CO-OP Financial Services Announces $26.1 Million Shareholder Patronage for FY 2016

CO-OP Also Reinvesting Heavily in Technology Infrastructure, Product Innovation

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, California, April 20, 2017 – CO-OP Financial Services is announcing a patronage (shareholder dividend) pool of $26.1 million for fiscal year 2016, raising to $393.7 million the total patronage amount made available by CO-OP since becoming a cooperative in 1996.

“This latest year’s healthy patronage to our 1,200 shareholding credit unions represents a balance with the more than $25 million we are investing in the company in 2017 on technology infrastructure and product innovation,” said Todd Clark, President/CEO. “We are particularly pleased to return such a large patronage to shareholders on the heels of our acquisition earlier this month of TMG, making us a fully-integrated, comprehensive payments services company to shareholders, clients and the entire credit union movement.”

Recent highlights among CO-OP’s activities include:

• CO-OP is working to implement artificial intelligence to fight fraud, with a machine learning-based risk management tool to be utilized by CO-OP for its client credit unions in 2017. 
• CO-OP and FCTI, Inc. have reached an agreement ensuring that approximately 8,000 ATMs located in 7-Eleven stores nationwide will continue to be a part of the CO-OP ATM network. The agreement ensures that CO-OP ATM, at 30,000 machines nationwide, remains the largest credit union-owned network and the best-known consumer brand in the industry.
• CO-OP has formed a strategic partnership with Early Warning to offer credit unions access to the Zelle Network. Early Warning’s Zelle Network will enable members of participating credit unions to send money to anyone with a U.S. bank or credit union account. 
• On April 3, 2017, CO-OP announced the acquisition of TMG. CO-OP had been the minority owner of TMG since January 2012 and purchased all remaining shares from the Iowa Credit Union League for $100 million. “The combined forces of TMG and CO-OP provide credit unions with a single point of entry to the most innovative, tailored, cost-effective products and services as they prepare for a rapidly transforming payments landscape,” said Clark at the time of the announcement.

CO-OP is the nation’s largest credit union service organization in terms of number of credit unions (3,500 institutions) and members (60 million account holders) served. In addition to CO-OP ATM, CO-OP manages the industry’s shared branching network, now approaching 5,500 offices nationwide.

The Annual Meeting of CO-OP Shareholders will be held during the THINK 17 Conference in New York City. The meeting will take place at 8 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, May 11. To register immediately for the THINK 17 Conference, visit www.co-opthink.org.

For more information, visit www.co-opfs.org.