Payrailz™, a digital payments company offering smarter more engaging payment experiences to banks and credit unions announced at the close of the MEMBERS Development Company (MDC) FinTech Expo in Chicago, the launch of its new credit union service organization (CUSO), CU Payz. CU Payz was founded to enable credit unions to take control of their future by partnering with Payrailz to develop new, innovative technologies and services that will revolutionize the payments experience.
The formation of CU Payz came out of a working relationship with established CUSOs MDC and Constellation Digital Partners. CU Payz includes six founding member credit unions: Coastal Credit Union (Raleigh, NC), Farmers Insurance Federal Credit Union (Los Angeles, CA), Georgia’s Own Credit Union (Atlanta, GA), Meritrust Credit Union (Wichita, KS), Teachers Credit Union (South Bend, IN) and TwinStar Credit Union (Lacey, WA).
“Credit unions need next-generation products in order to compete with banks, non-traditional offerings and fintechs”, said John Carew, Chief Strategy Officer of Georgia’s Own Credit Union, one of the founders of CU Payz. “To truly succeed in this environment, credit unions must collaborate on a large scale on strategic technology investments and leverage our collective influence through group buying and/or equity ownership opportunities.”
“From our point of view, one such collaborative partnership is the formation of CU Payz,” added Jeff Kline, President and CEO of MDC. “Here we have a group of forward-thinking credit unions, forming a partnership with Payrailz to create smarter payment experiences and next-generation payment services that will allow credit unions to leapfrog the current offerings in the marketplace.”
Open to all credit unions and other CUSOs, CU Payz provides its members with the ability to become owners in CU Payz, and they will also have a voice in the direction of the product, favorable pricing and the ability to deliver new and innovative services to their members. As strategic partners, member credit unions of CU Payz will also influence the development of new payment technologies and experiences, which is particularly important as they compete in the highly competitive banking environment.
“As the industry becomes more competitive, credit unions are looking for innovative ways to address the growing discrepancy between traditional tools built for the financial services world, and the rapidly changing fintech payments players,” said Kris Kovacs, CEO of Constellation Digital Partners, LLC.“CU Payz is dedicated to giving credit unions the means to adapt and better compete.”
“Credit unions have been handcuffed by some of the current providers, and we strongly believe we will offer a solution that enables them to compete against all the other tech competitors jumping into the market. It’s time for credit unions to take control of the member experience, and we are excited to be able to empower these FIs through our own CUSO,” said Fran Duggan, CEO of Payrailz. “Technology is instrumental in helping today’s credit unions create the optimal member experience, and we are proud to not only provide this technology, but to now work directly with credit unions to partner on the development of our technology moving forward.”
Payrailz’ payment services leverage their innovative, smart platform based on AI technology that allows clients to create unique digital experiences and build valuable digital relationships with both consumers and businesses. Payrailz’ PayWayz™ smart routing technology and its Action Insight Generator™ make proactive, intelligent and personalized insights and provide the ability to take action on those insights to build stronger relationships with members and ensure they stay financially healthy.
