The unsettled corporate market is triggering some fresh realignments in the Upper Midwest this week with a St. Paul CUSO broadening its processing and settlement assistance package to reach well outside of the region.

The reluctance of  small CUs to recapitalize their corporate and instead seek out new providers is playing a part in the reshuffling but also tech chances in electronic delivery “have eliminated the boundaries and so the market is nationwide,” said Michelle Carlson, vice president of the Minnesota Item Processing Corporate, a CUSO managed and partly owned by the Minnesota Credit Union Network.

Under its expansion strategy, MnIPC, which currently has over 120 CU clients mostly in Minnesota, is now signing up CUs in Michigan, Illinois, South Dakota and New Mexico, said Carlson. 

“As many credit union leaders evaluate their corporate relationships due to uncertainty within the corporate credit union system, MnIPC has declared its commitment to providing alternative service solutions,” said a statement. “MnIPC is an independent check processor dedicated to providing credit unions cost-effective service for processing member share drafts and deposits. “

MnIPC noted that with its 30 years of experience, the firm has led CUs “through extreme swings in the economy and decades of technological change” and now “that dedication to service continues as they offer credit unions alternative service solutions during this time of uncertainty in the corporate system,” said the release.

Under its updated service, MnIPC will be offering “flexible settlement arrangements based on where the credit union decides to hold their account,” which is a departure from CUs still tied to corporate networks, the CUSO said.