The Curious World of Checks and Coins
Of all the havoc the coronavirus has wreaked on daily life, disruptions to payments behavior hardly tops the average consumer’s list. Nonetheless these impacts are real, and they matter quite a bit to leaders of credit unions and other financial services firms.
The Debate Continues- How Many Apps Should a Credit Unioan Offer?
A few weeks back John and Kevin initiated a spirited debate over the multiple tradeoffs baked into a credit union’s app strategy- user friendliness, functionality, ease of ongoing updates, etc. Check out our prior post for the first half of this conversation, particularly on whether it’s best to offer a single all-inclusive app addressing every banking need, or a compact ”everyday” app along with a series of others suited for less frequent needs like mortgage applications.
Seizing the Growth Opportunity for Mid-Sized Credit Unions
Last month I wrote about how credit unions’ stagnant market share of 7% of US consumer deposits should not be acceptable to industry leaders. Our member growth stats have been decent, but what really matters at the end of the day is Primary Financial Institution (PFI) status- the goal is for a bank or credit union to establish itself as the centerpiece of daily financial life, the first place a consumer turns when financial help is needed.
How Many Apps Does a Credit Union Need?
Financial technology can be complicated stuff- and anyone who claims there are easy answers to the challenges facing credit unions probably hasn’t analyzed the issues closely enough. Faced with complex problems, well-informed people can reach different conclusions. A great example of this came recently when BIG’s leaders traded thoughts on how credit unions should approach their mobile app strategy.
COVID’s Impacts Illustrate the Value of MemberPass in our New Normal
One of the most bizarre byproducts of the COVID-19 pandemic has been its effect on credit union branch protocol. As recently as this winter, the idea of a masked man walking up to a teller window would have been unheard of, if not downright illegal. Four months later, many credit unions have enacted policies requiring masks for entry.
Ten Years of Transformation Crammed into Three Months
In the big picture, it’s not as if any of this was a surprise. We’ve known for ages that digital channels were the future of banking, and that credit unions- especially smaller ones- needed to upgrade their tech platforms or risk being left behind.
Is Voice the New Mobile- and the Ultimate Touchless?
It was only a few years ago that I recall BIG’s Resident Visonary John Best counseling credit union leaders regarding their digital strategies, “If you don’t build out your mobile platform, you might as well not bother with digital.” It was a controversial statement at the time, but it’s now conventional wisdom. The hand-held device has become the go-to channel for members across a wide array of demographics, surpassing the desktop for engagement volume.
It’s Time for the Accelerator- NOT the Brake!
It’s entirely understandable for credit union leaders to feel overwhelmed these days. Consider the list of challenges they’ve had to overcome in real time, with little to no advance warning:
Lessons Learned From the 2008 Downturn
In 2008, the market suffered a horrible loss due to mortgages being repackaged that were not worth the amounts they were repackaged for. As a result, many people lost their jobs. At that time, I was working at a large credit union. I woke up one day to discover that we had lost almost 90 million dollars. We didn’t lose that money because we were mismanaged or because we had taken high risks, but because of the environment that we were operating in.
Failing Fast – The Key To Innovation Success
This week, John is joined by Rojin Nair, General Manager of Fintech Solutions at Celero, to discuss the Canadian Credit Union landscape, highlight from this year in Fintech, and key points that leaders must keep in mind in order to keep up in this breakneck era of innovation.