Abcul halts credit union migration to new core platform
New tech? Credit unions will have to wait
EXCLUSIVE: UK-based Association of British Credit Unions (Abcul) has suspended its plans to migrate its member credit unions onto its new tech platform, Banking Technology understands.
The tech and ops modernisation project, known as Model Credit Union, is part of a broader Credit Union Expansion Project (CUEP), initiated by the UK government’s Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2014.
The overall programme has been valued at £38 million, with the technology portion believed to be around £8 million.
Abcul’s dedicated subsidiary, Cornerstone Mutual Services, has been carrying out the work. The plan was to bring together a range of facilities, including a new core banking system and a new mobile app – both provided by Fiserv – and migrate Abcul’s members onto this new shared platform.
Abcul has 200+ members, of which around 35 signed for the new platform. So far, just three managed to go live – East London Credit Union, RetailCURe and Voyager Alliance Credit Union.
In June this year, Mark Lyonette, chief executive of Abcul and Cornerstone, told Banking Technology the association had “confirmed schedule to roll out to a further 30 credit unions over the next 18 months”. He also said Abcul was making “good progress” on this.
However, Banking Technology understands the roll-out has now come to a halt.
Following the discussions with the DWP and Cornerstone’s board meeting held on 29 August, it has been agreed “to continue working with the DWP to develop plans for stabilising the three live credit unions – Voyager Alliance, East London and RetailCURe”, according to an Abcul letter to its members seen by Banking Technology.
“We will, however, be halting the migration of any further credit unions onto the platform until we have achieved this stabilisation,” it goes on to say.
It adds that the Cornersone and CUEP boards “remain committed to transformation and will continue to seek ways to enable all credit unions who wish to migrate to do so”.
There are no changes to either the Card Account Services or the Automated Lending Decision (ALD) solution provided by Cornerstone.
“We are continuing to work with the DWP to support credit unions that are live on the platform and remain committed to transformation,” was Lyonette’s response to Banking Technology’s enquiry on the subject.
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