The ghosts of credit

THE Note knows installing new computer systems can lead to unexpected surprises, as Police & Nurses Credit Society has discovered. Two years ago, Police & Nurses proudly announced it had 75,000 members, which it said made it the largest retail financial institution based in WA.In its latest profit report, released last week, it reported that 10,531 new members had joined. Yet it also reported that total membership had declined fractionally to 75,203.So what happened to all the growth? It turns out P&N converted to a new core banking system and removed about 10,000 dormant accounts from its system.This poses questions for arch rival StateWest Credit Society, which is planning to merge its 64,000 members with Home Building Society.StateWest has just started replacing its own core banking system, but chief executive Greg Wall assures us the dormant accounts have been taken out each year.