Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF), a Fortune 500 provider of products and outsourced services and solutions to financial institutions and the real estate industry, and its Fidelity Information Services ("Fidelity") division announce the 250th client conversion to the company's Microsoft® Windows®-complete Mercury core processing platform, designed specifically to meet the needs of mid-tier credit unions.
With its conversion in October, Utah-based Dugway Federal Credit Union became Fidelity's 250th Mercury client. Momentum in the mid-size credit union market has been fueled by numerous system enhancements and value- added capabilities ranging from ATM and debit card services to electronic statements to collection management. Fidelity is currently scheduled to convert an additional 20 legacy-based clients per month through the end of the first quarter 2005.
"Our conversion to Mercury went like clockwork," said Lisa Stewart, chief executive officer of Dugway Federal Credit Union of Dugway, Utah. "We found the system to be flexible and highly intuitive which enabled our staff to adapt to it quickly. Looking forward, we believe Mercury's complete and integrated capabilities will deliver the true advantage we need to improve member service and grow our credit union," Stewart added.
As the 250th client to implement Mercury, Dugway Federal Credit Union now uses the system to serve the needs of its more than 1,000 members. And Dugway's staff will leverage the solution's open and integrated design -- which is optimized for Microsoft Windows 2000 professional architecture -- to streamline operations and generate additional income opportunities.
Mercury users represent a diverse cross-section of the mid-size credit union market including select employee group (SEG), professional or religious-affiliated and community-based institutions. Today, Mercury meets the core processing needs of credit unions throughout North America -- from high-service institutions like Dugway Federal Credit Union to high-volume credit unions like Pennsylvania-based Mennonite Financial Federal Credit Union, a $55 million faith-based institution that serves the full range of financial services needs of nearly 8,000 members. Since its upgrade to Mercury in February 2004, Mennonite has sharply expanded its service offerings, particularly in the lending area.
"With Mercury, our marketing choices became unlimited," stated Larry Miller, chief executive officer of Mennonite Financial Federal Credit Union. "We quickly took advantage of Mercury's user-definable loan types, offering our members many more ways to do business with us. We are effectively loaned out consistently in part thanks to the adaptability of our core system. Mercury provides the backbone we need to deliver the innovative solutions and efficiency opportunities that clearly set us apart from other institutions."
In order to help its credit union clients continue to expand their service portfolios through the use of third-party solutions, Mercury has adopted qbt Systems' MultiPoint(TM) Integrator, a real-time transaction processing engine that provides seamless connectivity across a wide variety of best-of-breed financial services systems -- giving Mercury clients absolute control over their choice of third-party solutions providers. In addition, Fidelity has integrated multiple capabilities from its expansive portfolio of existing solutions with the Mercury platform, ranging from home banking to real-time ATM and debit card services to electronic statements to advanced collection management to shared branching.
A representative sampling of additional clients among the company's latest conversions include Artesian City Federal Credit Union of Albany, Georgia; German Coast Credit Union of Luling, Louisiana; Delmarva Power Credit Union of Salisbury, Maryland; Fairview Employees Credit Union of Costa Mesa, California; Kingsville Community Credit Union of Kingsville, Texas; Nashville Credit Union of Nashville, Georgia; and FCI Credit Union of Texarkana, Texas.
"Mercury represents the best the industry has to offer for credit unions under $150 million in assets," said Santo Cannone, senior vice president of Fidelity's Integrated Financial Solutions division and executive in charge of the company's credit union business. "And because Mercury is built with the most advanced technology and capabilities available, it not only has the power to meet our clients' needs today, but can scale according to their growth and member demands well into the future."