ORLANDO, Fla. – In the days leading up to Christmas last year the EDS Credit Union Industry Group knew it had a problem. Its parent company was hemorrhaging cash, and was honing in on serving mostly multi-billion dollar companies, which credit unions certainly are not. The group went on the trading blocks with 18 companies bidding for it. Fiserv won the bidding war with some $218 million in cash. For the group's president, Scott Butler, Fiserv is a welcome change. "We don't have to continually explain what credit unions are. They are not like Fortune 500 companies," said Butler. Fiserv of course knows all about credit unions with now seven credit union data processing groups that serve roughly 35% of the market based on number of CUs. Butler said he was frustrated by not being able to market CUIG as intensely as he would have liked. Most of the advertising dollars thrown CUIG's way stressed the EDS corporate brand. To which Butler said, "the EDS name was not always a marketing advantage for us." "Fiserv is committed to the credit union and financial space with 14,000 financial institution clients and 4,000 credit union clients. Fiserv is clearly No. 1. Our people are excited, we're empowered like never before," said Butler speaking at the general session at the group's annual users' conference – Visions. It was during that session that the group's new name was announced. As Tom Neill, president of Fiserv's Credit Union and Industry Products Group put it, "CUIG as a name didn't turn us on. EDS in front of it did even less for us." The new name, old news by now, is IntegraSys. Neill stressed how important IntegraSys is for Fiserv. "It is now one of the top five groups within Fiserv," he said. Credit Union Times was on hand in Orlando and had a chance to talk to IntegraSys clients first hand to get their take on the group's new owners and attitude. Here's what some of them had to say about suddenly being clients of a Fiserv-owned company: Doug Nagel VP of IT Nationwide FCU Columbus, Ohio $430 million/45,000 members "This really was not CUIG's decision, but EDS and what their focus was going to be. What was non-core to EDS was cut. CUIG will have to be self-sufficient, keep more funds around, get over what may have been holding them back, and bring more non-core products to market, products they haven't been able to bring forth maybe because of EDS," said Nagel. Nagel said he's really in a wait and see mode as far as Fiserv, but hopes the people who have been in charge of CUIG are the ones who get to call the shots. He said as a credit union when people talk about Fiserv or EDS corporately, it doesn't mean much, what's most important is the people he deals with on a daily basis about system issues. Nagel admitted that he's never been a fan of Fiserv's strategy in the space of acquiring so many companies because he feels it creates too much overlap. He wonders if some day there may not be some major consolidation among the groups, though he admitted Fiserv is the expert in this area, not him. Nationwide FCU is on the CUBE product. He said as one of the few remaining pure single sponsor CUs, penetrating membership and keeping costs down is important. With only two branches, it relies on technology to serve members remotely. Now approximately 28% of all the credit union's transactions come through the Internet channel. It is still in the early going of CUBE Fast Loan, which allows members to get online lending decisions in about a minute and populates the loan app into the CU's loan origination system. Nancy Deavours CEO Merced School Employees FCU Merced, Calif. $253 million/32,000 members "From what I hear in the last two years there haven't been a lot of new products coming out of EDS. It hasn't been as noticeable to us as we've been moving into areas where they have the products. I would expect that Fiserv would pump more money into CUIG and bigger and better things will be happening," she said. Deavours, only the second CEO in the education-based CU's history, said her CU gets some unique hands-on service from EDS that she hopes continues. Her credit union is one of only a handful that has two EDS staffers on-site handling the DP system. "That's part of the contract. They are not credit union employees. If they leave or go on vacation, EDS handles getting replacements, not us. It saves on our personnel costs and gives us peace of mind that our systems are fine. They keep us so well informed. We usually know about things before the news goes out to the other credit unions." She said she's sure the CU is probably footing most of the bill somehow for the employees, but the comfort of not worrying about systems or the personnel handling them is well worth it. Merced School EFCU uses the Premier core system. It recently signed a five-year contract. Deavours said EDS' online banking system, Virtual Branch, is growing in popularity among the CUs' education system members. The CU is also excited about EDS' Lending Manager because all of the required loan docs are included, and they can easily be laser printed. Greg Wagner CEO Pennsylvania Central FCU Harrisburg, Pa. $53 million/12,500 members "My sense is that everyone from staff to clients are excited. It's no secret what's going on with EDS the company. There was a sense of frustration with EDS not supporting the credit union group. I see this as nothing but a positive." Wagner's CU needs solid technology to survive, he said. The credit union is in the area of two mega CUs, the $2 billion Pennsylvania State Employees CU and the $800 million Members 1st FCU. The CU has an interesting charter, designed to serve directors and officials of credit unions. "There's really no FOM from our existing charter. We'll be trying to get a community charter for a three-county area with about 600,000 people," said Wagner. It is looking at purchasing bank branches that are being closed because of M&A activity. PCFCU is on the IntegraSys' online Charlotte system. Chuck Purvis SVP & Strategic Business Officer Coastal FCU Raleigh, N.C. $1.3 billion/117,000 members "We've been happy about it. We've had a lot of discussions internally, and the kind of business EDS did with credit unions didn't fit with the rest of their business. They had problems with a lot of big deals and ran into a cash flow problem, so their investment in the credit union unit dropped. They were milking it for cash, to get as much out of it as they could. We have a pretty high regard for Fiserv. Their focus is financial institutions," said Purvis. One of the new priorities at Coastal is member business lending. The credit union uses IntegraSys' CUBE system which it has seamlessly interfaced with a FICS commercial lending system, said Purvis. The integration wasn't bad because it already had a CUBE interface for a FICS mortgage origination system. Coastal has the largest transaction volume of all CUBE users. Purvis said the CU also has a new branch strategy. It is planning on opening up new branches that feature remote teller systems, where the teller interacts with the member through two-way video from a secure back room. In general the CU wants to move to more self-service kiosks, even in regular teller-staffed branches, giving members the ability to apply for loans themselves via the CU's Web site. Remote transactions account for 86% of the CU's volume. It is counting on a Digital Insight Interface with a new CUBE lending system that will eliminate rekeying of data. "Today someone applies for a loan we're getting it in e-mail. We've found a way to get it right into the CUBE system." Purvis joked about trying to branch up to match State Employees CU of N.C. which is one of the most branch heavy CUs in the country with well over 100 branches. He said there is a friendly rivalry between the two CUs. Susan Warkentin VP Tucoemas FCU Visalia, Calif. $170 million/36,000 members "I'm looking forward to it. Changes weren't being made as quickly as they could have been. Being around here I see everybody's in a good mood. I think Fiserv could be the right thing for this credit union group." Warkentin said her credit union is very focused on member relationship management right now, trying to give the members that use the CU the most the best deals. In this day of credit unions selling off card portfolios, Tucoemas FCU is doing the opposite. It's actually trying to increase card penetration through the launch of a new Visa Platinum card using Certegy. "We looked at selling it, but we saw value there that could be developed more." A mid-sized CU, Warkentin said the CU likes using the online Premier system so major changes are made by IntegraSys and a large IT staff isn't needed. She did note that the CU does maintain its own intranet in-house. One new system move is an upgrade to IntegraSys' Lending Manager to streamline the loan origination process. "It's a database system that has all the members' loan information and prints all docs. It's what we needed." Toby Edwards Manager Atlantic Greyhound CU Charleston, W. Va. $12 million/1,700 members "It's probably going to be a good fit. Our league just endorsed Fiserv. It's pretty comforting that the employees seem so excited here," said Edwards. Edwards' CU needs solid technology now more than ever he said. As a small CU, he's been approached about merging, but he and the board want to stay independent. The credit union was at one time an online Charlotte client, moving to CUBICs in-house in 1992. Remote functionality is key for the credit union. Edwards said it took a lot of convincing to get his board to go for online lending. He said the feeling was that audio response was enough. "The younger members want online banking. You have to have to have that to appeal to them," said Edwards. Edwards joined the CU at a tough time in the early `90s when Greyhound employees had a strike that lasted three years. At that time the credit union only offered regular shares, IRAs and some lending products. It now has share drafts, term share certificates, credit cards, debit cards, online banking, and audio teller. Atlantic Greyhound CU is one of only two Greyhound CUs left, said Edwards.