SAN DIMAS, Calif.-Every credit union location will be a shared branch in 2109, predicts Financial Service Centers Cooperative President Sarah Canepa Bang.
"We will have figured out how to work together and deliver convenience as a movement. I am hoping this will be true in 10 years," said Canepa Bang, who heads the nation's largest shared branch network.
Credit unions will still maintain individual brands, Canepa Bang predicted. "Everything still stays local. But shared branching will reach internationally-the entire world will be our community. We will have figured out ways to work around things like the Patriot and Bank Secrecy acts."
Will that take away the credit union's personal touch? "Not at all," responded Canepa Bang, who explained there will be a new definition of friendly service 100 years from now. "Today, if you are older, friendly to you means how a teller looks at you and interacts with you. But the definition of friendly to 19-year-olds is different. Their definition is an easy-to-use interface that does not send them down a rat hole. The user interface in 2109 will be so simple that a sixth-grader can use it. I think it will also be important that we make sure the same experience that happens at the teller happens online and on the phone."
A traditional issue will still be in play. "We will figure out how to serve the underserved," Canepa Bang insisted. "We are going to find a way to serve this segment of the population without harming our current operations. This is big business-and the next big thing. Payday lending gets a bad rap. If we were to apply credit union principles to payday lending, the numbers are there so you can provide a service to your members and make a profit as well. One of the reasons Congress has not gotten rid of payday lending is they know we need it."
