NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – The expansion of incidental powers opened doors for credit unions to offer many products and services they once depended on CUSOs to provide directly to members themselves. But this opportunity has come with a new set of best practices, and some CUSO experts say credit unions are still going through a learning curve when it comes to this.

This is particularly evident, offers Pete Snyder, president of financial services consultant firm Snyder Consulting Services and former COO/operations for Addison Avenue FCU, in the staffing models and benchmark standards used to measure operational efficiencies.

"Credit unions that haven't used a CUSO structure to launch a product or service typically try to dilute or water down staffing models to an enterprise model, but that can't work when a credit union tries to apply the same metrics and standards to products they bring in from the CUSO side," says the NACUSO director.