PANAMA CITY, Panama–Approximately 130 credit union leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean convened here for a regional workshop to explore trends in consumer behavior affecting the financial space and develop strategies for improving member service.
"Understanding the customer journey is crucial to staying relevant. When credit unions design products, all pain points and friction for the member should be eliminated," said Victor Corro, World Council vice president of member services.
Corro emphasized a need for credit unions to incorporate and leverage technological advances with strategies that include appropriate risk management and an evaluation of their effectiveness when compared to newly developed digital and physical channels within the industry.
In addition, the World Council reported that Corro called upon Latin American credit unions to establish stronger member relationships by integrating available technologies. By better understanding these trends in consumer characteristics, attitudes and behaviors, credit unions can improve their communication strategies and build greater confidence, loyalty and trust - which are crucial, WOCCU said.
Workshop speakers included Kirk Drake, president and CEO of Ongoing Operations, who shared new tactics on cybersecurity, including research suggesting that many individuals lack knowledge of how critical IT operations function. The journey from strategy to implementation in cybersecurity was the focus a presentation by David Glod, vice president of information security at Mountain America Federal Credit Union. Glod shared insights to help participants focus their efforts, avoid common mistakes and determine the most effective use of limited resources. Anti-money laundering efforts complemented these themes in a presentation by Carlos Calderón, president and CEO of OAS Staff Federal Credit Union, who shared how best practices in AML guide his credit union’s international operations, WOCCU reported.
Todd Christensen, executive vice president of marketing and development at CapEd Federal Credit Union explored marketing strategies in the digital age. Christensen shared the success of CapEd’s initiatives to expand financial education services to members and highlighted the value of financial knowledge in today’s industry. By integrating these efforts with a solid Foundation, CapEd has invested more than $350,000 to aid financial educators, students, and families nationwide, according to WOCCU.
“It was great to gather as credit unions from various backgrounds, countries and asset sizes to learn and be better prepared for the future,” said Christensen. “The more we come together as the global credit union movement, the more we realize our challenges are global. As credit unions, we all have work to do to improve our communications to our members and community on our important value. The value of working together to help each other – the bedrock principals of credit unions. Credit unions are the ‘original’ peer-to-peer lenders or crowdsource community.”