CHICAGO-Slick features such as Personal Financial Management (PFM) and mobile banking won't debut at Alliant Credit Union here until this summer, but the giant CU's well-equipped Internet channel already handles 65% of its monetary transactions-up from only 34% in 2005.
A high-rate checking account has encouraged the mass migration to Alliant's SkyBranch online banking, which is now the CU's largest channel, according to Rudy Pereira, SVP-operations and technology at the $7-billion CU. The account requirements are few: use e-statements and enable one recurring monthly electronic deposit.
Online features have also helped SkyBranch take off, Pereira continued. For one, people can open accounts online-35% of all new accounts were opened online in 2009. And members can deposit checks via a home scanner, he said. "We're trying to offer all services online," he said.
Alliant's trio of remote channels-SkyBranch (its core membership is United Airlines employees), audio response and the contact center-has contributed to a 46% decrease in face-to-face transactions since 2005, added Pereira. The remote channels combined perform more than 80% of all the CU's transactions, he said.
Pereira said he would like to see SkyBranch do even more of the heavy lifting, eventually performing more than 90% of the CU's monetary transactions on its own.
Electronic bill pay and e-statement metrics are equally compelling: bill pay adoption was up nearly 25% last year, whereas the number of e-statement users increased by nearly 120%.
PFM and mobile banking should attract even more members to SkyBranch, said Pereira. "With PFM integrated into online banking, there will be a shift in consumer confidence from public-access PFM back to their trusted financial institution." Alliant expects about 15% of its online members to use PFM this year, he said. PFM will include a financial advisor module.
Features may come fast and furious when Alliant deploys the in-house version of online banking next quarter, he said. "We'll have more control over development and the integration of third-party solutions."
"Channel harmonization" will soon allow Alliant to provide consistent functionality and member experience across the remote and branch channels. "If it's easy to do online, it should be as easy to do in another channel," explained Pereira. "And if a request is submitted in one channel, but the member subsequently follows up in another channel, there is awareness of that initial request."
The buzz online doesn't mean Alliant is bulldozing its branches, Pereira continued. "Our service centers are developing new SEG partnerships while providing valuable face-to-face consultation and personalized service. Remote channels handle the increased demand for routine transactions, which improves overall efficiencies."
The more members Alliant can serve via online transactions, which cost less than branch transactions, the better job the CU is doing to accomplish its mission: providing low-cost services and high returns to members, explained Pereira.
More than 30% of Alliant's 250,000 members are actively banking online, up more than 25% over 2008, said Pereira. They paid more than $157-million in bills via bill pay in last year, up 26% over 2008. Alliant processed nearly two-million transactions across all channels in 2009.
