Abound Credit Union picks Jack Henry Symitar core platform
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Founded 75 years ago as a small institution serving 10 Fort Knox employees, Abound Credit Union has grown to $2.4 billion in assets and is now a pillar of southern and central Kentucky communities. The credit union found it increasingly challenging to keep up with members' needs and attract younger generations with its legacy technology and workarounds. It needed a future-ready, flexible technology platform that would support growth without sacrificing the brand's personal connections. Jack Henry's open, cloud-native platform gives Abound a technology foundation that can support the credit union in its next chapter.
'Jack Henry understands our vision and what it takes to cater to our members' diverse financial situations,' said Ray Springsteen, CEO at Abound Credit Union. 'Its open platform seamlessly integrates third-party solutions, enabling members to have the financial services they rely on, while easily adding new capabilities as needs change. This empowers us to focus our resources on serving Kentuckians for the next 75 years and beyond.'
Abound will leverage many of Jack Henry's complementary integrated solutions to deliver a more personalized, secure, and convenient experience. For example, Jack Henry Data Hub™ will provide real-time member insights, the Banno Digital Platform™ offers an intuitive digital experience, and the Banno Digital Toolkit™ allows for easy customization and smooth integration with third-party providers. Jack Henry's business banking, payments, lending, and financial crimes solutions also will enhance the credit union's offerings.
'Our technology modernization strategy is designed to empower institutions like Abound to embrace change, drive their own innovation, and deliver value to every member,' said Brynn Ammon, President of Credit Union Solutions at Jack Henry. 'The credit union is leveraging our foundation to create its own banking experience, one that rewards and brings value to a diverse member base. We're honored to help them build a resilient technology plan that will support their growth and further deepen their impact in Kentucky.'
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Fox News has used the indictments and alleged bribery scheme to support its defense in the defamation suit, saying in court documents that if the company has had trouble expanding its business in the US, it's due to these allegations and the company's troubled history, not Fox News reporting. Prosecutors from the southern district of Florida allege that the three Smartmatic executives and Jarltech owner Andy Wang engaged in a years-long conspiracy to overcharge the Philippines government for voting machines, then used the fraudulently obtained funds to pay more than $1m in kickbacks to Juan Andres Bautista – chair of the Philippine elections commission at the time – to win and retain a contract to supply systems for the 2016 elections there. Jarltech allegedly overcharged the Philippines government $10-$50 per voting machine in 'extra' or 'rush' fees, amassing about $6m in a slush fund to pay the bribes. Wang allegedly managed the funds in Hong Kong bank accounts, and Smartmatic executives directed the payments, using bogus purchasing agreements, shell companies and banks in Europe, Asia and the US. Bautista passed the money to a family member who then bought a condo in San Francisco, prosecutors say. Wang did not respond to questions from the Guardian. The justice department investigation began after Bautista's estranged wife told Philippine authorities in 2017 that her husband had $20m in 'unexplained wealth' and provided them with 35 passbooks for offshore bank accounts in Bautista's name. Bautista resigned as chair of the election commission two months later, and in 2023, news broke that the justice department had filed charges against him and was investigating unnamed Smartmatic executives as well. But the scheme didn't start with the Philippines. Prosecutors say the conspirators had also inflated the cost of voting machines sold to Venezuela to amass $4m for bribes paid to unnamed Venezuelan officials between 2012 and 2014 , showing a pattern of illegal activity. In 2019, prosecutors say Piñate also transferred ownership of an upscale home in Caracas to Tibisay Lucena Ramírez, then president of the Venezuelan National Electoral Council, to secure her assistance with its business interests in that country. A Smartmatic spokesperson calls the house claim 'untethered from reality'. She says Smartmatic 'ceased all operations in Venezuela in August 2017 after blowing the whistle on the government and has never sought to secure business there again'. In 2017, Smartmatic accused the Venezuelan electoral council and the Nicolás Maduro regime of manipulating voter turnout numbers and election results and ceased business in the country. But prosecutors say Piñate hoped to repair the relationship with Venezuela with Ramírez's help and gave her the Caracas home as a bribe. Ramírez died in 2023. The federal case against Smartmatic executives and the company's lawsuit against Fox News have now become intertwined due to the new allegations about the LA county money and questions about whether the executives used bribes to win favor around the county contract. Fox News says in its recent filing against LA county that it 'does not yet have evidence that slush fund payments or real estate title transfers were made to any L.A. County official', but it says that gifts Logan received from the company follow 'patterns of misconduct' that prosecutors have alleged occurred in other countries, and that Logan cultivated an unusually close relationship with Smartmatic executives that went 'well beyond typical business relationships.' Logan took a nine-day trip to the Maldives and Taiwan in July 2019 that was partially funded by Smartmatic, including business-class air fare, accommodations and meals, according to text messages obtained by Fox News and included in its court filing. The Maldives portion was covered by an organization that invited Logan to speak there, but Smartmatic paid for Logan's travel to Taiwan. Based on another text message not included in the court filing but seen by the Guardian, Smartmatic played a role in coordinating the conference invitation to Logan as well. Logan's wife accompanied him on the trip, but the text messages indicate he gave his credit card number to Smartmatic to cover her $5,000 air fare. Logan and his wife tacked on tourist activity to the Taiwan portion of their trip, and it's not clear how much Smartmatic paid for the entire excursion. Under California Fair Political Practices Commission regulations, gifts to state and local officials from a single source were limited to $500 a year when Logan took the trip. Smartmatic would not say how much it paid for the Taiwan trip, citing ongoing litigation. An LA county spokesperson said in an email that the Taiwan trip was not a gift but a work trip to conduct oversight of the manufacturing process – the trip included a visit to Jarltech, the subcontractor that was making the hardware for LA county's machines. The spokesperson wrote: 'the lead from the County's VSAP design contractor was also part of the trip, which included detailed reviews and presentations of products that required approval prior to manufacturing, and onsite visits to multiple product and manufacturing assembly plants/operations.' Approval of the manufacturing process was required as part of the contract, he says, and 'protocols for notification and approval of the travel were followed and are documented in the responsive records provided [to Fox News]'. Asked why the project manager for the contract, whose job is 'inspecting any and all tasks, deliverables, goods, services, or other work provided by or on behalf of the Contractor' didn't visit the Jarltech facilities instead of Logan, spokesperson Michael Sanchez said that as chief elections official 'Logan had and continues to have clear responsibility for ensuring contract compliance.' Fox News disputes that the travel was covered under the contract, noting that the contract only mentions paying travel expenses if county officials are auditing financial records related to Smartmatic's contract with the county and have to travel outside the county to view the company's financial records. Sanchez says the paragraph addressing travel expenses 'is not limited to the inspection of financial records for a financial audit' but includes travel to 'examine … any pertinent transaction, activity, or record' relating to the contract. In addition to the Taiwan travel, Fox News says Smartmatic paid for an unknown number of meals in upscale restaurants for Logan, at least one of which Logan did not report on annual disclosure form in 2022. In a deposition in the lawsuit Fox has filed against LA county to obtain Logan's records, Logan disputes that he was required to report the meal because he says it was a personal meal with a Smartmatic employee. He also rejects the suggestion that Smartmatic won its contract out of favoritism. 'The contract between Los Angeles County and Smartmatic USA was competitively bid, evaluated, and awarded in compliance with the County's open competitive public procurement processes,' Logan wrote in an email.
