State Employees Credit Union has $140 million in assets, six branches and more than 25,000 members. Open Solutions is a provider of integrated enabling technologies for financial institutions across the United States and Canada. The credit union is scheduled to complete installation later this year.

Harold Dixon, president and CEO of State Employees Credit Union, said, "The open architecture is the most important aspect of The Complete Credit Union Solution and was the deciding factor for us to go with Open Solutions. With this type of infrastructure, we believe that we will be able to grow into the system, customize it and move forward with ease. No other system we looked at offered this level of flexibility. Our evaluation of the product indicated that it is not only a superior core processing solution with regard to its structure and functionality, but that it's also being delivered and maintained in a manner we find best suited for the long-term interests of our institution and members."

The Complete Credit Union Solution is built on a powerful, centralized Oracle® relational database and designed to be an open architecture application, creating the flexibility necessary for running a service-oriented financial institution. It helps credit unions streamline both front and back office processes and creates a centralized view of members, employees and business partners. Open Solutions provides credit unions with a fully featured strategic product platform, integrating core data processing with strategic applications such as Internet banking, business intelligence, financial accounting applications, electronic imaging, payment and interactive voice response solutions.

"Our current system is operated through a service bureau and is very limited," Dixon said. "We wanted to bring the service in-house because it gives us more control over our business operations and allows us to customize and offer advanced financial products and services to handle our members' changing financial needs. It just makes sense for us."

In addition to The Complete Credit Union Solution, State Employees Credit Union will implement Open Solutions' cView relationship management tool; e-Commerce Banker Internet banking suite; Financial Accounting Suite; interactive voice response; consumer and mortgage loan management systems; document imaging; premium overdraft protection; and asset collection applications.

"We are very excited about Open Solutions' Financial Accounting Suite," Dixon said. "It will allow us to do our own in-house financial analysis, price our products accordingly, and track profitability on member accounts."

Louis Hernandez, Jr., Open Solutions chairman and CEO, said, "Open Solutions is dedicated to providing our credit union clients with innovative solutions we believe will support their long-term strategies and increase the level of service they can provide to their members. We understand the importance of technology in today's market and our goal is to design and deploy innovative product offerings that best suit the needs of our clients' members and employees. In today's ever-changing market, credit unions need to offer the most advanced functionality and technology possible and we believe Open Solutions can play an important role in this. We are pleased to have been selected by State Employees Credit Union as the partner they believe will support their growth plans and allow them to meet their members' ongoing needs."