About Alaska Option

Mission Statement

The mission of Alaska Option Services Corporation is to provide highest-quality, competitively-priced electronic financial transaction-related services to its participating financial insitutions and customer processors, and to contribute to the financial objectives of its owners.

History of Alaska Option

Alaska Option Services Corporation was established in 1983 to provide regional shared electronic funds transfer (EFT) services to Alaskan financial institutions. Eight credit unions and two banks formed the company to process and settle ATM transactions, including shared deposits, among customer financial institutions.

Initially, these institutions offered services through 21 ATMs. Within a few short years, all of Alaska's major financial institutions had joined the founders in providing shared ATM service to Alaskans throughout the state. In 1986, Alaska Option joined in partnership with a leading Alaskan retailer to pioneer one of the earliest regional online point-of-sale (POS) programs in the country.

Alaska Option introduced card personalization services for both proprietary debit and Visa Check Cards for its customers in 1993. Additionally, the Network established gateway connections to major national networks including Plus, Cirrus, Discover, American Express, Visa, and MasterCard, as well as connections with national POS processors such as Fiserv CNS, Concord, Paypoint, and Elan Financial Services. The Network was also named a designated agent with JP Morgan for the State of Alaska EBT program in 1998.

Alaska Option Today

Alaska Option is owned by four Alaska financial institutions and has a total of 82 customers. The corporation is overseen by a seven member Board of Directors, elected annually by shareholders.

Over 98% of the debit cards (ATM, Visa Check, and MasterMoney) issued within the state of Alaska bear the Alaska Option logo. Over 450 ATMs are deployed across the nation by participating institutions.

In 2007, Alaska Option processed over 16.6 million ATM transactions and 65.6 million POS transactions. POS transaction volume realized a 33% growth in 2007, and the Network has been ranked in the top 10 in POS volume nationally in a Nilson Report survey three years in a row.

Through its affiliations with national POS merchant processors, Alaska Option cards are accepted at over a million merchant locations nationwide including Wal-Mart, Kmart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Sports Authority, McDonalds, Safeway, Target, Fred Meyer, Costco, Texaco, Walgreens, Longs Drugs, AAFES, military commissaries, Dillards, Macys, and U.S. post offices. See national merchants for a more detailed list. New connections with other networks including CU24, PULSE, STAR, CO-OP, and NYCE ensure cardholders can access accounts from all over the world.