The largest credit union in the U.S. Virgin Islands has completed its conversion to CU*SOUTH’s core platform, CU*BASE®. With 7,300 members, St. Thomas FCU serves 15% of the island’s total population, making it the largest locally-based financial institution on the Caribbean Island.
“The sky is the limit,” says Steven Mayers, CFO of St Thomas FCU. “There are no indigenous banks on St. Thomas, and our credit union is chartered to serve everyone on the island. What held us back was our old core software. Any time we wanted to add a service, we had to purchase additional software modules and pay higher fees – so our options were limited by having to worry about running a breakeven analysis on any new service we wanted to offer.”
CEO Keisha Prince recognized CU*SOUTH’s innovative core platform and forward thinking CUSO leadership as a key reason for hiring CU*SOUTH: “We chose CU*SOUTH as our core processor to bring us into the 21st century. CU*BASE offers an inviting, seamless banking experience that will help continue to diversify and develop our member base. CU*BASE allows for us to streamline processes to focus more on what matters: our members!”
A week after converting their core and home banking software to CU*SOUTH, Keisha Prince takes a moment to reflect. “It’s said, ‘The only time you should ever look back, is to see how far you’ve come.’ I have had an opportunity to look back and see just how far we have come in such a short space of time with the continued support of the CU*SOUTH team. I am truly appreciative for all the hard work and dedication demonstrated by the team throughout this process.”
“We have only been live a few days, however, the feedback from our members tells a story of pure satisfaction for the new direction. This speaks volumes, and encourages us to continue on a path that not only benefits our members but also enhances the overall performance of the organization.”
“During my career, I’ve been through at least four core conversions, and this has by far been the best,” concludes Ms. Prince. “Thank you for your cooperation, diligence and consistency throughout this process. We are eternally grateful.”
As the Caribbean hurricane season continues to heat up, the staff and members of St. Thomas FCU appreciate their new cloud-based solution. “We are mindful of the risk that tropical storms and hurricanes pose to our island,” says Ms. Prince. “With CU*SOUTH, we know that even if something happens to our credit union, our members will continue to have access to their accounts, electronic transactions will continue to post for ACH, debit and credit cards – and CU*SOUTH’s member service call center team will answer our member phone calls at a time when our members need their credit union the most.”
“We’ve integrated every element of the credit union operation into a single cloud-based platform,” explains CU*SOUTH CEO Leo Vaulin. “We’ve replaced the credit union’s locally-based servers with a hosted, fully-integrated solution where data flows from home banking to back office. And, to make sure that all credit unions, large and small, get the maximum benefit from our solution, we built a network of support services – from call center to back office and compliance – so credit unions can leverage our experience as well as our software tools.”