per month for unlimited stock purchases or pay $4 for each recurring or one-time transactions. Real-time market trades and limit orders are also available for $15.95. “Our credit union partners and their members will be able to easily and affordably build their long-term investment portfolios,” said Jeff Seely, ShareBuilder’s president/CEO. In February, Netstock Corp., ShareBuilder’s parent company, signed an agreement with CUSO Financial Services (CFS) to joint-market its services to its credit union partners nationwide and in May the company surpassed the 200,000-account mark, making it the fastest-growing online brokerages this year, according to Salomon Smith Barney and The potential rewards of long-term stock market investing are an advantageous choice for members, said Greg Smith, PSECU’s president/CEO. “ShareBuilder acts the enabler, removing the financial barriers to getting into the stock market,” Smith said. “It will both complement and build upon our core product and service offering.” PSECU is the largest credit union in Pennsylvania with 270,000 members and $1.6 billion in assets. To further help members make selective stock choices, the company’s PlanBuilder asset allocation tool shows baskets of stocks, index funds and closed-end bond funds to help build a diversified portfolio, Seely said. -