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Extensia Financial, a lending CUSO with a history dating back to the late 90s, now bears the name of its majority shareholder, AVANA Companies – it is now known as AVANA CUSO.
"Through shared staff, shared technology, shared vision and passion, and a shared commitment to delivering superior lending services and solutions, AVANA is able to better serve credit unions and their members," Sanat Patel, chief lending officer and managing partner for AVANA Companies, stated. "The rebrand and name update is a proud acknowledgement and reinforcement of how integral the CUSO is to our ecosystem."
The CUSO was originally founded in 1998 by the Chatsworth, Calif.-based Telesis Community Credit Union, which the California Department of Financial Institutions placed into conservatorship in 2012. That same year, the CUSO's ownership passed to three principal credit unions: Public Service Credit Union of Denver (now the $4.3 billion Canvas Credit Union), the $1.5 billion Farmers Insurance Group Federal Credit Union of Los Angeles and the $1.3 billion Great Lakes Credit Union of Chicago. In 2015, the CUSO was renamed Extensia Financial, and five years later, AVANA Companies took control as majority stakeholder.
The Glendale, Ariz.-based AVANA said that as part of the rebrand, it made changes to the CUSO's operations and is planning to develop a user-friendly, online Participations Desk to help credit unions grow their commercial loan portfolios. According to AVANA, the new platform will allow credit unions to assess and buy loan participations, update their deal preferences and monitor the health of their portfolio through one consolidated portal, and is set to launch at the end of the first quarter of next year, depending on project resources.
"Credit unions play a critical role in supporting local economies, ensuring small businesses have access to capital to grow and in helping their communities thrive," AVANA Companies CEO Sundip Patel stated. "AVANA CUSO acts as a partner for credit unions utilizing new technologies to attract, retain and serve their members, and provide capital for a better tomorrow."
Shivan Perera, SVP of debt and participations at AVANA Companies, shared that the following five credit unions are currently minority stakeholders in AVANA CUSO:
- Altura Credit Union ($2.5 billion, Riverside, Calif.)
- California Bear Credit Union ($132 million, Los Angeles)
- Genisys Credit Union ($4.6 billion, Auburn Hills, Mich.)
- Travis Credit Union ($4.8 billion, Vacaville, Calif.)
- America First Credit Union ($19.1 billion, Riverdale, Utah)
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
