One of the most enduring lessons of September 11th is that ...



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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEWS RELEASE CONTACT:

Merry Pateuk

PSCU Financial Services, Inc.

800-932-7728

mpateuk@

Emily Banks

CCS/PR, Inc.

404-584-2110

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PSCU Financial Services Spotlights Business Continuity Plan

To Protect CUs, Members from Natural, Man-Made Disasters

St. Petersburg, FL, July 30, 2004 – One of the most enduring lessons of the terrorist attacks on September 11th is that business continuity planning is no longer a seasonal exercise. PSCU Financial Services announced today that it has implementedregular) a business continuity plan to ensure continuous operations of critical systems and business processes that serve more than 500 member-owners and affect more than 8 million credit and debit cardholders and 200,000 online bill payment subscribers.

The company’s Business Continuation Plan identifies actions to be taken before, during and after a disaster to minimize risk and resume operations at that facility or an alternate location. These proven procedures ensure that the company is prepared to continue customer service to its member institutions during a disaster. “We had traditionally focused on the hurricane season as a possible cause of interruption in our business. More recently, we’ve made a conscious, proactive effort to build business continuity practices that will address any kind of natural or man-made disaster,” said David J. Serlo, President of PSCU Financial Services.

The basis of the company’s plan takes advantage of its geographically dispersed operations centers that provide business unit redundancy as well as IT resource redundancy. Each site has the ability to act independently in the event of a catastrophic failure. This dual-site approach enables the company to meet its Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity needs in a cost-effective manner that does not require use of third-party vendors. The plan is tested on a regular basis to ensure failsafe performance.

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PSCU Financial Services Spotlights Business Continuity Plan To Protect CUs, Members from Natural, Man-Made Disasters

IT components at the operations centers employ data replication for critical applications, which enables almost instantaneous recovery of critical systems in the event of failure. PSCU Financial Services’ network is redundant at the connectivity level for all paths and access to critical vendors. In addition, the network does not depend upon a single vendor.

“Each of our business units develop, maintain, review and test these disaster recovery plans. Managers at each unit must also assess and manage risk on a day-to-day basis. Business continuation and risk issues are also considered during the development of any new product, service or project,” Serlo added. “Whether trouble takes the form of a power outage, damage to our facilities, or the inability of staff members to commute to work, we're prepared to continue operations.”

The company has consulted with local government agencies responsible for emergency management programs, and has undergone audits of its business continuity plan by independent third-party risk consulting firms. “This external feedback has helped us to validate all aspects of our plan, including communications, training, networks and telecommunications, building security and other areas,” Serlo said.

Member credit unions have online access to a business continuity plan template, as well as source articles, to help them design protection for their own operations. This information is available from the MemberConnect section of the web site at .

About PSCU Financial Services

PSCU Financial Services is the nation's largest Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO). As a non-profit cooperative, the company is owned by more than 500 member credit unions nationwide, representing more than 8 million cardholder accounts and 200,000 online bill payment subscribers. PSCU Financial Services maintains its headquarters and Eastern operations center in St. Petersburg, Florida. The company is also supported by a West Coast operations center based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Established in 1977, the company provides a broad array of cost-effective, high quality financial services that include credit, debit, ATM, bill payment and contact center solutions. PSCU Financial Services uniquely offers its members a full range of

processing options, any combination from full service to in-house pass through processing for credit, debit and ATM transactions. As the leader in the credit union industry, the company offers gateway access to national and regional networks. It also

provides full function ATM terminal driving services. For more information, visit the company's Web site at .

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