Resource Center

Expert Journeys reports that 40% of customers are more likely to stay with their financial services provider if it offered more personalized service. Conveniences added over the years have disconnected beneficial personal relationships, so you need to have new tools to humanize the banking relationship on the customer’s terms. Access to zero-party data can provide insight to guide personalized marketing journeys – bringing a human connection to digital interactions.

Download this ebook to get the tools you need to humanize your CU’s member experience and bring back the best parts of the in-branch experience;  including:

• Back to neighborly banking
• The evolution of marketing personalization
• Using data to build customer personas
• Humanizing the marketing journey 
• Plus much more!

As a credit union, you have deep community roots, loyal membership, and are always looking to grow market share. One way to help your members get the best rate or price is by optimizing your investor set. With increases in mortgage pricing granularity over the last couple years, it may be time to consider looking at going beyond your current investor(s) to do right by your members.

Download this whitepaper and learn how to quantify where to deliver your production, the process for auditing your investor base, and how to optimize your investor set. Plus, you will also learn:

• How to review your loan sale delivery method
• Considerations for choosing the right investors
• Questions to ask when exploring new programs and investors
• What investors look for in a quality seller
• And more!

Rapid digital adoption continues to drive consumer interaction, which translates to growth for the credit card industry. For CUs, up to 50% of net income can be derived from credit cards. With the right strategies, your card program can become one of your highest earning assets.

Download this guide and learn how to enhance your card portfolio growth to boost your total revenue in six easy steps; including:

• Credit line increases
• Rewards
• Balance transfers
• How to target new accounts
• Analyze and utilize your data
• How to consistently market your program

Millennials are better educated than any other group and are entering their prime earning years. Credit unions which acquire and expand wallet share with this group will be positioned for market dominance in the new decade, while others will be left in the dust. 

Download this whitepaper and learn how your CU can grab a piece of this market share by:

• Improving sales efficiency 
• Differentiating with personalized guidance
• Enhancing your millennial reach
• Enhancing compliance
• Optimizing performance

Credit unions now compete in a data-driven world. Is your credit union keeping up on its data analytics insights? 

Credit unions that utilize analytics to help guide their business decisions and improve their key performance indicators can gain more market share in member loan origination, mortgage loan origination, payments, and a variety of other programs. 

Download this guide to gain a better understanding of trends and opportunities relating to members, branches, operations, dealers, and more through analytics. You will learn: 

• Why it matters
• How to get started
• Key insights to be aware of
• 5 types of analytics for credit unions
• 5 tips to getting the most out of analytics

In collaboration with CO-OP, EY conducted a market research survey of 2,000 credit union members and 1,000 prospects across all regions of the U.S. to determine preferred banking behaviors. Research shows financial consumers' needs have changed in recent years. 

To address these evolving needs and expectations, credit unions must develop a comprehensive strategy to address the member experience by employing “needs-based segmentation” to better serve their members. 

Download this white paper for tips and deeper insights into the survey results;  including:

• How the financial landscape is evolving
• What is at the center of the primary financial relationship
• 3 keys to gaining active primary financial relationships
• Top 10 most impactful features for members and prospects
• What credit unions need to do now

As the demand for personalized banking experiences continues to grow, credit unions must fully embrace data analytics offerings to stay competitive and reach revenue goals. 

Download this ebook to get the insights you need to start your CU's data analytics journey today. You will learn how to:

• Boost productivity and lower expenses
• Improve member acquisition and retention efforts
• Enhance risk management, capital adequacy, and stress testing
• Improve fraud detection and cyber security
• Plus, much more!

To stay competitive, credit unions must deploy a sound analytics solution that provides accurate, timely and complete information in order to make informed business decisions that are based on facts rather than assumptions. With analytics, credit unions can develop 360° views of each member to improve member engagement-and-retention effort and provide more engaging, customized experiences in-person and online.

Download this guide to learn how to make your credit union more productive, efficient and member-oriented. Topics include:

• Powering through the pandemic
• Serving members in crisis
• How does your credit union stack up?
• Becoming data-driven
• The future: powered by analytics
• What if you could…
• What’s the hold up?
• Getting started
• And more...

The pandemic quickly accelerated lending transformations to meet borrower demand and now digital lending is not just a trend, it is necessary for credit unions to stay competitive and in-line with borrower expectations.

Watch this on-demand webinar to uncover loan production challenges and how to alleviate them. You will learn:

• The most common loan documentation errors
• How to avoid frequent risk-causing mistakes
• The power of digitalization using APIs and other technology

Targeting new prospects is key to driving CU membership growth. In a digital environment when consumer behaviors are shifting rapidly, it’s imperative that marketers stay in front of audiences in multiple places throughout their daily touchpoints. Learn how to easily execute an acquisition email campaign to expand your reach and increase engagement. 

Download this white paper for 10 tips on launching a successful acquisition email campaign; including: 

• Reach high-value prospects with segmentation data 
• Boost ROI by actively evaluating your email campaign 
• Use multi-channel measurement to evaluate response 
• Retarget your anonymous website visitors 
• Plus, much more...

The U.S. dollar is the default currency choice for global transactions. Leaving small and medium-sized business owners with ongoing foreign payment needs. Due to  payments technology advances, it’s now easier than ever to deliver funds to beneficiaries around the world.

The challenge is putting this technology to its most effective use. By offering your members the ability to send international payments in their recipient’s local currency you will help meet evolving member expectations, boost your bottom line and strengthen retention rates.

Download this e-Guide and learn the benefits of offering local currency payments as well as hidden costs of paying in U.S. dollars; including:

• Higher costs from FX charges, bank fees and currency risk
• Delays from intermediary banks and added transaction steps
• Lack of cost and profit protection against FX rate movements

Personalization in digital banking is crucial for CUs to stay relevant and meet the demands of their members. In fact, 65% of consumers prefer to only be offered products and services that are relevant to their lifestyle. To succeed, you’ll need to shape a differentiated brand built on the bedrock of personalized service.

Download this white paper to learn how you can build a truly personalized experience that exceeds all of your members’ expectations. 

• Why the inability to differentiate hinders member acquisition and retention
• How data helps to build better customer experiences
• Tips to help evaluate your brand in your audience’s eyes

America’s unbanked or underbanked population is still being underserved. A recent survey from Forbes found over one in five Americans do not have their own bank account — many are minorities or immigrants with families and businesses overseas. Additionally, despite being the fastest growing market segment in the U.S., Latino businesses remain significantly underserved. This is a prime opportunity for credit unions to capture new members and better serve their communities. 

Download this whitepaper to learn how with just a few small adjustments your CU can fill a gap and better serve minority communities and onboard new customers; including: 

• Targeted outreach
• Financial education
• Digital-first banking
• International services

With the pandemic accelerating the adoption of digital channels and capabilities, it’s more important than ever for credit unions to future-proof themselves to compete against digital banks and tech giants entering the financial space in the future. Outdated core systems are holding credit unions back from achieving digital transformation.

Download this eBook to learn how cloud-based open core solutions meet members’ expectations today, and are future-ready to evolve with constantly changing expectations. Topics cover:

• 6 essential questions every CU should ask about their core system
• Why your core system must enable change and growth
• How data helps CUs win
• Benefits of cloud based open core banking systems

Within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA) became law and amends the Bank Secrecy Act for the first time in nearly two decades. However, many steps are required before the extensive law can be implemented. 

Meanwhile, BSA professionals understandably have questions about what the changes will look like and when they will happen, given the law’s magnitude and importance. One-third of BSA professionals responding to a recent poll by Abrigo said they don’t know how their institutions will be affected by the AMLA.

Download this whitepaper that outlines suggestions for credit unions to prepare while waiting for full AMLA guidance to be rolled out, and discusses key components of the AMLA, including:

• Beneficial ownership registry
• Virtual currency
• Penalty enhancements
• Suspicious activity and currency transaction reporting reform 
• And more!

Want technology that some of the biggest banks worldwide have already succeeded with? Learn from a leading expert about how your credit union can increase productivity and member satisfaction with an effective conversational AI tool that powers exceptional customer experiences, builds loyalty and generates ROI by utilizing natural language processing that understands how people really talk. 

Download this white paper and learn:

• 4 elements of an effective conversational AI tool
• Tips for your credit union from an AI expert
• 7 questions to ask when shopping for an AI tool
• 3 key considerations for ensuring seamless end-to-end workflow management
• How to start succeeding with conversational AI

Reconciliations play a vital part in a credit union's day-to-day operations and support activities such as cash flow reporting, regulatory reporting, risk mitigation, fraud prevention, audit and governance. If your credit union uses desktop applications to manually deliver reconciliation activities, you are probably familiar with these tools being both laborious and error-prone, especially when dealing with large volumes of data. 

Download this whitepaper for an in-depth look at the reconciliation process, the challenges different reconciliation types bring, and how software solutions can be leveraged to help manage your reconciliations more efficiently; including: 

• 4 basic stages of reconciliation process
• Categorizing reconciliations
• 7 key challenges of a manual process
• 10 key business benefits of automated your process

Lenders in financial services recognize the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform underwriting and fraud detection — but one major hurdle to the broader adoption of these models has been concern over credit performance during an economic downturn. 

Over the last year, the economic stress from COVID-19 provided the opportunity to observe the performance of an AI underwriting model. 

Download this report for a deep dive into AI-enabled underwriting performance during the 2020 pandemic. You’ll learn how:

• At the peak of the crisis, impairment increased 40% less than the industry as a whole
• Fewer borrowers required a hardship program, and more of these borrowers began promptly making on-time payments
• The Upstart Risk Tier was 6 times more effective than credit score bands at separating the risk of payment impairment
• The ability for their AI model to separate risk tiers translated into significantly lower payment impairment rates for bank partners

2020 drove everything virtual and increased the demand for ultra convenience. Credit unions that didn’t embrace this unprecedented digital transformation were left behind. Closing the gap and providing members with a holistic financial wellness approach will gain larger wallet shares for years to come.

Download this white paper to learn how to empower your members to make better financial decisions to improve their satisfaction, retention and grow your organization; including how to:

• Automate: respond instantly, lower costs and increase flexibility 
• Augment: empower every representative to deliver like your top performers
• Advise: empower members to make better decisions with AI-driven advice
• Strengthen member relationships with ongoing engagement
• Plus, much more...

The global pandemic of 2020 has profoundly altered how home buyers shop for mortgages. For loan officers, the implications are a game changer. What mortgage customers value more than face-to-face relationships, and what almost half of them think is more important than the interest rate, is convenience.

Download this report for a deep dive into how you can better respond to an array of difficult and dynamic market conditions. You’ll discover:

• How to provide the seamless online experience your members desire.
• The key areas where technology could have the greatest impact.
• What happens when you get greater visibility across all your pipeline.
• How to dramatically increase referrals.

Amid compressed margins, increasing competition, and economic uncertainty, volume alone no longer translates to credit union success — determining the key drivers of profitability is mission-critical for financial institutions to add value for shareholders, members, and individual stakeholders. 

Download this white paper and learn how these profitability processes shed much-needed light on what actually keeps your credit union in the black, and what you can do to implement these crucial processes. You’ll discover:

• Components of CU profitability
• Benefits and challenges of developing an actionable profitability framework
• Tips for adopting funds transfer pricing and unit costing methodologies
• Key requirements of an actionable profitability framework

Credit unions need to ensure that every depositor who goes through account opening begins a process that provides them value and enrolls them in higher retention services like online banking, mobile banking, remote deposit capture or bill pay. Smarter onboarding means you know more about your members so you can define relevant segments, create education-centered content, execute campaigns that convert and provide a humanized member experience at every touchpoint. 

Download this playbook to learn how to close the gaps in your onboarding journey and deliver relationship-building experiences that establish trust and confidence for your members. Including:

• Assess your current onboarding
• Effective onboarding strategies
• Introduce and empower - starting the member journey
• Engage and inspire your member 
• Outline and case study examples of what the process and outcomes could look like

Many minority-owned businesses are struggling to bounce back from the economic effects of the pandemic. Many business owners have experienced cash flow problems or might be one missed payment away from closing up shop. In this environment, it’s crucial for lenders to provide fast and fair access to funding. 

Download this white paper to see how the cloud is streamlining the lending process to help your CU better serve and grow these markets. Topics cover: 

• Why fast and fair access to funding is crucial for minority owned businesses success 
• How to cut time to funding by as much as 50%
• Why automation plus data access equates to better minority support
• How the cloud paves the way for a faster, simpler road to digital lending

Enterprise-level banks have been embracing AI and machine learning for some time within the financial crime prevention space. Now it’s time for credit unions to adopt this technology as a part of their digital transformation and address evolving risk. 

Less time spent on manual processes, false positives, and overwhelming amounts of alerts mean less man hours, less fraud, and more return for increasing member benefits. Explore how attainable AI and machine learning can get you there.

Download this eBook to learn why AI and machine learning serve as the new baseline for financial crime prevention. You will also learn:

• Why rule-based models alone aren’t sufficient
• The two areas AI improves efficiency
• The different types of machine learning and which type ensures effectiveness

AI-driven lending has demonstrated big business results, but lending leaders are still challenged to chart a successful implementation strategy. Achieving better lending, strong ROI, and competitive advantage looks different in every organization, so should you build, buy, or rent AI capabilities? 

Download this guide that provides credit unions with an updated framework to evaluate the pros and cons of various approaches to AI-driven lending and covers the key considerations to keep in mind to ensure your investments deliver the outcomes your community deserves. Learn how to:

• Assess the AI lending options in the marketplace
• Evaluate the pros and cons of each adoption strategy
• Identify key factors to consider throughout evaluation
• Apply an informed framework to your decision-making process

Personal loans represent about 1% of outstanding consumer debt (compared with 6% for credit card debt) which means there’s tremendous opportunity for traditional financial institutions to participate in the growing personal lending space.

Credit unions are well-positioned to serve the growing consumer demand for personal loans because they have the ability, processes, name recognition and member loyalty to do so.

Download this white paper to learn: 

• 3 primary opportunities CUs can leverage in personal lending
• Top reasons consumers get a personal loan
• The impact of COVID-19 on personal loans 

2020 was a challenging year for the credit card industry. Card usage plummeted, business travel and entertainment activity was practically non-existent, all while customer demands for increased digitization only intensified. It’s imperative that credit unions respond quickly to keep up with a highly competitive market. 

Download this whitepaper and learn three new trends that are shaping the credit card industry and how to adjust for them:

• The need for enhanced digital capabilities
• A changing rewards environment
• The uncertainty of future credit trends and losses 

Businesses need to be agile and adaptable in today’s changing circumstances. Credit unions can help optimize small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) by offering merchant services solutions that provide both omnichannel and integrated payments options. The opportunity is to build profitable and loyal relationships with SMBs, who might otherwise partner with big banks.

Download this whitepaper to learn how to start offering omnichannel and integrated payments options to SMBs. Including:

• E-commerce, contactless, and other new payment procedures
• Operational efficiencies
• Increased security 
• Actionable insights 
• How to weigh your options

The cannabis industry has grown rapidly in recent years, and demand is expected to continue increasing following cannabis legalization initiatives. Although cannabis is now legal – either medically or recreationally – in the majority of states today, it remains illegal on a federal level, hamstringing cannabis-related businesses (CRBs) from accessing traditional financial accounts. As this industry continues its rapid expansion, it is increasingly important that it has access to traditional banking services. While there is certainly demand for these services, credit unions are, understandably, skeptical. Is it safe? How do you bank them? How do you navigate compliance? Are there safe harbors in place?

While banking CRBs can be risky, it can also be highly rewarding, especially for credit unions. Credit unions have a unique opportunity to serve CRBs, as they are often more member-focused and do not cross state lines as often as their big bank counterparts. Ultimately, it requires credit unions to understand the nuances of the industry, closely monitor ongoing guidance and regulation changes, adequately safeguard the institution, and train staff accordingly.

Download this whitepaper that discusses aspects of banking cannabis-related businesses your credit union should consider, including: 

• Nuances of the cannabis industry and ongoing regulatory changes
• Opportunities for credit unions banking CRBs
• Necessary steps to remain compliant if a credit union decides that it wants to engage relationships with CRBs.

As more and more credit unions turn to tech to meet the needs of members, the right digital solution can provide access to a wider audience as well as more comprehensive member data than the traditional credit score criteria. This is what KEMBA Financial CU discovered as they sought a fresh perspective to digital lending that could enable them to provide more people with access to affordable credit.

Download this case study to learn how this Columbus-based credit union successfully launched an AI lending program. You’ll get a first-hand look at how digital technology helped: 

• Improve data automation for faster loan approvals and risk assessment
• Serve more members and prospects across its community
• Offer higher unsecured personal loan amounts while tailoring pricing
• Cultivate lasting relationships with members with memorable brand experiences

Growing your bottom line should be a paramount consideration, but additional stimulus payments and low interest rates are a challenge to deploying excess cash effectively in 2021.

Download this article to learn how to manage risk and generate returns with your excess funds to grow your bottom line. You will learn:

• The benefits of the fixed-income investment process (including a sound decision-making framework)
• How to use analytical models and why you need them
• Current market themes in today’s fixed-income landscape

New technology is needed to maintain compliance with standards and regulations while driving greater processing simplification and improved member engagement. Although it may seem daunting, implementing new processes and technologies will be the difference between sink or swim. Keeping up will mean reviewing the efficiency of outdated legacy systems and replacing them with systems that are designed to support both existing and new processes end-to-end.

Download this guide for tips and tricks to achieve operational resilience and solve the following challenges:  

• ATM Cash Management
• Payments and ISO-20022
• Auto Financing
• Reconciliations
• Period End Processing

The shift to digital service has been great for both credit unions and consumers. However, digital sales has endured a rough transition in the areas of data, analytics, process design, process integration and fulfillment. 

What can your CU do to help course correct?

Download this report for four key findings from a survey conducted on 184 U.S. based banks and credit unions. It also highlights benchmarks on the digital account opening processes, including: 

• Institutions with mature digital account opening processes outperform in key business metrics
• Few institutions have achieved a high level of digital account opening maturity—and bigger isn’t always better 
• Smaller institutions lag in marketing for deposit product digital account opening
• Digital account opening leaders excel in sales, speed and integration

Understand how to transform your sales department today - get your report now!

Every year, Harland Clarke polls credit unions and banks of all sizes, analyzes the data, and publishes a list of trends that are shaping the future of the financial services industry. This year, the global pandemic changed many aspects of banking, but just knowing it changed isn’t enough - you need to understand how much and why. 

Download this report to discover not only the impact COVID-19 had on how 280 financial institutions conduct business and connect with consumers, but the differences in perception vs reality of 5 trends including:

• Digital banking adoption as a way to reduce operating costs, cut budgets and reduce staff
• Marketing initiatives to increase loan acquisition
• How work from home impacts profitability

Never in the history of the industry has there been a greater need for financial institutions to use digital capabilities to build and strengthen long-lasting account holder relationships. There is no doubt the industry has accelerated the consumer and business adoption of digital channels and capabilities but what hasn’t changed is the increasing need for a personal touch.

Download this expert perspective and discover how to incorporate a personal touch into your digital banking. You will discover how to use advanced digital capabilities to personalize member engagement and:

• Create communication strategies to your members
• Gain insight into industry standards and trends 
• Unlock new revenue opportunities

Does it feel like you’re constantly chasing fraud after it occurs? It’s time to identify fraud before it happens - with less resources. With a combination of cloud-based data intelligence and an always-on AI approach, your credit union can monitor constantly evolving threats in real-time, detecting and preventing fraud before it happens.

Download this eBook to learn how an always-on AI approach can:

• Detect sophisticated risks and anomalies in real-time
• Drastically reduce false-positive alerts
• Intervene in real-time

Stay ahead of today’s financial criminals and protect your CU!

In 2020, there were fewer credit unions but more credit unions members. Members appreciate the altruistic mission and community roots that distinguish credit unions from the typical bank and credit unions have a history of understanding what their members want and delivering it, even when their larger competitors have shied away from trying something new.

Download this expert perspective and learn how to double-down on your commitment to innovation and agility while continuing to pay close attention to changing member expectations. You will discover:

• Strengths and challenges facing the industry in 2021 and beyond 
• Opportunities to tap into potential new members
• How new competition can inspire new ideas
• And more!

Transforming the way loan processing is managed is imperative in today’s challenging environment. Demand remains high for various types of loans and lenders are feeling the one-two punch of inefficiencies within their existing methods of loan processing and declining margins. 

Download this report for a deep dive into how technology is helping the industry better respond to an array of difficult and dynamic market conditions. You’ll discover: 

• Challenges to focus on and overcome in loan processing
• Key areas within your CU where changes could have the greatest impact
• How to address resource constraints 

While interest rates are starting to rise, the current environment presents a continuing challenge for sustainable institutional growth and profitability. To accelerate positive performance, credit union finance leaders should identify and address key challenges in budgeting, planning, and forecasting processes, and target improvements in those areas.

Download this ebook to learn:

• Why today’s environment presents unique difficulties for financial institutions
• How to turn accuracy, accountability and other hurdles into enhanced performance
• 6 best practices for better budgeting and planning

Given the tough environment CUs now face due to the pandemic, the demand for AI innovation is greater than ever and CUs are adopting new technology to more effectively assess credit and loan eligibility. However, with AI project failure rates nearing 50%, the need for a proven roadmap is critical. 

Download this guide for a step by step approach and best practices from lenders who have moved to AI-powered underwriting to gain a more holistic picture of members and make better and faster decisions. You will learn how to:

• Communicate AI’s impact to stakeholders within your CU 
• Execute your AI strategy with project timelines, data considerations, and more
• Select the right goals and metrics to establish ROI and optimize your AI investment

While market conditions have improved from last year, credit unions continue to search for strategies to reduce expenses and increase revenue. It’s time to evaluate your process flow, thoughtfully identify inefficiencies, and extract actionable insights to add value for your members.

Download this white paper for 15 strategies that amount to over 50 basis points of potential improvement to margins after implementation. You will learn how to:

• Use secondary marketing strategies to improve profitability 
• Leverage technology and automation to organize departments, streamline processes, and analyze data faster and more efficiently
• Evaluate processes from origination to post-closing to reduce expenses 

Financial institution leaders demonstrated heroic agility and resilience dealing with COVID-19 by effectively using existing communications resources (71%) and adjusting staff levels to meet demands (62%). Unfortunately, more than half expect to miss profitability goals in 2020 and 2021, according to a new report from Syntellis Performance Solutions, based on a survey of 185 financial leaders.

Download this report to understand  upcoming trends that may impact your credit union. You will discover how to: 

• Identify critical challenges and priorities
• Advance financial planning and analysis
• Improve profitability analytics and reporting

You’ll also learn about the strategies and technology solutions that can help you build better processes for 2021 and beyond. 

Too many Americans are left out of mainstream credit due to lenders’ inability to assess risk accurately, which also creates lost opportunities for credit unions and other lenders. New technology can help lenders increase credit access to people of color and others traditionally denied loans without added risk. 

Download this special report that outlines how to stop leaving money on the table and start lending more inclusively - building a fairer, more equitable financial system. You will discover how to:

• Extend credit safely to difficult-to-assess borrowers
• Build more accurate and inclusive credit risk models
• Improve fair lending analyses and practices

With so many of us transitioning from in-person to online activities last year, new opportunities arose for cybercriminals to exploit the changing circumstances. The FTC received over 1.3M fraud reports in Q1-Q3 of 2020, resulting in total losses of over $1.5B. 

Download this white paper to learn how to navigate cybersecurity in the “new normal” landscape with an effective and comprehensive security plan to protect your own data and cardmembers’ data. You will discover:

• Factors that impact today’s cybersecurity environment
• More about new and evolving types of cyberattacks 
• How to mitigate threats
• And more...