CHICAGO–Need a reality check on just what kind of competition credit unions are up against? One audience here was urged to open their phones, visit their respective app stores and search “debit card.” What came up first for everyone had nothing to do with credit unions—with the exception of taking members.
But credit unions can effectively respond by tapping their strengths and capital if they do so collectively, said Todd Clark, CEO of Co-op Solutions.
In remarks to the company’s THINK Conference, Clark outlined how the company has pivoted, the results it is seeing, where it is investing and what is to come.
That Co-op is headed in the right direction, according to Clark can be seen in the company’s revenues and, just as important, its growing business renewal rate, as seen in the chart below.
“These are momentum things,” said Clark. “I hope you can feel it and I hope you will be patient with us as we get better and better and better.”
Clark said everything the company does is based on its purpose, which is to “enable credit unions to enrich members’ financial lives through human-centered technology and services.”
Clark said one way Co-op has sought to execute on that purpose is through listening, including using its Co-Creation Councils for feedback and innovation, as well as annual client relationship surveys and even tailing to individual CU members as they contact the Co-op contact center and go through dispute resolutions.
“We hear your concerns. There are a lot of things on this slide and there could be 50 more balls on that screen,” said Clark, referring to a graphic demonstrating dozens of challenges in front of CUs. He said the CUSO has responded by introducing more than 100 products over the last few years to respond to changing membership behavior, as outlined in the slide below.
Ringing a Bell, um, Chime
As an example of just what kind of competitive challenges credit unions face, Clark asked his audience take out their phones, go to their respective App Store and type into the search bar “debit card.” Each audience member said the Chime app was the first thing to come up.
“It’s not surprising that Chime is approaching 20 million active debit cards, and they have been in business for 12 years,” said Clark. “If you don’t have their app, you should download it because it’s actually cool. They give people access to money two days early. They have no branches. Everybody in this room could do it, but nobody did. Meeting your members where they are is a big part of what we are talking about.”
Clark said every credit union knows that “digital, digital, digital” is the way to go, but they must also invest. Why is why Co-op and other CUSOs were created to tap the combined resources of credit unions. He shared that one CU CEO had told him once that “credit unions have $100 billion in capital just sitting around and looking for places to put it.”
“We think Co-op is a great place to put it,” he said.
What Members, Co-op Want
What do members want? According to Clark, it’s:
- Self service
- Greater outcomes than they have seen before.
- Save time and make lives easier
And what does Co-op want? According to Clark it is to relieve some of the pressures in the back office.
“The opportunities we see are that we believe we can fill that gap in a lot of ways,” Clark said. “We think integration is innovation.”