Synergy by Association History

Dateline 1986
In the mid 1980s, a difficult and expensive market for insurance coverage for banks challenged bankers in Oregon and throughout the country. The Oregon Bankers Association, in response to this challenge, organized the OBA Insurance Agency to help pool together the purchasing power of Oregon's community banks and provide bankers with access to affordable, high-quality insurance coverage.

Dateline 1987
This concept and new subsidiary was so successful that the OBA formed a second for-profit subsidiary, OBA Services, to apply some of the same principles of group purchasing to other products and services utilized by community banks. Several business partnerships with some of the industry's leading suppliers followed.

The participation of bankers using the programs available from OBA Services and the OBA Insurance Agency also provided a stream of financial support to our parent organization, the Oregon Bankers Association, to assist with the Association's efforts and initiatives to assure a favorable environment for the banking industry.

Dateline 1999
In 1999, the two for-profit subsidiaries merged, and OBA Services and the OBA Insurance Agency became BancSource. Our product offerings did not substantially change through the merger, but our business marketplace did expand to several other western states. Now, bankers in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Washington and Nevada can access many of the same BancSource programs that Oregon bankers have enjoyed for many years.

Dateline 2003
Throughout BancSource territory, we continuously work cooperatively as an extension of the state banking association. Our programs are designed to provide outstanding value to the participating bank while driving a stream of support for the banking association - a true win-win proposition.

Dateline 2004
BancSource expanded its territory beyond its traditional boundaries of the western states footprint. New additions to the BancSource coalition include the states of Michigan and Virginia.  In addition to the expansion of our check program, BancSource also joined forces with the Oregon Collectors Association (ORCA). The BancSource Office Depot program is now available to members of ORCA, a statewide trade association with a membership that includes 75 collection agencies and related companies.

Dateline 2006
Marketplace expansion continues as Tennessee and Massachusetts join the BancSource coalition.   Support provided to our state banking association partners exceeds $500,000.  BancSource establishes a new business partnership with UVeritech, manufacturer of the Fraud Fighter UV-16.  The UV-16 counterfeit detector is a compact ultra-violet device which detects security features in currency, checks, credit cards, driver's licenses and other important documents.

Dateline 2007
Nearly 250 community and regional banks now participate in the BancSource | Harland Clarke program - with collective assets of $83 billion and over 1500 branch locations.  The first-ever BancSource Coalition Summit was held in Portland, bringing together our 10 state associations and business partners.  The Summit was a great opportunity to learn more about the expanded Harland Clarke relationship, new business opportunities and share in general discussion.  BancSource also partnered with JobTarget, a leading provider of association career services to build a job board for the OBA.  OBA Career Network, located at http://careers.oregonbankers.com provides OBA members access to active and passive job seekers in addition to competitively priced job posting packages and individual resume purchases.

Dateline 2008
BancSource welcomes new president, Gene Meyer, to lead expansion efforts for the organization. Enhanced partnerships were forged with TIB Card Services and Office Depot to offer these programs to members of state banking associations across the nation. North Carolina and Iowa become the twelfth and thirteenth state to join the Harland Clark program. 

Dateline 2009
It was a year of expansion for BancSource's national Office Depot program. The state banking associations of Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma and Tennessee launched the program to their membership in 2009. A new partnership was forged with Cintas Document Destruction Services, providing cost-effective, secure and compliant document destruction solutions. BancSource also welcomed Mindy Bergquist to the BancSource team as the new manager of partner programs. Mindy will lead in the administration, oversight and management of BancSource's new and existing partner program initiatives.

Dateline 2010
BancSource launched two new programs in 2010.  The first with IT-Lifeline based out of Spokane, Washington.  IT-Lifeline will provide OBA members with technology and data recovery and business continuity solutions.  A national program was also formed with Payment Stream Solutions (PSS).  PSS provides full service check recovery for bank business customers, providing banks a new source of fee income.

Dateline 2011
BancSource announced its official corporate name change to Synergy by Association, Inc. Over the past decade, we have developed strategic partnerships with leading industry suppliers and 25 state trade associations across the country.  In part chosen for our expanding customer base that now extends beyond the banking industry, the name change reflects our brand as a group purchasing organization and our long-term strategy to collaboratively advance our trade association partnerships.