AUSTIN, Texas–A company has been launched here called the Golden Contract Coalition that it says is an “alliance of community banks, credit unions and key players from within the banking community, charged with addressing core vendor contract disparities from one institution to another.”
The company has been formed by Aaron Silva, president and CEO of Paladin fs, and is being backed by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP, a contract negotiation law firm.
The coalition said it “aims to level the negotiation playing field by creating a fair, standard agreement between community financial institutions and their core and IT vendors.” The benefits of that agreement will be available to the financial institutions that join with the company.
“Community banks and credit unions have struggled for decades under the oppressive weight of the core vendor goliaths, unable to develop and deploy the same affordable, cutting-edge, customer-facing services as those produced by larger, national banks,” said the Golden Contract Coalition in a statement. “Not only have institutions been treated unfairly in core and IT contract negotiations, but shareholders have been penalized further still when entering mergers and acquisitions. The surging price tag on early contract termination has long-acted as a forceful deterrent to the growth of banks.”
The company said it will be able to create better pricing by using the collective buying power of participants.
The company said “The Golden Contract strips excessive legalese and self-serving conditions from core and IT agreements and pricing, and dictates the master commercial terms and legal conditions by which all core and IT providers must abide. Utilizing the Golden Contract and its set of rules and conditions determined by its GCC members, much-needed money is put onto the bottom line of community banks and credit unions.”