New Vice Presidents To Provide Leadership

December, 1997 - The announcement in October 1997 that four Associate Vice Presidents would soon be added to the CUETS management team heralds a new chapter in the continuing transformation of CUETS to a leadership position within the credit union system and card industry.

The new AVPs will be responsible for providing greater focus on product leadership, development and performance, and ensuring that CUETS' plans are market-driven and client-centered. These "product champions", unencumbered by the management responsibilities of CUETS' operational and functional areas, will work with senior credit union, Central and card industry contacts to ensure that CUETS and credit unions are well-positioned for the years ahead.

"The card business is changing significantly, with an increasingly competitive and complex marketplace," explains Stan Kuss, Chief Executive Officer. "These new product champions will help CUETS and credit unions build on the major progress of the past few years. It's an investment that we believe will have long term benefits for the system."

Kuss points to several accomplishments over the past two years that demonstrate CUETS is aggressively moving forward to achieve a leadership role in the industry. In mid-1997, CUETS, Sherwood Credit Union and SaskTel teamed to conduct the first secure electronic transaction on the Internet in Canada, effectively beating all Canadian banks. "As a result, CUETS and credit unions are now recognized worldwide as being instrumental in the delivery of the processing solution that allows financial institutions around the world to participate in this emerging payment environment."

Kuss also notes the recent co-sponsoring of a proprietary Mondex pilot with Saskatchewan Central and provision of national cardholder and merchant support for the Guelph Mondex pilot.

"Other initiatives, such as successfully repositioning the CU CREDIT card, introducing the Choice Rewards loyalty program and launching an innovative co-branded card with a major power utility, are helping to build cardholder volumes and achieve the economies of scale that are so important within the industry. CUETS is already the eighth largest "bank card" company in Canada and committed to achieving its vision of becoming one of the top five," he reports.

Kuss expects to have the four product vice presidents - all of whom are expected to have extensive industry of credit union card management experience - in place by February, 1998, and up to full speed on CUETS' operations and plans for 1998 shortly thereafter.