Completing a successful merger, full company rebrand, database integration, and banking platform upgrade is no easy task—especially within a six-month period during a global pandemic. Access Credit Union persisted through all these challenges and more to deliver a promise made to their members for a better member experience and enhanced cyber security.
The timing couldn’t be more relevant, as COVID-19 restrictions forced many of us home, changing the way we live our lives—including how we manage our finances through day-to-day banking. Access Credit Union has launched a new digital banking experience designed to solve two of their members’ biggest challenges: technically simple and cyber secure.
“When Access Credit Union merged with Crosstown Civic Credit Union on January 1st, 2021, we founded a new credit union and shaped a new brand with a promise to be ‘where you need us to be," says Access Chief Executive Officer Larry Davey. “The introduction of our new digital experience empowers our members with convenient control over their finances and allows them to connect with Access however and wherever they are most comfortable.”
More than three years ago, Access Credit Union was informed that their existing online banking platform would no longer be supported and no further enhancements would be made. With a focus on enhanced security and a streamlined member experience, Access joined four other partner credit unions in the journey to find a digital banking solution that would empower their members to have convenient control over their finances.
“As a cooperative, our goal is to support all credit union members—beyond our own institution—by providing secure banking systems, easy access to funds, and a cyber-secure experience,” says Davey. Years of research and rigorous testing determined that Celero Xpress™—an innovative solution built off award winning global digital banking software ebankIT by Canadian solutions integrator Celero—had the features and functionality required to innovate ahead of the curve in an increasingly digital world.
“Our primary focus from day one has been on member experience and member security,” says Myrna Wiebe, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer. “We needed a resounding yes when we asked if a) it was easy to use and b) if it was secure. This platform checked those boxes in spades.”
Access Credit Union has been directly involved in shaping the functionality and features of the Celero Xpress platform in the best interest of their members. To make this transition a success, the partner credit unions unified in a collaborative effort and shared information, learned lessons from each other’s experiences, and participated in each other’s platform rollout.
“To have Access successfully launch Celero Xpress is a significant milestone for Celero and ebankIT. Their partnership and support was critical in helping us achieve our vision of delivering an innovative, omnichannel digital banking platform that enables each of our clients to deliver exceptional experiences to their members. Together, we are changing the digital paradigm for the credit union system,” says Richard Hannah, CEO, Celero.
“This is no less than an incredible achievement especially in a moment when digitalization is on the top of everyone’s agenda. We want to congratulate Access Credit Union for showing how credit unions can successfully undertake the digital revolution fully remotely. For ebankIT, it is a privilege to increase our customer base in Canada while, worldwide, our omnichannel digital banking platform serves financial institutions representing more than 14 million end users”, says Renato Oliveira, ebankIT’s CEO.
As Access’ new website notes, “no worthwhile transformation happens without some growing pains.” Throughout this immense growth process, Access is committed to being where members need them to ensure as smooth a transition as possible by bringing in additional resources to support their members both in-branch and via phone, email, and chat. And they won’t stop there; Access will continue to build on the platform to provide new features while bringing back some old favourites.
For more information on this project, please visit accesscu.ca.
About Access Credit Union
Access Credit Union has 26 rural and urban branches, more than 400 employees, more than $5.8 billion in assets, and over 90,000 members and is the second largest credit union in Manitoba. For more information about Access Credit Union, please visit www.accesscu.ca.
About ebankIT
ebankIT is an award-winning company with a proprietary leading Omnichannel Digital Banking Platform which enables banks and credit unions to achieve their full potential. Its flexible and robust out-of-the-box features allow a fast and seamless digital banking transformation. By strengthening customer relationships and taking advantage of third-party innovations through open banking possibilities, the success of ebankIT platform has already translated into increased digital revenues and costs minimization for dozens of financial institutions worldwide serving millions of customers or members. For more information, visit ebankit.com.
About Celero
Celero is a leading provider of digital technology and integration solutions to credit unions and financial institutions across Canada. Clients trust Celero’s proven track record delivering innovative banking technologies, digital and payment solutions, cloud computing, outsourcing, IT, and advisory services. Celero offers reliability and security through its world-class hosted banking system and data centre operations. With key partnerships across the globe, Celero also brings the scale and extensive capabilities of multinational technology companies and the focused expertise of fintech startups. For more information, visit celero.ca.