Case Study - Credit union reconciliation innovated: Catalyst Corporate’s journey with ReconArt

About Catalyst Corporate: leading innovation in credit union financial services

Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union is among the largest corporate credit unions in the United States, operating within the depository credit intermediation industry and headquartered in Plano, Texas. Founded in 2011 through strategic consolidation, Catalyst now serves over 1,500 member credit unions nationwide, providing innovative solutions in payments, liquidity, asset management, and risk mitigation. With a mission to accelerate credit union success and empower communities, Catalyst supports institutions that serve millions of individual members across the country. The recent launch of FedNow® instant payments enhances credit union competitiveness in auto lending and real-time transactions.

Reconciliation challenges faced by credit unions: legacy systems and compliance challenges

The existing technology framework of Catalyst Corporate lacked the flexibility and automation required for high-volume, daily reconciliation processes. The accounting team faced limitations in scalability, auditability, and security, particularly in reconciling their Federal Reserve account and other critical financial operations. Manual processes and fragmented tools made it challenging to maintain compliance and operational efficiency.

A gap analysis revealed the need for a centralized, secure, and automated reconciliation platform capable of handling complex matching scenarios, supporting compliance requirements, and automating manual operations across the board. The organization required a solution that could evolve with their needs and empower internal teams to manage and expand reconciliation processes independently.

Reconciliation software for credit unions: high-volume transaction matching plus speed

Catalyst Corporate became a ReconArt client in 2018, initially implementing daily reconciliation for their Federal Reserve account and select cash accounts. The solution was deployed in a hosted environment, ensuring robust security and compliance. ReconArt’s platform supported complex matching relationships (one-to-many, many-to-many) and matching rule configurations tailored to Catalyst’s specific business logic.

Key functionalities included:

• Daily reconciliation of Fed account using FIRD files matched against GL transactions and core system summaries, with automated generation of daily and month-end reports.
• ACH Suspense account reconciliation using Fed files and core system data.
• Bulk cash account reconciliation involving bank statements and GL entries.
• Automation of 24/7 activity accounts such as RTP, ensuring real-time visibility and control.

ReconArt’s reporting capabilities addressed Catalyst’s audit and performance tracking needs, including dashboards for outstanding items, system KPIs, and daily CSV exports for journal posting. The versatile automation toolkit provided by ReconArt has enabled extensive automation, including scheduled imports, matching, and reporting. All activities roll from prior day to current day balances with immediate investigation of outstanding items, thus preventing backlog at period-end.

Catalyst Corporate Credit Union has taken internal controls and operational excellence to a new level

The implementation of ReconArt has significantly improved Catalyst’s transaction matching and reconciliation processes. The organization now benefits from a secure, auditable, and user-friendly platform that accommodates scalable and best practice reconciliations. The system’s check-and-balance features allow for immediate discrepancy identification, enhancing confidence and operational control.

Catalyst’s accounting team has embraced the solution, independently expanding its use to additional accounts and processes. They value the intuitive interface, effective training, and supportive ReconArt technical team. The ReconArt AI Assistant introduced in 2024 can further enhance rule analysis and template configuration, with future plans to support matching logic optimization. The eliminated delays and workload distribution efficiencies are evident, and the organization continues to build on its successful implementation.