NASHVILLE—For credit unions that don’t have the time or expertise to get involved with investments outside of CDs, VolCorp says its online investment tool offers a solution.
The corporate said credit union interest in the service is growing, even at a time when many loan portfolios are expanding.
“We have seen more credit unions being more intentional with their investing, because of what they have at their fingertips with our V-Portfolio product,” said VolCorp President and CEO Jeff Merry. “We have seen more credit unions get into more types of investments without adding undue risk to their balance sheet from this.”
V-Portfolio is VolCorp’s suite of investment tools anchored by a proprietary online web portal. Created specifically with the needs of member credit unions in mind, it gives credit unions the ability to view the permissible investments available for purchase on any given day and make one or multiple purchases with the click of a mouse, Merry explained.
“The biggest takeaway for us, is that as loan demand has been picking up for many shops across the country our investment volumes have not dropped,” said Merry. “Typically credit unions prefer to make loans to their members than buy investments.”
What is steering more credit unions toward investments, said Merry, is how the portal makes it easier and less time-consuming for CUs to learn about available investments, what works for them and then make a trade.
“A key aspect of V-Portal is that the information the credit union needs is at their fingertips now, when they want it,” said Merry. “They don’t have to try to catch one of our representatives when they are not on the phone or wait for a callback.”
Merry stated that VolCorp’s online solution is the first of its kind among corporate credit unions.
He said that V-Portal provides member credit unions with access to something they previously had to turn to others for in the past. Rather than turning to banks or broker/dealers, VolCorp’s brokerage clients—with all securities sales offered through CU Investment Solutions, LLC, VolCorp’s CUSO—now have access to online trading, portfolio analytics, and bond accounting from a one-stop shop.
“Rather than calling our sales folks, requesting a statement, credit unions can now look at what the offerings are that day and submit a trade on a request electronically—and do it on their own time instead of waiting for someone to help them,” said Merry.
Being able to access bond accounting and bond analytics reports online for some has been a “game changer,” said Merry.
“Some credit unions were not even doing security transactions because of the bond accounting and how complex that can be. This gives more credit unions the ability to get into the market who could not or would not before,” he told CUToday.info. “Some of our credit unions, before V-Portfolio, would not buy securities and would only buy CDs because of the complexities of bond accounting. Or, there were some that would only buy securities at par because of the added complexity of buying a security at a premium. So now more credit unions are able to take advantage of higher yields. And, we are providing them with all of their entries and all of their reports, even their 5300 input data.”
Merry said time savings is key.
“Everyone is just too busy. Credit unions are not in the business of buying and selling securities, they are in the business of making loans to their members,” he said. “But when loan demand is not high enough the credit union needs to invest. Now they can jump online when they have a minute, see what’s there, head out to a meeting, and then circle back online later and just punch in the trade when they have the time. V-Portfolio is giving credit union staff greater efficiencies, control of their schedules, and the ability to better manage their investment portfolio. The feedback we have been getting tells us that.”
Merry said that member feedback, too, is leading to regular V-Portfolio enhancements.
“We are always looking for ways to improve it, and make it as user friendly as possible,” said Merry. “We’ll continue to do that and hopefully even more credit unions will see the advantages of the service.”