SAN FRANCISCO — Are credit unions making the most of their keytrading currencies of data and information? That was the questionposed to a session at the Marketing Association of Credit Unions’annual conference.

Stessa Cohen, research director for banking/investment servicesat Gartner, told the group Thursday that an inability to lookbeyond the immediate customer relationship will be the single mostdamaging omission that financial services companies make over thenext five years.

“We need to listen in on those social network conversations, seethe data and information and understand why consumers are spendingtime there,” said Cohen. “Networks are expanding and changing,embrace them all – not just your own – and find a way to leveragethem and figure out how you’ll support those customers.”

She added that credit unions already have a lot of data on theirmembers that can be used to develop value-added services. Forexample, the most common mobile banking activity of young adultsage 18-24 is not transactional but looking for branches andATMs.

Location-based apps will grow, Cohen said, so in building amobile financial services strategy look at areas where banking andpayments overlap across all areas of the credit union and use amatrix to identify those products/services that can’t be done nowbut maybe can be created on mobile devices.

“Your customers have lives outside of banking. Look beyond theimmediate financial services relationship, understand theinfluences that shape those lives and find new opportunities forproduct/services and ways to communicate with them,” said Cohen.“Think how to move your credit union forward beyond the next fiveyears.”

The three-day MAC conference began Wednesday at the WestinMarket in San Francisco.