A Decision-Making Crossroads for Credit Unions

This post is adapted with permission from Seel’s original.

Credit unions are at a crossroads. Critical and difficult decisions need to be made to ensure changing and increasing member demands are met. And this is the point at which credit unions should make these decisions–while loan books are healthy and net income is growing. Here are four questions to think about right now.

1. Should we invest more in technology? This is hard because the returns will come a couple of years, or even several years, down the road. They will come from higher revenues as share of wallet and share of market increase. Savings can also be expected from lowered personnel expense. This is especially true in operations and customer service.
2. Should we invest in a younger workforce? Youth in itself isn’t an asset, but neither is longevity. The experience of the most adaptable employees mustn’t be lost. But young leaders bring agility and knowledge of their generation. Without this, we’ll never quite “get it."
3. Should we change senior leadership to increase strategic understanding of technology? This is essential if the credit union’s business is to be technology-enabled.
4. Should we create partnerships to share the burden? Most credit unions will never be able to fully satisfy all stakeholders alone. They can't focus on customer, regulatory and shareholder requirements all at once. This is the time to consider new partnerships with fintech companies and other vendors to expand offerings for small business members, deliver today's best in consumer financial services and make back-office operations and compliance efforts more efficient.

These are questions that must be addressed strategically. This starts with a renewed vision of the credit union. How will it contribute to the communities in which it works?

Graham Seel, a 30-year banking veteran, runs BankTech Consulting. He is an expert in commercial banking, and provides strategic insight and innovation consulting to smaller banks and credit unions. He also works with fintech firms, facilitating their partnerships with financial institutions.