Credit unions turn to technology to enhance services

In the 2020 NAFCU Report on Credit Unions, over 94% of survey respondents reported that IT will drive spending into 2023. When asked to identify the most likely provider for their planned investments, national vendors and large fintechs were named most often.

“There has been an increase in credit union and fintech partnerships and as our NAFCU reports indicate, there is a continuing interest in greater investment in fintech over the next several years,” said Andrew Morris, senior counsel for research and policy for NAFCU. Although many people associate “fintech” with more recently developed technology, the use of financial technology has been put into place at credit unions for some time, he says. “Consumer expectations for convenient service led to remote deposit of checks many years ago,” he points out. “So while some fintech technologies are new, the concept of using technology to increase convenience for members is not new.”

“The past two years of the pandemic have really accelerated technology adoption by credit unions,” said Jeff Keltner, senior vice president of business development at Upstart. “Member needs today are vastly different than they were five years ago due to the rapid adoption of mobile technology and the bar that companies like Netflix and Amazon have set for customer service. One of the benefits of fintech’s growth in recent years is that the most advanced technologies are now within reach, and budget, for credit unions of all asset sizes.”

 

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