CORONADO, Calif. — DFCU Financial CEO Mark Shobe offered the following advice and strategies for a credit union to build an ongoing Patronage Dividend strategy:
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- Commit to a brand strategy.
- Get everyone in the decision tree to buy into the capital management strategy.
- Tenaciously seek operational excellence. "Everyone can do this regardless of their size. What you need to be is committed."
- This is not a "market differentiator if you do it once. People think about it. People say your CD rate is 3.5%, but it's really 4. People start to factor in the 50 basis points."
- Patronage dividends bring "member-ownership to life. This is a mixed blessing. Members are also very aware of how we're doing financially. So things like the insurance fund replenishment has to be explained to them."
- It isn't lost on a 15-year-old they put $100 in an account and they get $50. So we have people bringing in their kids."
- "We did some things that added expense. Now everyone gets gainsharing, 3% of their compensation, if we hit our goals. People earn more money than they used to, but we're leaner."
