CLEARWATER, Fla.-Noting the credit union community's continuing improvement in many key performance areas, Bob Hackney said it's time to begin focusing hard on cards portfolios again.
"Credit union numbers are positive, the economy is gaining steam, so now credit unions really need to move forward," said the president of CSCU. "It was status quo with many CUs when it came to business during the recession."
Hackney sees debit as a big opportunity, with its continuing strong growth and the fact consumers' spending habits may have changed for good. "People are not overspending, and that means greater use of debit. It appears that consumers are staying with this conservative practice that was instilled in them during the recession."
No matter if the credit union's focus is debit or credit-which also is gaining steam-what is critical now is that CUs embrace the changing payments landscape to allow members to "pay anytime, anywhere, with any method," advised Hackney.
With EMV finally coming to the U.S., mobile advancing quickly and the many alternative payment forms coming along with it, it's too hazy now to place one single bet with any payments method, advised Hackney. He urged credit unions to remain nimble and informed, creating payments project teams and assigning someone in the credit union to focus on emerging payments.
"I think over the next three to five years we will see more change in the payments space than we did in the last 40 years. It's going to be a whole new ballgame."
Hedging Your Bets
Hackney illustrated how quickly payments can evolve, citing how only a year ago he thought near field communication (NFC) would be one of the winners at merchant terminals, but now he's not so sure. "Now it may be a different technology using bar codes."
Hackney advised placing multiple bets, as is CSCU. "We don't know who will win, just like it was years ago with eight-track tapes or cassettes-we had both for a while. But at CSCU we have our thumb on the pulse of what is going on. It's going to be interesting years ahead."
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