They are the first Canadian financial institutions to purchase the recently enhanced financial management technology. The Financial Accounting Suite includes General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Fixed Assets applications.

Open Solutions is a provider of integrated enabling technologies for community banks and credit unions across North America. FTI Financial Technologies, a business unit of Open Solutions, provides financial accounting software to more than 600 financial institutions in the United States and abroad. Earlier this year, Open Solutions enhanced the FTI Financial Accounting Suite to streamline accounting operations and improve an institution's financial management capabilities.

Glenn Brodt, manager of finance at Affinity Credit Union, said, "Unlike other financial accounting packages we looked at, we felt that the FTI Financial Accounting Suite best meets the needs of our credit union because it is built for financial institutions. This was a key consideration for us. The product is very user-friendly and has many features about which we are excited. Our ability to track averages on a daily basis and the suite's comprehensive report writing capabilities will help us further streamline our operations."

Grand Forks District Savings' Manager of Administration Lillian Voykin, said, "We selected the FTI Financial Accounting Suite because we saw immediately that not only does it meet our current financial reporting needs, its powerful functionality also positions our credit union for future growth and competitiveness. It is apparent that a great deal of effort went into tailoring the application to have it closely align it with financial institutions' accounting processes. Open Solutions' collaborative approach - working with credit union and bank representatives to enhance the product - has yielded excellent results. Our credit union is looking forward to evaluating other Open Solutions' financial accounting products, such as the asset and liability management and financial planning solution."

The FTI Financial Accounting Suite has three modules: General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Fixed Assets. Each module can operate as a stand-alone product or together as an integrated suite. The suite is scalable to meet the needs of institutions of all sizes - as demonstrated by its first two clients in Canada. Grand Forks District Savings is a single-branch credit union with more than 10,000 members. Affinity Credit Union, formed through the merger of three Saskatchewan credit unions earlier this year, has more than 28,000 members that it serves through 14 locations.

"Open Solutions released the enhanced version of the FTI Financial Accounting Suite earlier this summer, and we're pleased to welcome Affinity and Grand Forks District Savings credit unions as "early adopters" of this technology," said Blair Goulet, president, Open Solutions Canada. "We believe Open Solutions has delivered the most innovative financial accounting package available in North America. The platform can be easily integrated with any core data processing system, meaning any credit union in Canada can take advantage of its extensive suite of accounting management tools. For credit unions planning to migrate to our enterprise core data processing system - The Complete Credit Union Solution® - implementing the FTI Financial Accounting Suite can be that first important step in their transition to the full Open Solutions strategic product platform."

Open Solutions Chairman and CEO Louis Hernandez, Jr., said, "Affinity and Grand Forks District Savings credit unions join the growing number of financial institutions that are taking advantage of the benefits of our open technology platform and complementary products and services. The Open Solutions' FTI Financial Accounting Suite was developed and built on a workflow strategy that mirrors daily operations in a financial institution. It has been designed to fully integrate all aspects of general ledger, accounts payable and fixed assets management. We believe this latest technology will further help our clients meet their key objectives of exceeding their members' needs now and into the future."