Resource Center

As more credit unions embrace digital interactions, consumer-experience expectations rise, and identity fraud continues to grow, CUs looking to operate more efficiently are taking a closer look at the quality of their data. While often overlooked as a driver of inefficiencies, dirty data’s impacts appear in many departments downstream from its first collection. 

Download this white paper to discover why real-time processing of member contact data can help grow your bottom line. You will also learn how to:

• Improve marketing and sales efficiencies
• Decrease overall operational costs
• Combat fraud and ensure compliance

It’s important to understand your current mortgage pipeline process and periodically evaluate whether your CU is being exposed to unnecessary interest rate risk by not hedging or overpaying agencies to hedge. There are opportunities to enhance profitability and better manage risk in both of these scenarios. The “mortgage pipeline”, also known as the time between the loan being locked-in with a mortgage originator by a borrower, mortgage broker or other lender and that loan either falling out, being sold into the secondary mortgage market or being put into the originator's loan portfolio, can create significant risk from pipeline fallout and/or price fluctuations that may occur during this time.

Download this white paper to learn the benefits of good pipeline management so you can mitigate your CU’s risk and ensure profitability. You will also learn:

• Pipeline management strategies
• How to create pipeline stages and estimate the likely fallout
• How to determine the dollar amount to be hedged

As the industry continues to digitize, it’s important to know that technology should not replace relationships with members, but CU’s ought to tailor the digital experience to differentiate and better serve members. With a strong, strategic,digital plan, you can build a tailored financial institution that is truly specialized for members.

Download this video for insights from Jason Henrichs, of Fintech Forge, and Allan Brown, of Finastra, to uncover the “must haves” for a true strategy and how to continue your digital transformation journey. You will discover:

• Elements of strategic planning
• How to achieve a competitive advantage
• The benefits of incorporating APIs across all phases of your strategy

Economic turbulence is forcing credit unions to tap into every bit of their strategic agility to make better and faster lending decisions in risky environments. Serving your members through these tough times and navigating shifting regulatory guidelines means being resourceful and nimble is key - but what’s the best approach?

Download this guide for four principles of agile lending to evolve your CU’s strategy and tactics in this demanding economy. You will learn how to:

• Keep your lending models up-to-date with AI to make decisions quicker with accuracy
• Find better opportunities with an inclusive lending program to spot good new borrowers and minimize your risk
• Use robust monitoring to detect blind spots and accurately predict outcomes before they impact your CU

As COVID-19 evolves and continues to impact our world, credit unions in particular, are facing a number of challenges ranging from a surge in call volumes, to government-mandated branch closings, to increasing economic hardships for members. A Gallup poll found that members who have experienced the most disruption from their credit unions expressed concern that their needs are not being met.  

Download this article to learn how other CUs are addressing the following member needs to improve their experience during this difficult time:

• Increase peace of mind by providing relief to get through this crisis
• Build hope with guidance and solutions
• Reduce unnecessary stress with easily accessible staff and tools

Discover how your CU can better support members today! 

Credit unions traditionally use benchmarks, metrics, and related performance analytics to measure how they stack up to their peers. While there’s value in comparing oneself to competitors with similar attributes, this default approach can provide a false sense of comfort. As the industry grows, zooming out to understand this bigger picture is essential if a credit union wants to remain viable.

Download this article for a closer look at why some of the most common measures might be leading your CU astray and how you can redefine your standard suite of metrics. You will discover key factors of measurement you should consider such as:

• Fee-based income associated with enduring, profitable clients
• Industry- or sector-specific revenue streams
• Level of risk and opportunity beyond your local economy 

Satisfied members help build your CU’s reputation and grow your organization. Member satisfaction is particularly important when it comes to problem resolution and the majority of the time they want to speak with a live person. This is why your contact center is extremely valuable - but can outsourcing give you a competitive edge in this area?

Download this article to learn about the benefits of outsourcing your contact center. You will discover how the right third-party contact center can:

• Accurately and consistently represent your brand
• Maintain control of your member experience
• Keep your members’ data safe and secure
• Help push strategic growth initiatives forward
• And More!

One of the many concerns that has arisen out of the COVID-19 pandemic is the ability for both businesses and consumers to conduct safe transactions. Your credit and debit card offerings are a key component to limiting physical contact between your members and merchant terminals or retail employees, but contactless payment capabilities can enhance safety even further.  

Download this white paper to learn why contactless payments are a forward-thinking investment that will give your CU a competitive advantage over other institutions and provide a better member experience. You will learn how contactless payments:                                

• Provide your members with a secure and time-saving payment method
• Benefit your members beyond the COVID-19 pandemic
• Can be easily explained and marketed to members
• And more! 

While a market share erosion storyline is playing out in real time, legacy lending systems have done nothing more than lip service in helping credit unions take on the fight against FinTech digital lenders. It’s time to consider next generation lending platforms that are democratizing this pre-qualification tech and making it more accessible in the industry. 

Download this white paper to learn why it’s time to ditch the traditional lending process and transform your CU’s lending economics in the following four ways:

• Accelerate direct loans volume, resulting in more of the most profitable loans
• Decrease adverse actions by presenting borrowers with qualified offers they will accept 
• Improve operational efficiency by at least 30% and lower costs
• Increase cross-sell loans and share of wallet without the need for additional application forms

A strong foundation for profitability planning is key to achieving your credit union’s goals. Drawing from extensive industry and finance experience, Syntellis' team has outlined five success strategies to guide your journey to a strong profitability plan.

Download this eBook for details on these best practices to improve your planning inputs, processes, and tools:

• Empower business line executives to think like business owners
• Create a solid foundation for planning
• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Optimize organizational profitability planning
• Ensure forecasting accuracy

Is your CU poised to thrive in today’s changing digital landscape? The path to provide your members with digitally connected products and services can be  costly and you may not know where to begin. To ensure you’re focusing on the right things, it’s helpful to understand where you’re at now.  

Download this assessment to evaluate your CU’s current digital maturity and understand how best to plan and scope your next steps. Key scoring areas include:

• Existing platforms for lending processes
• Member experience and engagement
• Digital marketing strategies and processes

It’s important to remember that an “all or nothing” approach to digital transformation is not the reality for most credit unions — and that each organization’s path forward is unique. In most cases, this is a process of evolution, not revolution. To drive sustainable growth, you need realistic and strategic steps you can take today.

Download this eBook and learn how to define and map your unique path toward growth. Topics cover:

• The 4 stages of growth 
• Identifying your starting point 
• Building a growth strategy on your own terms
• Overcoming common challenges and obstacles

As more members expect digital experiences these days, transforming your CU’s closings process  should be a top priority. Digital closing is a broad term often used to refer to a closing that contains any digital component, and sometimes technologies used in the closing process can get confused with actual digital closing platforms. How do you find the solution that best meets your CU’s needs?  

Watch this on-demand webinar for everything you need to know about digital closings and how to find the right eClosing solution for your CU. Topics discussed include:

• Digital closing terminology
• Types of digital closing technology
• How to evaluate and assess key capabilities

48% of consumers have increased mobile banking usage as of August 2020.* Credit unions managing credit card programs should offer a slick and secure mobile application to attract and retain cardmembers. 

Download this white paper to explore the four pillars of an effective credit card mobile application:

• Security & fraud prevention
• Transaction insights
• Seamless DIY service
• Customized engagement

*J.D. Power, 2020

The smaller size of CUs compared to bigger banking institutions has forced them to use traditional (and cheaper) software offerings that are not only slow or hard to use, but also hinder your CU’s growth and innovation. By being able to pick and choose services that will fit your CU’s and your members’ needs, you can operate your CU in a true digital-first way. 

Download this playbook to discover how to move away from being vendor-dependent and enable your CU to:

• Use smart banking to improve your members’ experiences
• Integrate seamlessly with any third party solutions that would benefit your members
• Grow and innovate your CU the way you want to

As more members go mobile, does your CU have the right solutions to meet their expectations?

Today more than ever, members expect fast, fully digital experiences in all areas of their lives. And credit unions are no exception. From the initial onboarding to loan applications and modifications, members expect to glide through digital transactions without being bounced to other channels or directed to a physical branch. You need an intuitive, next-generation eSignature solution that digitizes the full member journey and provides the kind of experience needed to quickly onboard and service today’s members.

Download this eBook to discover how to easily harness the power of next-generation eSignatures and:  

• Simplify, accelerate, and guide your members’ banking experience
• Improve member loyalty by eliminating the frustration of clunky processes
• Eliminate legal risk and ensure compliance with a full audit trail
• Meet the growing remote need in the years to come

The Mortgage Firm (TMF), a leading lender in technology, knew they had to implement digital closings when they noticed competitors were offering hybrid closings. However, they soon realized that their templates for different packages were time-consuming to update and created a frustrating workflow for their employees. By implementing AI technology, they were able to increase their loan volume without adding headcount.  

Download this case study to learn how TMF implemented AI technology to transform their templates in just one month and achieve a 13% increase in loan volume. You will also:

• Learn why AI technology may be helpful for digital closings
• Discover how to easily implement automation into your closings
• Take your CU’s closings workflow to the next level 

Integrating old technology into new and emerging technology is about as easy as playing Candy Crush on a Blackberry, or making a Facetime call on a rotary phone. If neither of those analogies resonate, how about using a floppy disk in a USB port?

Merging innovative new technology applications with old, inflexible core banking systems and processes is not an easy task. The simple truth is, the old technology is fading fast and rapidly becoming incompatible with newer applications. 

Download this whitepaper to discover how core migrations and upgrades are a simpler and less costly process than they used to be, thanks to the miracle of modern technology. Plus, you will learn:

• Why legacy technology doesn’t cut it in the modern world
• Why a modern core is driving banking business
• Breaking down tech silos improves account holder experience and reduces risk
• Preparing for the future core
• 8 vital steps to achieve success
• How to realize 2.4 times revenue growth

Whether your CU is in the middle of a digital transformation or evaluating how new technology can help improve member services, AI is everywhere and it can be difficult to know where to begin. AI for underwriting strikes at the heart of many CUs’ mission: to serve the financial well-being of its members. With AI lending software, your CU could raise loan approvals by 15% without taking on additional risk, making fair and transparent credit available to more members. It also allows your underwriters and loan officers to focus their time on member-relationships instead of data analytics.  

Download this eBook for an AI underwriting crash course and answers to many of the burning questions CUs have. Key topics include:                            

• Why and how you should incorporate AI lending 
• How to find compatible AI for your CU’s data needs
• How CUs are using AI today
• How to stay compliant with regulatory rules 

Finance leaders and CFOs at credit unions are constantly looking to uncover opportunities and improve financial performance. Savvy CU leaders are increasingly recognizing the potential of collaborating with HR leaders. Combining the analytic foundation of finance with the people skills of the HR team can produce powerful metrics to improve financial success.

Yet all too often, finance and HR leaders stick to their silos. Finance doesn’t always understand the impact of business decisions on people, but HR can provide those insights and identify key attributes that employees require to remain effective. 

Only by working together, and supported by the right data and technology, can finance and HR leaders establish measurable standards of performance that improve your credit union’s bottom line.

Download this brief for insights on how you can leverage the strength of finance and HR functions to generate mutual success. Discover:

• Defining the KPIs that drive the business
• How to overcome obstacles that prevent collaboration and data sharing
• Technology and automated workflows that help break down barriers

Start developing a culture of collaboration today. 

With digital closings now being viewed as a necessity, your CU needs to piece together the steps that will successfully take you from paper closings to full eClosings. Whether you are still working with paper closing packages or have already implemented hybrid closings, the most successful and scalable path to eClosings starts by choosing a solution that creates value for your settlement partners and meets your investors’ requirements.

Download this white paper for key insights to help you start your journey toward eClosings. You will learn:                     

• How to navigate the digital closing landscape and environment
• Best practices for transitioning to eClosings
• How to get settlement partners on board
• Common requirements for working with investors

Just as technological advances led to the emergence of oil as the fuel that powered the 20th century, technological advances are now bringing about the emergence of data as the fuel that powers the 21st century. 

Credit unions in particular have devoted much of their attention to data, with a focus on improving members' access to data on a variety of devices. Yet they have not always been able to provide their back-office workforces with the same ease of access to data that the organizations' members have come to expect from the front office.

Access this on-demand webcast, where we will reveal:

• Why financial services are recognizing the need to dedicate resources to back-office operations, with a focus on streamlining access to and management of data;
• What finance leaders at credit unions need to know about cloud-based infrastructures and other technological advances that support the emergence of data as the "new oil" powering the back office; and
• How finance leaders will need to collaborate with other senior executives to identify and develop capabilities that are necessary to elevate the role of the back office in financial services. 

No question that the business community and economy has been hit hard from the pandemic. What is needed to move forward, and how can your CU help the community and small businesses get back on their feet?

Download this eBook and learn what solutions community banks and credit unions can provide to help commercial entities return to profitable operations in the months to come.

Plus, what impact these will have on the future of your organization. You’ll learn:

• How government aid has changed the banking landscape
• Compliance concerns with CECL and LIBOR
• Why a lack of digital adoption could hurt commercial lenders and SMBs
• How businesses will change in the coming year

Member experience is a top priority for your CU. Credit Union Home Mortgage Solutions (CUHMS), a credit union service organization that provides mortgage services to 117,000+ members, identified the mortgage closing as the biggest area where they could reduce stress and paper for borrowers. By transforming the borrower’s closing experience and rolling out digital closings, they’ve also improved efficiencies and reduced costs.

Download this case study to learn how to transform your mortgage process with digital closings and deliver the best member experience. Key topics include:                  

• How CUHMS selected the best digital closing technology for them
• How digital closings benefit all your members
• What unanticipated efficiency gains CUHMS realized from digital closings

Doing business doesn’t always mean simply day-to-day operations. It’s about making sure that things work better, more efficiently, and always with an eye on costs.

Watch this on-demand webinar where Nathan Germay from Consumers Credit Union and Keith Chaston from Dupaco Community Credit Union provide real-life examples of how they’ve made next gen banking automation work to their advantage to save money and time while gaining peace of mind.

Join Gregg Hammerman, CEO of Larky, as he shares insights into what the "branch of the future" looks like. 

Watch this on-demand webinar designed to help you think differently on:

• How the branch experience has, and will continue to change
• The impact digital technology has on consumer demands
• Creative ways to engage the community

Too often, credit unions consider their budgets “one and done” — a single budget based on one economic or underlying scenario. However, with so many unknowns in today’s market, what single scenario should be chosen as the baseline? 

Empower your organization to pivot rapidly. Using scenario planning, credit unions can model different circumstances and quickly adapt when conditions change. 

Download this white paper to discover: 

• 10 benefits of scenario planning 
• 5 hurdles to overcome 
• 2 types of real-world scenario planning 
• 5 structural elements to support success 

Credit union CFOs and financial leaders face a plethora of unique challenges, as evolving customer demographics, fast-changing business models, and emerging competition require a more agile business approach that is rooted in analytics. 

This brief explores how financial leaders can meet these challenges, inform better decision-making, and identify opportunities to improve performance by developing analytical capabilities. 

Download this brief for key insights on how to elevate the finance team to a strategic business partner by leveraging the power of analytics, technology, and department cross-functionality. You’ll learn: 

• Key trends driving CFOs to rely increasingly on analytics
• Current data challenges to overcome
• How leaders are paving the way to maximize data’s value
• 3 key components that enable organizations today and fuel competitive advantages for tomorrow

Start looking beyond the traditional financial snapshot to strategically leverage analytics.

Credit unions are under constant pressure to improve performance, reduce costs and attract new members. To compound these pressures, they also compete with fintechs and big banks to offer convenience, technology and information to help members make quick, informed decisions. Not to mention having accurate, up-to-date data to make informed internal decisions. 

Achieving success and transparency on both of these fronts is a challenge for most credit unions due to data management and system integration — compounded by multiple and disparate data sources — plus outdated processes.

Download this report outlining the challenges financial services companies face today and how Best-in-Class organizations are leveraging technology to emerge ahead of the competition in these key areas:

• Pressures and challenges across financial processes
• Data management and source integration
• The value of insight and analytics capabilities
• Leveraging tech for the future

Behavioral shifts propelled by a concerted effort to flatten the curve have impacted almost every aspect of daily life, including how people pay and receive payments.

From a credit union’s perspective, concerns arise about how the payments industry will recover in the near and longer-term. Download this white paper and keep an active eye on these three primary areas of the payments industry in the coming months: 

• Consumer spending: How has it shifted?
• Increased risks around unemployment and credit losses
• Transition to technology

Platforms, open APIs, and cloud transformation are crucial concepts that credit unions must evaluate today in order to keep pace with a modern financial industry. CUs can’t compete in this digital age with old technology; however, selecting a core banking vendor and evaluating your current system can be a daunting process. 

Discover the challenges you face in keeping a legacy system, including: inefficiencies, reduced ability to respond quickly to changing demands, and fragmented views of your members. 

Access this webcast and uncover the value of the following factors in your core review:

• One enterprise database with 100% access to all the data and a 360° member view
• Open APIs and cloud-based technology 
• The agility to respond to industry changes and increase speed-to-market
• And more!

It is not often that huge institutions move faster than their smaller counterparts, but when it comes to banks and credit unions in the digital age, this is exactly the case. 

Empower your internet banking and mobile banking with the solutions and innovations that are right for your members and market.

Download this white paper to discover the breakthrough thinking that is helping deliver the advantages of open banking, formerly only available to much larger institutions. You’ll learn:

• Common pitfalls and risks in developing modern financial services
• 4 keys to agile innovation
• Open banking checklist 

Gone are the days when the point-of-sale was simply a tool to record sales transactions. Recent developments have enabled numerous options for technology at the terminal, including contactless payments, mobile terminals, and more. 

As a credit union wanting to offer businesses a robust merchant services program, download this white paper to explore how the top five technologies at the terminal will help your organization satisfy both merchants and consumers.

Gen Z consists of about 68 million Americans with a purchasing power of close to $44 billion.² The oldest of which are now graduating college, entering the workforce, and beginning financial adulthood.

They expect fast service, fast results, and overwhelmingly prefer cashless payments. It is imperative that credit unions are aware of these needs and have a strategy in place to capture Gen Z members as they are now establishing important financial relationships. 

Download this white paper to discover what credit unions should know about Gen Z to successfully attract and retain them as members, including:

• Who Gen Z is and what they value
• Gen Z vs. millennials
• How credit unions can attract Gen Z

¹The Financial Brand, 2019.

²McKinsey & Company, 2018.