SAN ANTONIO-One of the best ways credit unions can offset decreasing revenue projections for Q3 and Q4 of 2010 is to increase cross sales of non-core products.
To that end, SWBC is ramping up its training programs to boost credit union cross-sales skills, explained Mark Hein, CEO of SWBC's credit union division. "In the past, when things were all good, credit unions did not place a lot of importance on cross selling products like gap, warranty, and debt cancellation. As they are getting squeezed on debit overdraft and interchange fees, you will start to see greater emphasis on sales of these products."
What's occurring today with Reg E and proposed new interchange rules, added Hein, are only signs of a shift to a more regulated financial business environment.
Right now SWBC is helping credit unions, especially the smaller ones, cope with Reg E. "The larger credit unions have the technology and the resources to accommodate their own portfolios," said Hein about reaching out to members about the new overdraft rules. "But small and mid-sized credit unions are challenged. And they need to keep that fee income. We threw a bunch of programming resources toward this and prioritized it because this is really a short window to help our credit unions out. We also created an outbound calling campaign."
Further down the road, SWBC R&D is focused on its AutoPilot portfolio management suite of products, Hein shared, "because that is still targeting the risk side of lending. We are trying to create more avenues for credit unions to mitigate their risk with auto lending and to increase their efficiencies so hopefully they can do more with fewer resources."
