PSCU will pay its credit union owners a $25.9 million special dividend this year, with 25% being distributed in cash.
The payments CUSO based in St. Petersburg, Fla., said Tuesday it will distribute $15.3 million in cash to owners this year, including $8.9 million in capital redemptions. Since its founding, PSCU has distributed more than $540.2 million in patronage dividends, with over 50% paid in cash.
PSCU works with about 1,500 credit unions, representing more than 3.8 billion transactions annually. Retained earnings have been invested to improve the ability of credit unions to serve members. In the past year, these efforts have included:
- Launching a multi-year, $100 million investment in technologies to enhance service and increase automation, including $35 million dedicated to Lumin Digital, PSCU’s cloud-based digital banking platform.
- Implementing risk management and fraud prevention measures, which PSCU estimates reduced its credit union owners’ fraud exposure by $263 million.
- Strategically shifting information technology infrastructure to a cloud-based environment
- Deploying desktop automation in all its contact centers through a partnership with the Alpharetta, Ga.-based Jacada.
“The pace of innovation and emergence of new competitors in the payments industry continues to accelerate, with new opportunities for credit unions to consider daily,” PSCU President/CEO Chuck Fagan said. “We are committed to continuing to invest in the industry-leading technologies, solutions and services that make us a beneficial and financially empowering credit union cooperative and partner for years to come.”
PSCU’s cooperative structure enables distribution of the company’s earnings to its owner credit unions as tax-free patronage dividends.
For 2018, PSCU paid credit unions $24.2 million in patronage dividends, with 25% as an immediate cash dividend. Since its founding, PSCU has distributed more than $540.2 million in patronage dividends, with over 50% paid in cash.