The Credit Union of the future: a member-first digital experience from end-to-end

Credit Unions around the world face a decisive moment in terms of digital transformation and innovation: how to combine the personalized experience that defines Credit Unions and the demands and priorities of a new digitally-savvy generation. The answer relies in setting a member-first digital experience, right from the onboarding process to every day-to-day operation.

Credit Unions are often described as traditional institutions, where resistance to innovation is more difficult to overcome. Nonetheless, this perception displays a lack of understanding about the current moment credit unions are living. Over the last couple of years, digital transformation has changed the world as we know it. The pandemic has impacted every aspect of the banking business, from the diminishing use of cash to the emergence of remote and fully-digital services, and credit unions are no strangers to innovation.  

Even so, credit unions require a specific approach to digital transformation. Credit unions are community-driven institutions, based on the needs of their members and focused on a personalized offer. When adopting a new digital platform, Credit Unions demand flexibility, extensive customization capabilities and the opportunity to establish one-to-one interactions. The solution relies on a modern digital omnichannel solution, enhanced with a member-first digital experience from end-to-end.  

Coast Capital – Canada’s largest credit union by membership and British Columbia’s first federal credit union – has set an example of a successfully digital transformation. In 2017, Coast Capital started a thorough process to select a strategic partner for their digital banking platform, prioritizing innovative and comprehensive core digital banking capabilities, security, API-enabled architecture and cloud-based infrastructure. ebankIT’s omnichannel banking platform helped Coast Capital to create a member-first experience, setting a new standard.

Combining digital technology with the most traditional member-care strategies

Credit Unions have long built a reputation of member-oriented institutions, with a cooperative mindset, lower interest rates and more personalized offers. Therefore, when it comes to further digitalize their business, Credit unions demand a strong focus on the member experience.    

With Coast Capital’s 80 year legacy in putting members first, their management team were laser-focused, from the very beginning of the project, on a member-first digital transition, enhanced with several user experience-centric initiatives: 

• Money manager: a feature-rich personal financial management tool that allows members to see all their accounts (including integrations with accounts held at other financial institutions), create and track budgets and goals, manage spending and more.  
• A member-centric login experience: secure biometric login, personalized username and password login credentials, dynamic risk-based user profiling and notifications for key activities and real-time fraud activity alerts. 
• Extensive Personalization features: profile photos, custom background images and favorite transactions. Ability to view balances without logging in with Quickview. 
• Every solution on-the-go: Everyday transactions, simplified. Members can pay bills, transfer money and deposit cheques on the go. Members can even lock their misplaced debit card, or order a replacement.

Finally, ebankiT has also shown the flexibility to integrate with third-party solutions, which enables Coast Capital to continuously offer a growing catalog of features and solutions. 

Watch Coast Capital Savings' Testimonial