Catalyst Corporate Membership Soars- National Presence Solidified

Catalyst Corporate is pleased to announce that it has reached more than 1,190 capitalizing member credit unions throughout the nation after launching with 890 members in September of last year. Though membership rose steadily throughout the final months of 2011, the greatest influence on this rapid growth is transition of Western Bridge Corporate members.
Two hundred eighty-five Western Bridge members have pledged more than $46.5 million in capital to Catalyst Corporate, bringing total Perpetual Contributed Capital to more than $144 million.

“We have exceeded our business plan target well in advance of the acquisition date and will continue to accept new member capital as long as credit unions want to join,” said Kathy Garner, President/CEO of Catalyst Corporate.
 
Garner is referring to the upcoming acquisition of certain Western Bridge assets by Catalyst Corporate, which was announced in December 2011 and is slated to occur on July 1. “Our success in raising capital from Western Bridge members reflects the appeal of Catalyst’s low capital requirement, breadth of cooperatively-priced services, and vision for the future,” said Garner. “We are especially grateful to the credit unions that have already made their commitment to Catalyst because achieving these goals today demonstrates that our plan is attainable.”

Catalyst Corporate continues to lay the groundwork for serving its coast-to-coast membership. In addition to the Plano, Texas, headquarters, Catalyst maintains branch offices in Georgia and Hawaii, and is working to secure space in southern California. In addition to these states, Catalyst has member-facing staff working in California, Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma, Florida, Utah and Idaho; these individuals provide coverage in their home states as well as the neighboring states of Nevada, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

“Even though the majority of our business can be performed remotely, we believe that a local presence is important, especially in states where we have large concentrations of members,” said Garner.
 
In Georgia and Hawaii, Catalyst’s employees share office space with local leagues. Sharing space with leagues is a logical choice. Just last week, the space-sharing arrangement between Catalyst and the Texas Credit Union League was made public. Catalyst will see substantial savings in its operating costs while furthering the cooperative relationship with the League. “We all have the same stakeholders, and physical proximity can serve as a valuable reminder that collaboration can help us with future endeavors to serve those stakeholders,” said Garner.

Representation is critical to Catalyst Corporate’s success in new markets as well, according to Garner. The Board of Directors is adding two new seats to accommodate representation from Western Bridge Corporate’s membership. These directors will be selected for recommendation to the Board of Directors by a Governance Advisory Council – also made up of Western Bridge members.

“We are gratified that our new members are embracing this process that will ensure they are well-represented in the governance of Catalyst Corporate,” said Garner. “Catalyst is fully committed to the credit union principle of ‘democratic control,’ and takes this a step further by actively soliciting its membership for feedback, as demonstrated by the work of the Catalyst Councils.”  The Western Regional Council was established just this week, shortly following the kick-off meetings of the Eastern and Central Regional Council meetings in late March.

“Catalyst is demonstrating that it was designed to adapt to growth and a rapidly changing environment – part of our original business plan to launch a sustainable model,” said Garner. “There really is no limit to what we can achieve on behalf of our member credit unions.”