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CU Wallet sees PayPal acquisition of Paydiant as accelerator for credit union branded mobile payments

Acquisition signals PayPal is now siding with credit unions, other financial institutions and retailers to empower their own apps with mobile payment
 
LOS ANGELES, CA (March 02, 2015) — In response to today’s announcement of PayPal’s pending acquisition of Paydiant, CU Wallet has issued a formal response deeming this a clear and public validation of CU Wallet’s credit union-driven mobile wallet strategy. CU Wallet, a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO), provides the industry’s first credit union-driven mobile payment solution using the Paydiant white label platform. Officially launched in 2013, CU Wallet currently has 87 credit union members.

“Today’s announcement further solidifies our goal of providing a secure, convenient and valuable mobile payment platform to credit unions that is branded and controlled by the individual credit unions as a primary member service touch point,” said Paul Fiore, CEO and founder of CU Wallet. “Consumers repeatedly tell us they prefer to use a mobile payment solution offered by their trusted financial institution.  PayPal recognizes that preference, and has thrown their support to a platform which empowers both financial institutions and retailers to provide mobile payments functionality in their own apps, in ways that best serve their members or customers.”

CU Wallet currently has multiple credit union members testing the mobile wallet in a live environment and is developing credit union-specific service extensions on top of the Paydiant platform.  “We’ve always viewed our partnership with Paydiant through CU Wallet as an invaluable part of our mobile wallet strategy. This announcement demonstrates that value will continue to grow. Following this acquisition, we now have greater access to resources and infrastructure giving us the ability scale,” said Paul Parrish, CFO for One Nevada Credit Union, an early CU Wallet investor.

“Our credit unions’ members want to be able to manage their money, access funds and make payments with their mobile device, regardless of which handset they carry, whether Apple or Android,” said Karl Cherry, Chief Product Officer for CU Wallet.  “The PayPal transaction brings a vast acceptance network to our technology strategy, and the resources to rapidly expand the ways and places our members can shop and do business.”

CU Wallet expects to further leverage its open and secure architecture for tokenized transactions, for new clearing and settlement arrangements directly with retailers.

Fiore continued, “This platform, which we share with the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), a consortium of the nation’s largest retailers, as well as independent retailers and other financial institutions, already enables a great customer experience. We’re looking forward to working with the PayPal team and the new opportunities that will inevitably arise from this partnership.”

For more information, or to become a member of CU Wallet, please contact Paul Fiore (CEO), Chris Otey (Sales), or Karl Cherry (Product) at CUWallet.com.

About CU Wallet                                                                                                                              
Headquartered in Los Angeles, CU Wallet is a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) that combines proven entrepreneurial talent with credit union ownership to offer a comprehensive, industry-wide, winning mobile payment solution. The initiative is structured as a CUSO, majority owned and controlled by credit unions, in partnership with founder and CU Wallet CEO, Paul Fiore, most notably recognized as the pioneer of online banking (formerly the founder and CEO of Digital Insight). CU Wallet provides the industry’s first mobile payments infrastructure designed for credit unions, by credit unions. CU Wallet credit union members have joined forces to develop and launch a comprehensive mobile wallet solution for credit unions focusing on adoption, deployment and ongoing management of mobile device banking, payments and security. The platform helps overcome major industry hurdles to mobile payments adoption, allowing credit unions to better serve current account holders, attract a new generation of tech-dependent members and better compete amongst increased competitive pressure from non-bank mobile payment ventures. A minority ownership position in CU Wallet consist of private capital, i.e. the entrepreneurial component, which acts as the organization’s leavening agent. This “entrepreneurial leavening agent” will help sharpen focus and drive towards realizing CU Wallet’s mission.  For more information about the launch of CU Wallet and the company’s mobile payments platform, visit: www.cuwallet.com.


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