In the Wake of the Trust Crisis, Can Branches Make the Difference in Helping Credit Unions Capitalize on a Unique Opportunity to Grow?

BY JOE SALESKY

How strongly built is your credit union’s foundation of trust? The key to your CU’s success lies strongly in the  personal connections you make with community members, and a community presence gives you a leg up in the value department. Discover the three areas of focus that will increase your trustworthiness.

Just when we thought the issues might subside, the Equifax leak yet again caused consumers to question who they  can trust. Interestingly, at the same time we see Amazon, a trusted digital brand, becoming a quality-first grocery in  hundreds of stores. In this time of uncertainty, the personal connection consumers have with brands that are active in their communities may be one of the secret ingredients for success built on trust.

Several banks are struggling to attract new business and grow revenue. Are branch closures and team reductions fueling this decline? Counter to the trend in the large retail banks, credit unions have added significant asset growth,  with more than a billion dollars in assets added at most of the top 30 institutions. Many admit there could be much  more growth, if they had the right tools to support it.

It has been proven that ad-spends have a 5X response rate in communities where banks and credit unions have  branches. Is community presence the key to trust and growth? Credit unions can certainly compete with megabanks  when things get “personal.” Using a proactive and strategic approach, credit unions can transform the member  experience and claim more than their fair share.

Strike While the Iron Is Hot: But How?
Buck the trend, re-evaluate the potential of creating profitable branches like Apple and create opportunities for knowledgeable team members to work collaboratively with members. Seventy-eight percent of U.S. consumers  expect to visit their local branch as much or more frequently in the next five years, according to a recent report by  Accenture. The number of overall interactions in digital has been climbing, but the value of in-person interactions  has not fallen.

Organizing operations to track and grow in-person engagement and to fuel its value with knowledgeable team  members continues to differentiate the world’s most valuable brands.