UPPER MARLBORO, Md.-NASA Federal Credit Union provides its 71,000 members shared branch locations, but it had resisted serving as a shared branch location for other credit unions' members, until now.
This all changed after Doug Allman, the credit union's CEO, saw Fast Branch at a CO-OP board meeting. Fast Branch allowed NASA FCU to enter shared branching, without going the teller route.
"Fast Branch is a kiosk located in a credit union's branch office and offers ATM and shared branch transactions to other credit union members," explained Karen Friel, vice president of operations for the $900 million credit union. "Because the Fast Branch kiosk is so similar to an ATM and has the ability to perform a wide variety of do-it-yourself transactions, NASA Federal saw no downside to implementing shared branching in this capacity."
At present, NASA Federal has one Fast Branch kiosk, in one of its busiest branches in Greenbelt, and two additional Fast Branch kiosks in the credit union's new branch locations in Bowie and Rockville. The new Fast Branch locations will also be included in CO-OP's Shared Branching Locator service.
There are many benefits to the Fast Branch kiosks, Friel said.
"Fast Branch kiosks allow NASA Federal Credit Union to offer Shared Branch services without the additional software, connectivity, staffing and training required for a traditional shared branching outlet configuration," she explained.
The kiosks also allow NASA FCU to offer shared branching services in its branches expanding the offering to new areas for CO-OP, while not adversely affecting its members with additional lines-which could occur if guest members were handled by the credit union's staff, Friel said. In addition, the kiosks do not require additional software connectivity, training, balancing, document retention or other steps required by a traditional Shared Branch outlet setup, Friel noted. The only con Friel mentioned is the delay in available equipment to meet the demand for installations, "which requires planning ahead when working with a branch construction timeline," she said.
Most of the costs involved in adding the Fast Branch kiosks was for the hardware with the NCR equipment, Friel said, at $35,205 for a single terminal, and maintenance at $2,905 annually. There are also CO-OP transaction costs, which are netted out of the CU's interchange income from transactions done by guest members at the terminals.
"We have not yet reached our break-even point, but with transaction levels increasing monthly it will not be long before we do," Friel predicted.
Friel said that response has been "very positive."
"They are pleased to have a location closer to home they can access," she said.
Eric Porter, EVP of business development and marketing for CO-OP, said the market demand for self-serve kiosks is very strong. He said the implementation of the kiosks for NASA FCU was "easy to implement," and was achieved in a matter of weeks.
"Members can do everything they can do at a Shared Branch location, he said, from cashing checks and making deposits to transfers and balance inquiries.
"It is really similar to the airlines' self-service kiosks," Porter said. "It looks like an ATM."
