SAN DIMAS, Calif. – Member credit unions of shared branching network Financial Service Centers Cooperative have been beta testing the network's new shared branching kiosks since mid- to late-2005. But the credit unions doing the testing say they have much bigger plans for them than merely increasing shared branching volume.

"Frankly, if all we had planned for the machine was to take shared branching transactions, there is no way it would be cost efficient," said Charles Bruen, CEO of the $594 million First Entertainment CU, which has had one of the new machines in its headquarters since late 2005. "But when we consider it as a way that we can expand our branch presence and offer our own members, as well as any members of other credit unions, services less expensively than at a branch-then it starts to be a savings proposition."

Bruen, who described his CU as consistently on the "bleeding edge" of new technology, often an early adapter which then has to suffer through the bugs new technology brings, estimated that the new machine costs about 25% more than the other mainstream ATMs his CU has in branches already. The premium might seem high, but Bruen pointed out that this machine allows a member to do so much more than a standard ATM-virtually everything a CU member can do at a branch can be done at one of the shared branch kiosks.