GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—This year will be an important one for credit unions to ensure they are seeing a payoff on where they put their money in 2017, while also investing for new opportunities in 2018 and beyond, according to CU*Answers.
“To accomplish that, credit unions need to create and run a fixed train schedule on their investments; make the most of what they’ve already implemented. This includes driving loan and deposit growth, maximizing electronic service penetration, and fueling member growth,” said COO Geoff Johnson.
CU*Answers is also working with credit unions to help them invest in new opportunities for improvement and growth.
“These are areas credit unions have been either unable or cautious to enter, such as a renewed focus on data analytics, creating virtual stores for members to shop for CU products and services, fully automated online account opening, e-signing for loans, etc.,” said Johnson. “As a CUSO and cooperative, our job is to help make these tactics easier to adopt and more affordable. This also means tackling compliance, which unfortunately continues to dominate the conversation and be a focus of new investment.”
Core Focus
Johnson said that CU*Answers’ core focus in 2018 will not vary dramatically from 2017.
“We’ve accelerated certain investments based on successes and needs,” said Johnson. “Some of these investments include building infrastructure and business models for data warehouses, working on member convenience for accessing online banking (biometrics), e-signing, etc. We are also making some maturing opportunities more accessible to the network—setting price points for the masses to enter the market where it may not have made sense to be an early mover before. Sometimes it means helping credit unions find the room in their budget to invest in new opportunities. For example, credit unions under 2,000 members will have the CUSO’s e-commerce fee—which includes online banking, mobile banking, e-statements and e-notices—waived.”
Johnson said that in 2017 many credit unions have had to make tough decisions on how much to invest in addressing compliance.
“Depending on many institutional factors, a decision is often made to invest heavily in compliance,” said Johnson. “The question that follows those investments is at what cost to other investments and business initiatives? It’s a fine line to walk. Credit unions need to find partners that will work with them to drive down the cost of compliance, not offer expensive and unnecessary solutions that eat up the credit union’s investment dollars. Compliance is taking too big a chunk out of the investment pool and credit unions need to find a way to funnel more of it back into growth opportunities.”