Wescom forms tech joint venture

<p>By PAUL GENTILE CU Times Editor PASADENA, Calif. – Wescom Credit Union has formed Wescom Integrated Data Systems, a joint venture between Wescom and Calabassas, Calif.-tech firm IDS Systems. Wescom formed a CUSO, Wescom Holdings, to hold the partnership under, since the CU is not permitted to do so. The joint venture is a 50/50 partnership between Wescom Holdings and IDS. Wescom IDS will focus on online banking applications, system integrations, and enhancements to internal business processes. Many of the solutions will be geared for credit unions using the Symitar core system. Symitar is Wescom’s data processor and it has developed a number of interfaces and enhancements to the system, including one very popular one. “It’s a fairly unique application that enables a member to move funds to any other financial institution, either pulling funds our or sending to another institution,” said Rob Guilford, SVP of IT for Wescom CU. This is similar to the person-to-person online payment systems some say is going to be the wave of the future. Wescom is using ACH to originate and credit the transactions. Members have to know the routing and transfer numbers of the institution they want to interact with. Once they plug those numbers in, the system pulls up the name of the institution, and the member selects the correct name. Wescom downloads information from Thomson’s Financial Directory to match the routing and transit numbers with the correct institutions. Wescom used Visual Basic and ACH tools to develop the system. “We have several hundred members using it on a daily basis. Close to $3 million is moved each month,” said Guilford. This is the type of solution Wescom IDS will offer CUs, said Guilford. Another example is a browser-based solution Wescom developed to stay current on members’ addresses. When members go to their site to order new checks through a Clarke American online tool, the address the member inputs is pulled off the Clarke American system and sent to the CU’s core system to update that member’s file. This ensures the CU has the most up-to-date mailing information for members. Wescom has the most expertise with Symitar, but Guilford said since the CU recently converted off of a Summit system, it has expertise there as well. [email protected]</p>