Currently serving more than 700 credit unions nationwide, Corporate One is one of the nation’s largest and most trusted corporate credit unions. For 75 years, we’ve been creating opportunities for credit unions to succeed through our premier investment, funding, and payment solutions.
Founded in 1949 as Ohio Central Credit Union, our organization was chartered as a “credit union for credit unions,” based on the traditional principles of service to members that guide all credit unions. Ohio Central served two distinctly separate groups: Ohio credit unions, receiving the services of a corporate central credit union, and natural person members. At the time, such a credit union was known as a “dual corporate central credit union.”
Beginning in the late 1970s, dual corporates began to split into two separately chartered entities, one serving individuals and one serving credit unions. In 1983, Ohio Central was split into two entities, with the natural person credit union continuing as Ohio Central Credit Union and the credit union’s credit union being founded as Ohio League Corporate Credit Union (OLCCU), a department of the Ohio Credit Union League (OCUL).
Although OLCCU had a separate board of directors, it was managed directly by the OCUL. “Shared management” was not unheard of at the time, with nearly 40 percent of the forty corporates in 1990 sharing management with the credit union league in their state. In 1990, the OCUL and OLCCU boards decided to conduct an extensive analysis of the shared management arrangement. This study culminated in the establishment of Corporate One Credit Union in 1991 as an independently managed corporate credit union. Corporate One converted to a federal charter in 2000.
Throughout our history, Corporate One has innovated unique solutions for credit unions. For example, we developed SimpliCD, the turnkey certificate of deposit program now owned by Primary Financial and marketed by corporate credit unions nationwide. We also developed and manage Alliance One, one of the nation’s largest non-network-specific ATM selective- surcharging groups in America.
During the 2008 financial crisis, Corporate One was able to keep all members’ capital shares intact, unlike other corporate credit unions whose members’ capital was totally or partially impaired. In fact, we are in the unique position of being one of the only corporates to have never impaired our members’ capital, and we are proud that our proven and viable business model thrived during this economic downturn.
In 2012, Corporate One successfully merged with the former Southeast Corporate Federal Credit Union, which resulted in the incorporation of new technology, enhanced solutions, the addition of new expertise, and the expansion of our infrastructure, as well the growth of our national footprint.