Denali Alaskan, Heritage Trust and Redstone FCUs Benefit from Teller Performance Benchmark Studies.

Business Editors &Technology Writers

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 17, 2000

FMSI provides FCUs with monthly performance and cost analysis

Three Federal Credit Unions have reported significant labor-cost savings and increased teller productivity each month since subscribing to Financial Management Solutions, Inc.'s (FMSI) performance management information services. FMSI is an Atlanta-based company providing financial institutions nationwide with monthly productivity and unit-labor cost analysis reports and optimum work schedules. The work schedules are unique to each location based on its transaction volume and traffic patterns.

FMSI provides Denali Alaskan FCU, Redstone FCU, Heritage Trust FCU and financial institutions nationwide with monthly performance management information based on institution-supplied data, benchmarking average teller-line productivity, unit labor costs (ULC), part-time utilization and salary. Institutions receive the benchmark information, which compares their data against all other FMSI subscribers. Productivity is calculated based on the number of monetary transactions processed per teller per hour. The ULC is the institution's teller labor cost to process each monetary transaction and is calculated based on salary and benefit expenses only. FMSI also supplies institution branches with optimum weekly work schedules based on actual customer traffic patterns within each location.

Denali Alaskan FCU, located in Anchorage, Alaska, has received reports from FMSI since October 1997. Since it began the program, the seven branch operation reports an average monthly savings of $11,900 based on its productivity improvement of more than 25 percent and decrease in its ULC of 21 cents representing a 30 percent change. Denali Alaskan FCU has assets of $174 million and processes an average of 56,500 transactions monthly throughout its operations.

&uot;FMSI's monthly reports help us monitor our teller line expenses and productivity much more effectively,&uot; said Bob Teachworth, president of Denali Alaskan FCU. &uot;The cost analysis in each report gives us an unbiased review of operations and aids management in working toward our established objectives.&uot;

Huntsville, Ala.-based Redstone FCU has assets of $1 billion within its 14 branch network. RFCU has improved its productivity by more than 10 percent in two years, while maintaining a low ULC of only $0.46 per transaction. With the highest average branch transaction volume of any FMSI customer, Redstone FCU processes more than 500,000 transactions per month.

&uot;Improving teller efficiency by more than 10 percent is quite an accomplishment,&uot; said Carolyn Hargrove, vice president of Redstone FCU. &uot;When dealing with the transaction volumes we handle, saving and cutting costs a little here and there adds up quickly. FMSI's analysis of our operations and staffing recommendations have shown us how to better utilize our existing resources.&uot;

Heritage Trust FCU has also improved productivity and reduced its ULC through the implementation of FMSI's recommended teller schedules and monthly reports. The Charleston, S.C.-based FCU has $225 million in assets and operates eight locations. In three years, HTFCU has raised its productivity level by more than 30 percent to 28 transactions per teller per hour, and the ULC has been reduced to $0.37 per transaction, representing an improvement of nearly 15 percent.

&uot;The FMSI benchmark program is an on-going process to ensure that our members are served properly and that Heritage Trust is prepared with the appropriate staff to meet our member's needs,&uot; said Heritage Trust FCU President and CEO Quince Cody.

&uot;The teller line is the most labor-intensive unit within a financial institution,&uot; W. Michael Scott, president and CEO of FMSI said. &uot;It takes careful management and planning to staff the teller line with the right number of people to handle the transactions in a timely and efficient manner. These three credit unions have very successfully implemented a new method of measuring and managing the teller line, and they are reaping the rewards from doing so.&uot;

About Financial Management Solutions, Inc.

Financial Management Solutions Inc., is an Atlanta-based company which provides products and services to financial institutions of all sizes to assist management teams in achieving cost reductions and productivity improvements without sacrificing the quality of customer service.

FMSI serves more than 60 banks and credit unions, providing monthly analytical reports to more than 5,000 branches nationwide. Since the company's inception in 1990, FMSI has processed data for hundreds of institutions across the United States. Among the company's current customer portfolio are Ent Federal Credit Union, S.A.F.E. Credit Union, Eastern Financial Federal Credit Union, LaSalle Bank, TrustMark National Bank, Union Planters Bank N.A., AmSouth(R) Bank, and National Bank of Alaska.

For more information about Financial Management Solutions contact Gordon Shaw, 2300 Henderson Mill Road, Suite 410, Atlanta, GA 30345; call [phone]; or email [e-mail]. The company's Web site is available at www.fmsi.com.