PACE Savings & Credit Union

PACE Savings & Credit Union: Innovation in Action

Like many credit unions, PACE has grown its assets through a series of mergers, but that’s where the similarity ends. Innovation is what sets PACE Savings and Credit Union apart from its peers.
This drive for innovation and careful attention to the bottom line has resulted in many “firsts”. Most recently, PACE launched Canada’s first loyalty-based debit card aimed at credit union members: the PACE Power Card. Innovations such as this coupled with competitive rates for leasing, term deposits and mortgages have brought PACE to its position of leadership among credit unions today.

Accelerating Innovation

PACE Credit Union Case Study (PDF)

How does PACE do it? “Best practices” is one answer. “Over the years we’ve created a disciplined approach to help us analyze each business opportunity and its potential effect on our bottom line. If it meets our criteria, we’ll take the next step,” says Terry Chapman, VP of Special Projects at PACE. Another way PACE accelerates innovation is by maintaining a close relationship with Strategic Information Technology. “Many credit unions talk about vendor partnership; few do it as well as PACE Savings and Credit Union,” says G. Robert Leeming, CEO of Strategic Information Technology. “We meet with them regularly. The PACE Power Card is a great example. No credit union in Canada has offered a product like this before. When PACE first approached us we knew it was a challenging project but we worked with them and their loyalty vendor to launch a very well received product. That’s what great partnership is all about.”

“The Plug-In Banking architecture of Portfolio Plus allowed us to add new functionality when we needed it .."
  -- Terry Chapman, VP, Special Projects

PACE Background

PACE is located in Toronto and has approximately 22,000 members and over $290 million in assets. PACE offers virtually all the services that larger financial institutions can offer including: savings accounts, chequing accounts, RRSP and RRIF investments, non-registered investments, term deposits, mortgages, lines of credit, personal loans, 24 hour telephone banking, ATM services, web banking and more.

PACE and Portfolio Plus

PACE first purchased Portfolio Plus from Strategic Information Technology in 1998, beginning with modules that included Retail Banking, Term Deposits, Loans and Mortgages and Investments. PACE has purchased additional modules over the years like Portcullis, for web banking, and Office Link, for document automation. “The Plug-In Banking architecture of Portfolio Plus allowed us to add new functionality when we needed it,” says Terry Chapman. “Adding functionality like web banking and document automation required little effort on our part.” Since then PACE has extended their service by adding electronic payments, ATM and IVR.

“Adding functionality like web banking and document automation required little effort on our part.”
  -- Terry Chapman, VP, Special Projects

PACE Technology

PACE employees access Portfolio Plus using desktop computers running Microsoft Windows in a client/server configuration to communicate with the main Portfolio Plus server running on an IBM RS/6000 and an AIX operating system. PACE has the freedom to change server platforms in the future as their business needs dictate. Portfolio Plus is supported on all major enterprise platforms including IBM AIX, HP-UX, Red Hat Linux, Sun Solaris and MS-Windows Server.

Special Note: PACE Credit Union is now in the middle of converting their main server platform to Red Hat Linux using a medium range Dell server.

About Strategic Information Technology Limited

SIT, formed in 1988, develops and markets Portfolio Plus, an extensible banking system that enables customers to plug-in new functionality as required. This is accomplished via SIT's unique Plug-In Banking^TM architecture and a Financial Services Bus^TM that extends Portfolio Plus functionality to other corporate applications. SIT's banking software enables banks and non-banks to offer web banking, loans, loan securitization, investments, term deposits, wealth management, retail, ATM/POS switch interfaces for debit/credit or loyalty products, leasing, Equifax and Trans Union credit bureau interfaces, registered investment products, and much more. Portfolio Plus can also be tailored, on request, to meet specific customer requirements.

Portfolio Plus, Plug-In Banking and Financial Services Bus are trademarks or registered trademarks of SIT in the U.S., Canada and other countries. Any other trademarks or service marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. For more information, please contact:

Patrick Lannigan
Strategic Information Technology
Telephone: 905-640-0808 x356
Email: patrickl@stratinfotech.com