How do you turn an obstacle or problem into a potential business opportunity? In this session, Robbie from fi-linx, a CUSO of MaPS Credit Union, will discuss how the CU has taken challenges and turned them into new CUSO ventures and partnerships. He will review the CUSO industry and discuss past and present CUSO ventures, the role that credit union employees play in the formation of new a CUSO, and what the CUSO landscape may look like in the not too distant future.
Session Notes
Below are some of my highlights from Robbie’s session.
MaPS Credit Union had a problem (deposit reclassification) and turned it into a CUSO, fi-linx.
A CUSO is a subsidiary of one or more CUs that provides FI services and operational services primarily to CUs and/or members of affiliated CUs. CUSOs enhance the ability of CUs to serve members and earn revenue from additional sources.
Considerations for CUSOs include:
board representation
legal structure
51% of sales/clients must be CUs
credit union culture
Many CUSOs that have been started were created as a result of a problem being experienced by CUs, rather than an idea to create a business for the sake of creating it.
As the guest speaker contest winner, Matt will reintroduce the concept of promoting thrift for credit unions. He will discuss some of the ways that credit unions across the country are promoting thrift, not only amongst their members, but also amongst the general community. Finally, Matt will introduce some exciting ways that your credit unions can recapture public goodwill with this concept.
Session Notes
Below are some of my highlights from Matt’s session.
We (CUs) are organized for the purpose of promoting thrift among our members and creating a source of credit for provident or productive purposes. [Federal Credit Union Act 1752]
Thrift is wise economy in the management of money and other resources.
People doing the right thing AND people doing the wrong thing are both failing at savings.
Our “What Are You Saving For?” program had a $285 budget, and we built something that works for us.
The WAYSF program was picked up in a story by Yahoo Finance and featured in Fast Company.
“Don’t tell me you can’t be innovative.”
Promoting thrift MIGHT be sending your customers elsewhere for business, but wouldn’t that demonstrate a level of trust amongst your members?
Financial literacy is an area that credit unions need to be involved in to keep their members educated.
Still not sure how to best tackle mobile banking or are you looking for alternatives to enhance your current offering? Gene will share valuable member and product information his credit union has gained over the past three years, discuss various aspects of mobile banking and service options, and talk about different approaches for implementing mobile banking (do-it-yourself, vendors, partnering, etc.). Gene concludes with thoughts about “harnessing the wisdom of crowds” and the concept of innovation coming from multiple outside sources and how to ensure your credit union is receptive to these sources.
Session Notes
Below are some of my highlights from Gene’s session.
We decided that if niche retail shops could exist to compete with Walmart and CostCo, why not a niche credit union?
Any technology we implement must have a human element, otherwise we won’t do it.
We build things in house because it allows us to be creative.
The difference between push and pull: Pull conditions are established and that system operates in batches. Push conditions are established by a member and when that condition is met, the message is pushed, in real-time.
Because we develop things in-house, we can listen to our members’ feedback and tweak our products accordingly.
We call all of this mobile banking, but there is not one specific definition.
The highest percentage of MemberNote (SMS alerts when transactions are complete) users at Mount Lehman are aged 41-55.
Mobile banking gives you another method to touch your members.
Next for Mount Lehman is web-based ATMs, chip cards and smart phones.
The Internet connects people across the world, but it also brings together people within a community. Just as hyperlocal media has revolutionized journalism, the hyperlocal credit union can transform the way their members interact with local merchants, with each other, and with their financial institution. Matt will share a snapshot view of a credit union that uses its local focus as more than a “we’re from your hometown!” warm and fuzzy feeling to bring tangible value to its members.
Session Notes
Morriss Partee, CEO, EverythingCU.com, has put together some great notes on the highlights of this session.
Online banking: Statements become live links to transactions.
Transaction is more than a line item in a database. Is a relationship between member and merchant.
Currently there is tiny value in online banking statements; this could have much more value. Right now, an account statement is read-only. This would add interaction.
A growing segment of the economy is driven by social decision-making. Credit unions play a natural key role in this shift, both as community-focused organizations and as holders of significant consumer assets. This presentation will include examples of the emerging social economy, as well as a case study of ChangeEverything.ca, a social network created by Vancity, which speaks to the values shared by the largest credit union in Canada and the community it serves.
Session Notes
Morriss Partee, CEO, EverythingCU.com, has put together some great notes on the highlights of this session.
33% of Canadians view the environment and global warming as the most important issues affecting the world today.
Vancity members represent 5% of discretionary spending in BC.
Vancity has a role to play in the social economy, and has a chance to influence.
Magnet Marketing - put a stake in the ground with who they are. If you’re not comfortable with that, you are welcome to leave.
Change Everything - online community to engender change, personal and social, in Vancouver and BC
Session Presentation
William’s presentation is available for download (PDF, 30 MB).
EverythingCU.com started in the year 2000 as an idea, and has since blossomed into an active online community of 5,863 credit union professionals, with a focus on marketing and business development. In this session, Morriss will share the top 5 success strategies that make an online community thrive (as well as be profitable). Credit unions inherently have every one of these success factors available to them, only they currently lie dormant. We’ll examine how you can apply each of these practices to revitalize your CU’s web presence.
You’ll leave the Symposium with new ideas and innovations for your credit union and members. Your first stop back home may be to your Training department, where you may request, “Make a class that teaches everyone about this fabulous new idea!” Ironically, this approach could be the kiss of death for your innovative brainchild. We’ll examine the short, focused list of questions that will radically transform the way in which training supports organizational innovation and delivers member-focused results.
Most trainers are constantly worried about “their place at the table”. They should be worried about everybody else’s place at the table. It is their job to change behavior to increase the performance of other employees.
Are you looking at the smile sheet or the balance sheet? Trainers shouldn’t be concerned about whether or not people liked their training sessions, but rather, what measurable effect the session has on employee behavior.
A good trainer is an agent of change. They are focused on helping reach goals. They measure how their training changes the behavior of employees.
Knowledge isn’t power, performance is.
what you know doesn’t get you a promotion, how you perform does. Training needs to be focused on performance changes rather than a deluge of information.
Radical changes are taking place in the payments industry. The door is open for an entity to become the center of your members’ payment and financial management world. Who will that “entity” be? Learn from Jeff about trends in financial payments and how you can best position your credit union to remain relevant in your members’ payment habits.
People have things that they want to sell and there are people that want to buy them.
What roll do we play in that transaction?
If we don’t pay attention to our roll as intermediary we have no right to be the intermediary.
There has been a digitalization of life. We don’t need a physical instrument to move money.
Does anybody really want a card, or do they just want what it buys? “I don’t want a hot water heater, but I want hot water.”
Tomorrow’s members may never have a checking account or even know what to do with the checks.
The mobile channel is key. Text message banking, the shift of online banking to mobile platforms and the ability to transact on a mobile phone will be a growing driver of payment systems.
The current mobile payment system is a closed system. When will it be open?
Session Presentation
Jeff’s presentation deck will be uploaded in the near future.
In this look at Cascade Community Credit Union, Jeff illustrates positioning through advanced branding tactics, why trying to be “different” is more effective than trying to be “better,” and how to avoid differentiating yourself on the same attributes as everyone else.
We all want new members, especially those with many years of borrowing, depositing, and investing ahead of them. Tim McAlpine will share the grass-roots approach one credit union is using to engage the youth market. He’ll share the process, phases, and results of Common Wealth CU’s Young & Free Program, as well as provide insight into how they have solved some unforeseen issues that have come up during the campaign. Learn from Tim’s experiences with the Young & Free Program how to better attract younger members to your credit union.
