IRVINE, Calif.–There are three very specific themes taking place in the financial services landscape, and two other issues over which there is a lot of “chatter,” according to Filene.
In the opening session at its big.bright.minds Conference here, Filene Executive Director Mark Meyer said the research organization has identified a trio of issues that have become a priority for credit unions as they look to grow and service members.
Those three themes, according to Meyer, include:
- Digital Transformation. “Right now, we are living through digital transformation in financial services. We have clearly heard that from you.”
- Mining of growth. “And we are mining for growth in a very different environment,” said Meyer. “A lot of deposits have come in. What about spread? The peanut butter has gotten really thin and created very challenging net worth ratios. We are looking at innovation and incubation. How you test for new product? How you build capacity in your organization? How you find your new way forward?” (Mining for growth was the theme of day one at big.bright.minds.)
- Remixing the Value Proposition. “There is this really interesting aspect of being a credit union. You have a philosophy. So What? How do you remix that value proposition. You can be about experience, price or value proposition. How do you do that in a very evolving financial services market? In a crisis you go back to your values and you stand on that as your foundation. You’ve got this credit union thing. It’s super different. How do you remix that and create differentiation in a very crowded marketspace.”
Two Other Things
While those three issues are priorities for credit unions, according to the feedback Filene has received, Meyer said there are two other issues “we are starting to hear a lot of chatter about.”
Those two issues, said Meyer, are:
- Talent. “It’s not just about having the best talent but having the competencies you need to move your organization forward. Never before has talent held all the cards in terms of how they want to work. How do we respond to that and enable that?”
- Resources/Lack of Resources. “This is an amazing statistics. Two years ago there were 300 CUs over $1 billion in assets. One year ago, there were 368. Today, there are 398. For them, resources abound,” said Meyer. “But that means there are 4,000-plus CUs that are not $1 billion in assets. What we’re starting to hear from those folks is how do we build common platforms and backoffice and collaboration models.”
There is also one other issue Meyer said he wanted to give attention, and that is financial wellness of not just members but employees. Meyer said it’s terrific that credit unions are out in the world helping people, “but can we make sure before we do that to practice what we preach and pay our employees a livable wage.”