First Data Resources says it aims to sign up credit unions to its payment processing services on an individual basis, as Cuscal takes steps to shift its aggregated payments offering to an alternative provider, Strategic Payments Services.This week SPS and Cuscal publicised plans (already known to credit unions) to shift Cuscal's switching and authorisation services for payment cards serviced by Cuscal. Transactions acquired on non-credit union ATMs will also be moved to SPS for processing for the next five years.John Tait, managing director of First Data in Australia (which has provided these services to the sector since the 1980s) said FDR was in talks with credit unions directly.National Australia Bank, through its Evolution Payments business, is also seeking to market payment processing services to credit unions.Credit unions account for about a third of 1.5 billion payment transactions processed by First Data in Australia each year, Tait said.SPS, which is owned by MasterCard and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, expects to lift its annual payment volumes from around 250 million to 400 million as the Cuscal relationship matures.Strategic Payments Services is the newest switching provider in the Australian market and last year completed the last of its bilateral links to the mostly bank-owned switches.