ORLANDO, Fla. - Credit unions are looking to trim expenses to help get them through tough economic times, which is why one expert recently shared 50 tips for doing just that.
The Florida CU League brought in Robin Hoag, senior director of the Financial Institutions Group Doeren Mayhew, to offer “50 Ways to Reduce Operating Expenses” at the league’s annual meeting here.
Hoag recommended sharing a call center with other credit unions, and also looking into contract and vendor management outsource options.
“A lot of these offer human resource functions,” he said.
Hoag said that many credit unions don’t do this due to the fear of not being in total control. “A lot of us are control freaks, especially on the executive side,” he said. “I look at it as an opportunity.”
But still, he stressed the importance of collaboration with other credit unions. “We are competing more than ever before now with other credit unions,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting to see the evolution of the industry if we don’t collaborate more in any ways we can.”
He noted a CU in a metropolitan area “has no competitive isolation.”
Another way credit unions can cut operating costs is by becoming more green, he said. “Desktop computers left on all night for one year cost $100 a year in electricity,” he said.
“You should also re-do your ATMs,” Hoag advised. “Go through and figure out the last time someone really evaluated how much money is sitting in your ATM. If you’ve never run out of cash you obviously have excess. We had a client that cut their cash in half. We’ve seen huge shifts in many of our clients.”
Other solutions Hoag offered during the session included marketing mailing refinement and employee benefits and existing or alternative service provider negotiation. Hoag also suggested for credit unions to eliminate auto renewals on their products.(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
