The financial ecosystem model
Why your leaders should pay attention to it.
It’s a rare, but fortunate, occasion to discover an opportunity within your industry to diversify your offerings and grow your business. Financial industry analysts are describing that opportunity for credit unions and other lenders as “becoming a financial ecosystem.”
A good example of a financial ecosystem can be found in the home-buying arena. Until recently, no single business offered a complete home-buying ecosystem, but that’s precisely what Zillow appears to be closing in on. In a very short period, the digital home-selling marketplace expanded by adding a home-buying program and a mortgage lending capability. It’s easy to see the future Zillow has envisioned. The company clearly seeks to connect buyers to sellers and lenders to borrowers, solving every problem confronted during a real estate transaction. In other words, they have designs on becoming a complete, end-to-end home transaction ecosystem.
The buyers, sellers, lenders and borrowers that engage with Zillow are called “ecosystem drivers,” and they stand to benefit equally from a strong, all-inclusive marketplace for home transactions.
While your credit union may not have the resources to build an ecosystem all its own, it may very well be poised to play an important role in one.
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