GENEVA, N.Y. — To better compete with regional competition, Finger Lakes Federal Credit Union enhanced its digital banking and payment capabilities, which has increased online banking usage by 34% and mobile growth by 128%.
The $100-million credit union wanted to grow organic wallet share of its existing members and realized the key to achieving this goal was providing an exceptional member experience. This required an online and mobile banking and payments platform that could compete against larger financial institutions.
"Our overriding goal was to provide members with a seamless experience, letting them accomplish what they want to do quickly and in the fewest number of steps," Finger Lakes' Executive Vice President Bob McFadden told Credit Union Journal.
A Close Watch on Demographics
McFadden explained that the credit union keeps a close watch on member demographics and realized a migration from in-branch transactions, which supported the need for a new suite of digital solutions.
"Overall we believe these new digital offerings will help us grow wallet share with current members and win over a new generation of potential members," he said.
With nearly 15,000 members and three branches, Finger Lakes had used Fiserv's Spectrum account processing platform since 2002. When it looked to enhance online and mobile offerings, the CU turned to the vendor adopting Corillian Online, Mobiliti solutions, CheckFree RXP and Popmoney.
"Investing in digital channels is critical for attracting and retaining members, and because these are areas where technology continues to rapidly advance, it's wise to choose solutions that can scale to accommodate more users and new capabilities over time," said Steve Shaw VP of strategic marketing at Fiserv.
Since the solution was introduced last November, Finger Lakes has realized significant upticks in critical segments. The growth of its online banking users has increased by 34%. Bill pay users have grown by 41% and mobile jumped a whopping 128%.
"Branch and call center staff can be turned into evangelists and help drive new registrations at a significant rate," said Shaw. "By training member-facing staff on the value of online and mobile banking and payments, they can actively promote that value to new and existing customers."
Over the last year, McFadden noted that the penetration of mobile among online banking users also grew from 21.5% to 35%.
"We've made great headway in year one opening the door to more members using mobile," he said. " We've also seen a sharp increase in e-statement adoption and a reduction in the number of service calls about bill payment issues, which keeps our staff working productively."
