Resource Center

Most credit unions aren’t required to implement reporting for the current expected credit loss (CECL) model until the fiscal year starting after December 15, 2020. Therefore, many organizations view the new accounting rule as less pressing compared to other initiatives.

Nevertheless, savvy credit union leaders are heeding the advice of the NCUA and taking advanced steps to ensure an effective implementation of this major change in estimating losses. 

Learn which steps your credit union should take today to be prepared when the NCUA begins evaluating implementation efforts.

Download this white paper which outlines these five practical steps your credit union can take now to prepare for CECL:

1. Coordinate with other departments
2. Understand loan level data collection requirements
3. Identify new procedures and changes to current procedures
4. Make a decision on building vs. buying a solution
5. Communicate with auditors and regulators

A decade ago, credit union members were visiting branches, calling member services and sending emails to communicate while platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and smartphones were in their infancy. Communication channels were few and, as a result, easy to monitor.

Technological evolution has morphed the expectations of credit union members, and today they demand their financial institutions to use the platforms they prefer.

Monitoring these additional communication platforms, like text messages and social media, introduces additional complexity.  Compliance teams with heavy workloads must absorb and monitor vast amounts of data to avoid compliance violations and hefty fines.

Take a proactive approach on communication monitoring by downloading this white paper for a clear understanding of:

• The drivers transforming communication
• Key problems and risk factors credit unions face
• High-level solutions credit unions are deploying
• Options for monitoring and recording keeping in the tech age

Successful, forward-thinking leaders understand that it is critically important to align employee behavior to the desired financial outcomes for your credit union. 

Well-designed incentive plans motivate member-facing employees to generate profitable growth within risk guidelines, rather than volume alone. They also move beyond stand-alone spreadsheets or other home-grown systems that can be error-prone and highly inflexible. 

Download this ebook to learn:

• Reasons why incentive compensation plans fail
• How to tie incentives to desired employee behaviors
• Recommended components for your incentive compensation plan
• Value of using Incentive Compensation Management solutions and tools

Studying the traits and day-to-day activities of top advisors can give you a considerable advantage when structuring your team, implementing best practices, or developing yourself for career growth.

Examine the habits, processes, tools and resources that can help you build on your successes no matter where you are in your career—and help you on your path to becoming a top advisor at your credit union.

Download this white paper to learn:

• 5 traits of top advisors
• How to build great relationships by setting yourself apart
• Ideas to maximize your community presence
• How to organize your book of business by profiling clients

Credit card adoption, car ownership, and home ownership are on the rise among Millennials. However, credit unions aren’t winning their fair share of Millennials’ borrowing needs. Improving the digital experience might not be a winning strategy for credit unions, as most don’t have deep pockets to experiment with new solutions.

Ron Shevlin, Director of Research for Cornerstone Advisors,  delivers data-driven insights on how credit unions can compete with megabanks and large regional banks by reinventing the loan product itself.

Download this white paper for an overview of:

• How credit unions can reinvent consumer loans
• How Millennials make their borrowing decisions
• Myths about Millennial debt
• Unique challenges Credit Unions face in capturing their share of demand

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, credit unions are laser-focused on the member experience and are exploring every opportunity to improve both service and operations.

They are also committed to keeping their branches and member assets safe and secure, and responding quickly to fraudulent incidents when they do occur.

March Networks®, a global provider of intelligent video solutions, recently commissioned market research firm Ipsos to conduct an independent survey exploring how fraud, customer service and security perceptions are impacting U.S. banking member decisions.

See the results in these two informative infographics. Then visit www.marchnetworks.com to discover how credit unions across North America are using intelligent video to achieve significant improvements in security and fraud detection/ investigation, customer service and operations.

A recent survey of more than 3,000 U.S. homebuyers found that nearly a quarter of millennials, a key demographic transitioning into homeowners, would like the mortgage experience to move faster and desire more personal interaction.

Learn how a true digital mortgage experience, encompassing the entire loan lifecycle, can help your credit union: reduce origination costs, apply predictive analytics and machine learning to make smarter decisions, and deliver a loan experience that today’s members expect.

Download this eBook to learn how a true digital mortgage delivers:

• Transparency, service and speed, wtih a human touch
• Real-time analysis that offers a preferred borrower experience
• Compliance that informs, and doesn’t impede, throughout the origination process

Let’s face it … when it comes to help with managing money, there’s a lot of competition out there. Consumers have plenty of choices. They can turn to any of more than 12,000 U.S. banks and credit unions. Unfortunately, many credit unions rely on serendipity when it comes to member acquisition. They think if they have a branch location somewhere along members’ work or Saturday errand routes, then new members will come.

However, you shouldn’t take a “maybe” approach to member acquisition. Instead, be strategic and aggressive when it comes to growing your member portfolio by using one (or all) of the four methods listed in this white paper from Harland Clarke.

Despite a slow increase in interest rates, financial institutions continue to see an environment of very tight net interest margins. This presents a continuing challenge for sustainable growth and profitability.

This eBook provides tips and best practices your credit union can employ to accelerate performance improvement. Help your institution stay nimble, while aligning budgets and forecasts to long-term plans.

Download this eBook to learn:

· How today’s environment sets the stage for performance improvement

· Key challenges and desired performance outcomes

· Six best practices for budgeting and planning

Credit Union customers have over $25 trillion in investible assets that they don’t keep at the bank. Yet, a large majority would prefer to turn to their credit union for financial services and advice. This latest Kehrer Bielan Research & Consulting guide analyzes the vast potential that financial institutions have in capturing clients’ investible assets—and identifies ways to capitalize on this opportunity.

Among the key takeaways, you will learn:

• Which financial service providers are considered the most trusted among U.S. households
• How client loyalty translates to greater revenue and profitability
• Why adding an investment relationship to an existing member relationship may have a positive impact on an institution’s future assets

Finance executives in credit unions today play a vitally important and significantly expanded role, helping to set strategic priorities through a disciplined planning process while navigating regulatory changes and market fluctuations.

This report is based on an annual survey of senior finance professionals in roles such as CFO, vice president of finance and treasury, and director of finance.

Eighty-four percent (84%) of respondents say their institution should be doing more to leverage financial and operational data to inform strategic decisions.

Download the survey report to get 12 key findings around this and other survey results, including implications and recommendations in the following areas:

• Readiness to manage performance in the current environment
• Priority areas in budgeting
• Status of performance analytics
• Progress toward better performance management

As with most businesses, profitability is one of the most critical performance metrics for short-term and long-term financial health of financial institutions.

To gain a clear picture of how your members, branches, channels, officers and products contribute to the bottom line, it is important to consider the following aspects in your profitability analysis:

• Funds Transfer Pricing
• Determine Dimensionality
• Approach - Top Down or Bottom Up
• Non-Interest Income and Expense Allocations
• Assignment of the Loan Loss Provision and Risk-Based Capital

Download the ebook to learn more.

Profitability is at the heart of any financial institution's long and short-term strategy.

Download this white paper and learn:

• The components of financial institution profitability
• The benefits of an effective profitability framework
• How to overcome the challenges of developing an actionable profitability framework
• The key requirements to create a successful profitability framework

Funds transfer pricing has been an important tool for financial institutions for several decades. Over the years there has been considerable refinement in how to use FTP to dissect net interest margin, informing pricing decisions on account types like mortgage loans and money market savings to improve profitability.

READ THIS WHITE PAPER TO:

• Understand the profit contribution of balance sheet products such as loans and deposits more accurately
• Create internal accountabilities and associated targets for funds users (credit risk takers), funds providers (core deposit gatherers) and funding managers (interest rate risk takers)
• Price interest-earning products more knowledgeably based on market dynamics and target contribution levels
• Understand the profit contribution of a channel, officer, organization or individual member

Learn how your credit union can extract more value from funds transfer pricing.

In order for Credit Unions to be successful, they need to  start thinking beyond "what" the results are, and focus on "how" and "why" you achieved those results. Analyzing all facets of your institution in a prescribed manner will help you understand:

• How did we get here and do we need to change course?
• Do we need to educate our employees?
• Are we investing in the right areas?

Complete the form to download this white paper for a more in-depth understanding.

One of the most difficult aspects of the budgeting process for any financial institution is management deciding the optimal trade-off balance between expediency and accuracy. This is most evident when choosing how to plan balance sheet items and their net interest margin.

Download this ebook and learn:

• Shortcomings of traditional approaches to cash flow planning
• Benefits of collaborative cash flow margin planning
• Three critical steps to successful cash flow planning for credit unions

Each year, financial institutions are faced with the task of developing an annual budget. Nothing is more daunting in the planning process than the balance sheet and margin. If your institution does not measure margin contribution correctly, or measures it too simplistically, you run the risk of motivating behavior that dilutes the profitability of the institution.

Collaborative Cash Flow Margin Planning (CCFMP) provides a more effective solution that can greatly improve the financial planning and analysis function of your organization.

This white paper reveals:

• Shortcomings of traditional approaches to planning the balance sheet
• The anatomy of CCFMP
• Why CCFMP is a more effective planning solution
• Data-backed examples of what CCFMP provides