By Ray Birch
DECATUR, Ill.—How important is it for a credit union’s online banking platform to stand out from local competitors’ solutions?
One CU says differentiation has led to a tripling of its e-banking users in less than three years.
Staley Credit Union achieved those results by moving from a “bland” platform that permitted no customization, to one that allows the credit union to do many things with the site visually. Staley in 2014 changed to Fiserv’s Corillian online solution, which allows Staley to customize its online offering with the $128-million CU’s branding.
The tool also integrates online banking, payments and personal financial management tools into one interface, which the CU said has also helped to increase members’ interest in digital banking.
Look-Alike Offerings
Kim Ervin, Staley CU’s VP and CFO, said the credit union felt it needed to differentiate its online solution in its market, as a number of the banks and credit unions in its markets were using the same online banking provider as Staley. The result, said Ervin, was everyone’s offerings looked alike.
“We had serious concerns about a lack of differentiation from competitors,” said Ervin. “When members logged into some of our competition’s online banking tools, they saw the same look and feel, the same colors. It was not uncommon for them to tell us they sometimes got confused about which financial institution’s tool they were using.”
Ervin said Staley considers itself to be very progressive, but that image was not coming across on its former e-banking site, she said.
“We feel people got the right message when they came to our website, but then all that work was lost when they went to our online banking presence,” she Ervin.
Along with the move to Fiserv, Staley implemented the company’s Mobiliti for its members’ mobile banking needs and Popmoney as a personal payment service.
“The old solution did not offer much functionality and it was a bland, blue and gray page, pretty much,” said Ervin. “We didn’t have a mobile app, and no mobile deposit, of course. Now we have both, along with bill pay and our primary color is our distinctive copper—which members connect with Staley, our research shows.”
Big User Increase
The results have been excellent, said Ervin. The new online banking platform has increased the number of users from 1,694 in January 2014 to 6,350 late last year.
“The numbers tell the story,” said Ervin. “Members told us they like the look of the new site, the ease of use, and the integrated functionality.”
Staley said many new members who have joined have signed on for online banking.
“We have been growing membership well in the last year, over 10%,” said Ervin. “We were thrilled that as we have grown membership our ratio of online banking users to total members has not dropped. It has actually increased. We went from 44% penetration among our 14,000 members early last year to 46% near year’s end. We expect to exceed 50% this year.”
Geoff Knapp
As credit unions typically do, Staley is working to get more members enrolled in online banking to improve efficiency–offloading routine branch transactions to the web—and to provide members with greater convenience. But Ervin said another reason to have a strong online banking solution is to keep members from leaving the credit union when they relocate.
“When members use online banking with us, and especially take advantage of bill pay, they tend to remain with us when they move,” said Ervin. The community-chartered Staley serves members in Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee. Some members, too, are overseas.
Geoff Knapp, VP of ASP for digital channels at Fiserv, noted that Staley is also doing a good job at driving mobile banking usage.
“Over 60% of the credit union’s online banking members use mobile,” he said. “That is a big number. The credit union is doing a very good job of encouraging members to bank with them outside the branch. I think not having a cookie cutter online banking solution has really made a difference.”
Plan Needed
Ervin said the credit union is growing well, both in terms of assets and members.
“I am not sure we could do that with a plain, online banking site that could be confused with our competitors’ offerings,” she said. “I think if we had kept our old online tool, the credit union would be moving backward and not forward.”