Credit Union Australia will focus on enhancing its online banking service, improving its products and making its back office more efficient now that its new core banking system is up and running, the group's chief executive said yesterday.CUA chief executive Chris Whitehead said there were a few glitches and a few lessons learned when the new system went live last October."When you change your online platform it has a big effect on customers. They comment on everything down to the screen background," Whitehead said.He said he was focused on using the system to make improvements now it was running well. The online platform would be upgraded with better navigation and better transaction descriptions.One of the benefits of modern core banking systems is that they make product development faster. Whitehead said he wanted to take advantage of this feature and had a new transaction account on the drawing board, as well as plans for a few "tweaks" to the mortgage portfolio.He said he was using the system to improve workflow efficiency in the back office.Despite the distraction of the system upgrade, CUA increased loan settlements by 5.2 per cent in the six months to December from the same half a year ago. The loan portfolio's value rose 3.9 per cent over the same period.Retail deposits grew by 1.9 per cent to A$6.8 billion. CUA raised $675 million in the securitisation market during the half.CUA made a net profit of $27.9 million for the half, down 18.2 per cent on the same half a year ago.Whitehead said the underlying performance for the half was "a little better" than the previous corresponding period after adjusting for a special dividend paid on an investment in the previous period and movements in the market value of swaps.