By Ray Birch
PLANO, Tex.— The three corporate CUs that are now joint owners of Aptys Solutions said the acquisition will give credit unions a stronger presence in the faster payments market and a voice in the shaping of the future of payments, as well.
As CUToday.info reported, Warrenville, Ill.-based Alloya Corporate FCU, Plano, Texas-based Catalyst Corporate FCU, and Middletown, Penn.-based Vizo Financial Corporate Credit Union have united as joint owners of the real-time and electronic payments provider.
Following its acquisition of the Georgia-based fintech on May 28, Catalyst Corporate sold portions of its Aptys ownership to Alloya Corporate and Vizo Financial with Catalyst Corporate retaining the majority ownership.
“Simply put, the acquisition of Aptys accelerates Catalyst Corporate’s strategic goals, including its entry and presence in the faster payments market,” said Bruce Fox, CEO of Catalyst Corporate. “But also the acquisition acts as a springboard that creates a first-of-its-kind consortium—balancing fintech agility with the foundational support of user-owners representing thousands of community institutions across the country.”
Scale is Created
Fox emphasized the consortium creates an organization with the necessary size to ensure it is a key player within the payments industry.
“And, we now have a seat at the table to help shape evolving payments processes,” said Fox. “This ensures credit unions are well-positioned in the payments industry’s future and have a much stronger voice and influence on the evolution of faster and real-time payments.”
Bruce Fox
Fox said initial discussions on a potential acquisition began in May 2019.
“The genesis of this Aptys Solutions deal sprung from the success generated by Catalyst’s TranzCapture,” explained Fox.
Looking to Duplicate Model
Catalyst established the TranzCapture remote deposit capture platform in 2015 as a CUSO owned by three of the largest corporates—Catalyst, Alloya and Columbus, Ohio-based Corporate One.
“We found that when corporates came together, they created the strongest possible payments products and solutions by bringing the scale, technical resources and financial backing necessary to excel in today’s competitive markets,” said Fox. “Strategically, Catalyst Corporate has been looking to duplicate the TranzCapture model by expanding into other payments channels, including ACH, wires, faster and real-time payments. Unfortunately, creating a consolidated payments platform to effectively deliver and manage multiple payments solutions at this scale takes years to develop. That’s where Aptys Solutions came in.”
Fox noted multiple corporate ownership of a CUSO is not new, and that Catalyst is part of several CUSOs owned by more than one corporate. Aptys Solutions is Catalyst’s fifth collaboration within the corporate system.
“By sharing costs corporates can collaborate and innovate to create new services and cut the time it takes to bring solutions to market,” Fox said. “Corporates can also work together to achieve scale that creates efficient pricing for member credit unions. We fully expect more collaborative efforts structured around the CUSO model going forward. We will be on the lookout for sensible opportunities that create efficient market solutions and ultimately drives value to credit unions.”
Down to the Last Dozen
Jay Murray, Mid-Atlantic Corporate
Jay Murray, CEO of Vizo Financial in Middletown, Penn., told CUToday.info that corporate collaborations are critical to the movement.
“Well, there's only 11 of us remaining,” said Murray. “I've been around long enough to know when there was about 42 of us. We see that as credit unions are getting larger the bigger ones are getting bigger and we know there's going to be less credit unions. Anything we can do to be more efficient in our ventures…Also, from a competitive standpoint, partnering on these kinds of ventures makes sure we have the technology for credit unions that make them competitive.”
Murray believes collaboration among corporates will become even easier as new platforms and solutions are written using newer computer languages that make integration easier.
“I think it would be foolish for us all to be paying (separately) for technology development when it makes a lot more sense for us to invest together to develop these technologies,” said Murray. “And, I think a credit union-owned company whose sole focus is for the good of credit unions and not for some for-profit players is important. It’s important to have more cooperative efforts going forward that are committed to the credit union cause.”
Todd Adams
Foundational Strategy
Alloya CEO Todd Adams said the joint venture represents another example of the power of cooperation.
“We believe this investment will be a foundational part of our strategy as we continue to deliver leading payment services to our member credit unions,” said Adams, whose organization is based in Naperville, Ill. “The Aptys payment technologies are leading edge, and their team of talented professionals exhibits our shared credit union values. We are excited about the potential benefits this partnership will deliver to credit unions throughout the country for many years to come.”