Why did you join a shared branch network, have there been benefits, can you measure ROI, and are members using it?
Asked of attendees at FSCC's Annual Meeting In Las Vegas
We did it to benefit our members and give them more locations to reach us. We have three locations in Tucson. More of our members are using shared branching than are using our branches. It is more of a convenience than something that can be calculated. When you tell members [about shared branching] they look at you strange. Then you go into more detail and they are happy.
The availability issue is important because we are a small credit union and our branches are spread out. Shared branching fills in the gaps. We don't normally have Saturday hours because our branches are open Monday-through-Friday, but shared branching adds that. Members get it pretty easily-we just explain the three things they need: ID, account number, and the name of the credit union they belong to.
WestStar is not yet a member of shared branching. I am here to check out FSCC and see what the relationship would bring to our credit union. We live in a 24-hour town and we need to offer 24-hour access to our members. In Vegas, there is a 7-Eleven on every corner, so FSCC's relationship with 7-Eleven is appealing. We expect it will be difficult to tell members to go to another credit union, but then again, members want service wherever they can get it.
We have members all over the state and wanted to give additional locations that might be more convenient. It improves our members' perception that we are convenient. We look at the costs of acquiring transactions at other credit unions and it is a break-even. But member convenience is difficult to measure and it would be a negative if we didn't offer shared branching. It is not difficult (to tell members to visit another CU), we just start with the founding principal of credit unions and the cooperative effort.
Shared branching is an opportunity for our members to use other credit unions when they travel. Secondarily, we now serve other CU members who come to Vegas. Initially, we saw acquiring transactions build up slowly. We do 40,000 transactions per month for members of other credit unions and 30,000 of our members use shared branching in other states. It has been a benefit. It was difficult at first to explain visiting another credit union, but it is not difficult now.
We joined shared branching because of the profitable process of generating cash, as well as servicing many of our Air Force members in various parts of the world. Most importantly, our members enjoy the convenience. With some branches, there has been an impact on volume, but no negative impact to ROI on the whole. We've had no problems getting members to use shared branching; we just make sure the staff at our branches is trained in the process.
