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At the Building Societies Annual Conference in May, Frances McCann, CEO of Scotwest Credit Union, took part in a discussion on collaboration in technology. Scotwest has been running a Credit Union Service Organisation (CUSO) for its core banking system with Capital Credit Union for the last decade. She now leads Scotwest into its most significant collaboration to date, partnering with Capital Credit Union and Glasgow Credit Union to set up CU Share Limited, a new mutual organisation whose vision is to develop and offer services to the credit union sector and beyond. 

Collaboration between different organisations can undoubtedly be challenging. You are bringing together groups of people who may have different organisational cultures, conflicting priorities and potentially competing resources and interests. 

However, in my experience, if you can overcome these barriers, there is an opportunity to reap considerable benefits. In particular, when it comes to the significant investment required for the adoption of new technology infrastructure. 

Over a decade ago, that was the opportunity Scotwest and Capital Credit Union grasped when it came to investing in a new core-banking platform. 

We were naturally ambitious for our members in that we wanted them to benefit from a cloud-based system that was efficient, effective and could adapt to a future we could see would be defined by rapid change in new technology. 

At the same time, just as it is for any smaller financial institution, cost was a barrier. 

By setting up the shared services organisation, we were able to afford a cloud-based core banking system, the type normally only utilised by tier 1 banks.  In our case, that system was TCS BaNCS, provided by the global IT supplier Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).  

In terms of running the CUSO with another organisation, there were obviously challenges from bringing together different outlooks and views. Nonetheless, we found that if everyone is focused on a shared vision, then people always find a mutually agreeable path.  

It also helped considerably that we had an excellent partner in the form of TCS, who were supportive throughout the onboarding process. They provided technology that enables rather than constrains our strategy and the service we can provide to our members. 

The initiative symbolised a commitment to collaboration and that is the driving force behind the new CUSO that has recently been incorporated for the purpose of delivering a broader range of services. 

The new venture has been part funded by grant money received from the Scottish Government in the aftermath of Covid. 

For the newly incorporated CUSO, CU Share Limited, Capital and Scotwest have partnered with Glasgow Credit Union and we are currently going through a process of mapping out what we want this new shared services organisation to deliver. There are currently seven areas for consideration, including, governance, risk and compliance, HR, collections services, data analysis and technology infrastructure.  

Although we have a primary requirement to spend the grant money for the benefit of Scotland, we are open to providing services to organisations outside the credit union sector, such as building societies. 
By collaborating via sharing costs and our collective expertise with our existing CUSO, it has enabled us to punch well above our weight in terms of the systems and services we can provide. 

I am genuinely excited by the possibilities that our new CUSO could deliver and the ultimate value this will provide to our members and communities for years to come. 

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This article was first published in Society Matters magazine.