HOUSTON, June 19, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- State Employees Credit Union (SECU), a leading Florida credit union serving state employees and many federal employees in the state, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Cardtronics to place its brand on nine ATMs owned and operated by Cardtronics and located in Walgreens stores in Leon County Florida, home of the state capital, Tallahassee. The agreement allows SECU members to access their cash free of surcharge fees at the nine branded ATM locations. Each of the ATMs will be outfitted with the SECU logo and SECU transaction screens.
SECU currently operates two branches in Tallahassee, each with a company-owned ATM on-site, along with one branch in Jacksonville and one in Raiford. This ATM branding agreement will greatly increase SECU's branded ATM count with significant increases in overall brand exposure and convenience.
"SECU has worked with Cardtronics subsidiary Allpoint for some time to provide our members with surcharge free cash access across the 32,000 ATMs in the Allpoint network. Extending our relationship with Cardtronics by placing our brand on ATMs in Tallahassee-area Walgreens stores was a logical way to better serve our members and build awareness of our brand," said SECU spokesman Paul Callen. "There is no doubt these nine additional ATMs will improve the experience we can offer our members."
"More and more financial institutions are recognizing the power of expanding their self service offerings by bolstering their own ATM networks with a combination of branded machines in retail locations and surcharge free networks, such as Allpoint," said Keith Myers, Cardtronics' executive vice president of financial services. "With ATM access named by consumers as one of their top priorities in choosing a bank or credit union, any financial institution looking to compete in the market needs to address the self service channel quickly and creatively. Cardtronics branding programs do just that."
Cardtronics' robust financial services offering allows banks and credit unions to leverage their brands in new ways using Cardtronics owned and operated ATMs placed in prime retail locations across the country. Cardtronics' network, the largest and most comprehensive in the nation, allows banks and credit unions to extend their service offerings and enhance convenience for their customers and members while minimizing operating costs and capital outlays.
Not only have Cardtronics' ATM branding arrangements been tremendously successful with financial institutions, these branding arrangements have also proven to be popular among retailers who benefit as branding banks' customers seek out the branded ATMs in the retailers' stores, increasing customer traffic volumes and encouraging incremental sales.
About Cardtronics, Inc.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Cardtronics is the world's largest non-bank owner/operator of ATMs with more than 25,000 locations. We operate in every major U.S. market, at over 1,500 locations throughout the United Kingdom, and at 500 locations in Mexico. Major merchant-clients include A&P(r), Albertson's(r), Hess Corporation(r), BP(r) Amoco, Chevron(r), Costco(r), CVS(r)/pharmacy, ExxonMobil(r), Duane Reade(r), Rite Aid(r), Sunoco(r), Target(r) and Walgreens(r). Cardtronics also works closely with financial institutions across the United States to place their brands on Cardtronics-owned and operated ATMs at major merchant locations. These branded ATMs provide surcharge free cash access for the financial institutions' customers while also increasing brand awareness for the financial institutions. For more information about Cardtronics, please visit www.cardtronics.com.
The Cardtronics logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=991
About State Employees Credit Union
State Employees Credit Union provides a full range of financial services to Florida state employees, most federal and county employees working in the state and most employees of agencies paid by taxpayer dollars. SECU operates four offices in the state, two in Tallahassee, one in Raiford and one in Jacksonville. Additional information about SECU is available at www.secufl.org.
About Walgreens
Walgreen Co. is the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2006 sales of $47.4 billion. The company has more than 5,700 stores in 48 states and Puerto Rico, including 77 Happy Harry's stores in Delaware and surrounding states. Walgreens is expanding its patient-first health care services beyond traditional pharmacy through Walgreens Health Services, its managed care division, and Take Care Health Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary that manages convenient care clinics inside drugstores. Walgreens Health Services assists pharmacy patients and prescription drug and medical plans through Walgreens Health Initiatives, Inc. (a pharmacy benefits manager), Walgreens Mail Service Inc., Walgreens Home Care Inc., and Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy.