Philadelphia, Penn.-based Ardent Credit Union has patented an expandable cube-like system that it says could soon be a more affordable, innovative way for credit unions to expand their branch footprints.

According to diagrams attached to the credit union's U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filings, the cube system consists of three rectangular sections that expand and contract using scissor-like arms. The system is about 10 feet tall, 10 feet wide and about 14 feet long when closed, but it expands to 24 feet and provides two five-foot-wide aisles between the two ends. A key and a button expand and contract the system, and power and data come in through the middle section, which doesn't move.

"One end is a fully functioning office, and the other end is a fully functioning teller line. In the middle is the ITM, and the check-writing desk and the vault. That's the piece that doesn't move," CEO Robert Werner told CU Times.

The system is similar to a small-scale version of those familiar mobile filing and storage systems in which tall shelves move along a track via a crank.

"That's the concept behind it," Werner said. "I came from commercial banking, and we had all those same storage systems that we put all the files in, good old big file rooms. We thought of, what if you just … literally like a huge filing system, but that it would support the weight of people. It's literally just built on compressed storage systems, is the concept behind it, but just a much larger version of it."

For now, the system isn't built to exist outdoors. The idea is to put it inside a building, such as at an employer's headquarters or in a mall, effectively creating a collapsible satellite branch.

"If the credit union has a very strong relationship with the business partner, they can go in and say, 'By the way, we have the ultimate bank-at-work program because we will put a small facility inside of your lobby,' or some other space with inside of their own buildings," Werner explained.

"For us — banking, credit unions — it's all about real estate. It's where you're located," he added. The "cool factor" of the cube system can also help credit unions send a brand message about innovation to members and prospective members, Werner said.

In what he called the credit union's "innovation garage," Ardent spent about a year conceptualizing and working on the idea, as well as incorporating ADA accessibility, OSHA regulations, fire suppression and other factors.

"Once we actually built it, or when we were building it, we're like, 'Maybe this is something we can get a patent on.' We did get in touch with a patent attorney, and sent all the diagrams, all the architectural drawings. He said it would fall under what's called a modular commercial structure. That's what the patent is for," he explained.

Ardent, which has $701 million in assets and about 35,000 members, received the patent back in October. Now the credit union is turning its sights toward marketing the system.

"We're still working with a company to really solidify what the marketing plan is going to be for the cube," he said.

"I think we will certainly do whatever we can from a PR perspective," he added. "We will put it up for Branch Design of the Year. We'll try to get maybe some press releases on those types of things. I don't see us having a booth at the GAC where we're selling these things, but we think it is so unique and fills a really missing void in the branch structure that we do think it does have a great opportunity going forward."

Instant Insights /

Ardent Credit Union Patents Expandable Branch

Related Stories

Recommended For You