Backbase: Credit unions are grappling with the hard truth that digital transformation is far more complex in practice than in theory. This knowledge gap has widened primarily due to the limitations of existing technology solutions available to banks and credit unions. These solutions fail to meet the needs of banking leadership to drive meaningful change within their organizations. Backbase introduces a fresh approach for credit unions to engage with and cater to their members. The result is the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform, a unified platform that enhances every facet of the customer and member experience. By leveraging this platform, banks are empowered to assist individuals in gaining greater control over their financial lives. Backbase is fulfilling its commitment to numerous credit unions by providing them with a unified technology platform that surpasses short-term solutions. It understands the importance of addressing banking technology challenges holistically, offering long-term solutions that instill confidence in banking leadership.
Curql Collective, LLC: As part of the Curql Collective, LLC, the Curql Fund is the only CUSO strategic investment fund backed exclusively by credit unions and credit union industry partners. Its investments in 20 technology companies to date provide credit unions with a way to drive technology innovation for all credit union members, not just members of Curql credit unions. In a world where big banks, big tech, and many fintech entrepreneurs are trying to disintermediate credit unions, Curql is a force for credit union innovation, ensuring that credit unions have access to cutting-edge technology that their members demand, and keeping credit unions relevant and vibrant in the midst of the greatest technological revolution in history. The Curql Fund has been a game-changer, revolutionizing the way credit unions partner with fintech to serve their members and position credit unions for success in the digital age.
CUSO Financial Services: CUSO Financial Services, a subsidiary of Atria Wealth Solutions, innovated TeamAssist, a groundbreaking service transforming operational efficiency for financial professionals in credit union wealth management programs. By deploying experienced virtual assistants to handle administrative tasks, TeamAssist enables advisors to focus more on their clients and less on non-revenue-generating activities. The result is not only improved advisor productivity but also an enhanced level of service to clients. In the past year, TeamAssist has led to a 28% increase in new accounts per month, a 71% surge in new clients per month, a 70% decrease in NIGOs, and a 55% reduction in service requests. Financial professionals utilizing TeamAssist have seen a 23% higher profit margin than those who manage their own administrative staff. These impressive results underscore CFS’s commitment to continuous innovation and its significant impact on the industry.
Mahalo Banking: Until now, credit unions have not been able to truly support their entire member base – up to 15 to 20% of consumers who are neurodiverse are unable to properly use existing online banking solutions due to the industry’s lack of neurodiverse technology. To address this gap, Mahalo Banking recently launched its next-generation platform with Thoughtful Banking™ capabilities designed to offer a more accessible digital banking experience and support diverse members. The platform’s new neurodiversity features ensure that every member can better engage with their credit union and have an exceptional digital banking experience. The reimagined platform caters to members with neurodiverse abilities and cognitive distinctions, such as dyslexia, autism, colorblindness, ADD, ADHD, epilepsy, visual sensitivity, ASD and more. The application delivers humanized capabilities such as colorblindness platform views, left- and right-hand use modes, font options for those with dyslexia or visual impairments, the ability to disable animations for those who suffer from epilepsy, etc. Mahalo’s comprehensive neurodiversity functionality is completely new within the credit union space, offering credit unions an innovative opportunity to evolve their digital banking accessibility and inclusivity to support all members.
MeridianLink, Inc.: MeridianLink® is a leading provider of modern software platforms for financial institutions and consumer reporting agencies. The transition toward digital offerings in financial services has accelerated, increasing investments in software that enables digital capabilities. They are well-positioned to help customers compete with tier-1 banks and digital market entrants through our cutting-edge multi-product offering, MeridianLink® One. MeridianLink One is a platform of innovative products that spans the digital lending journey from deposit account opening, consumer and mortgage loan origination, credit reporting, data access and verification, business consulting, analytics, collections, and scoring. By connecting our trusted consumer and mortgage digital lending and account opening solutions, the most comprehensive third-party partner marketplace, and the industry-leading credit and verification data services into one powerful platform, MeridianLink has revolutionized lending automation, cross-selling, and loan optimization.
Method Financial: Method Financial empowers real-time data and payment access for consumer liabilities (student & personal loans, credit cards, mortgages, utilities and more) through embedded APIs. Using a consumer’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as phone number, Method can securely connect all of a user’s liabilities, retrieve comprehensive data, and enable payment access. Method’s industry-backed network allows credit unions to build personalized lending and financial management experiences supported by comprehensive real-time credit data, evergreen connections and integrated payment rails. Method is on a mission to help create the most frictionless debt consolidation and balance transfer experience that the credit union industry has seen.
Narmi: Narmi provides credit unions with superior technology that enables frictionless account opening and digital banking platforms to drive member and deposit growth both quickly and securely with its industry-leading identity decisioning capabilities. The mission at Narmi is to unlock the very latest capabilities in digital banking and account opening. The cultural pillars Narmi lives by: Always effortless, always current, always dependable. Narmi constantly drives innovation for its credit union customers while maintaining and improving upon security and reliability standards. Narmi officials are proud of their industry-shattering speeds with its release process.
Neural Payments: Offering “software as a service,” or SaaS, Neural Payments’ peer-to-peer payments solution integrates into the credit union’s own mobile banking app, allowing users to send money to anyone directly within the app, with no third-party app needed. Through the software, payments are directed to other financial institutions or even to third-party apps to streamline the payment experience and help credit unions retain members within their brands throughout that experience. The solution promotes the brand and image of the credit union, helping to strengthen member relationships and grow usage from within the trusted digital banking ecosystem of the credit union.
Open Lending: Open Lending’s mission is to make automotive loans more affordable and accessible to underserved communities by transforming the automotive lending industry through AI-powered decisioning and cutting-edge technology. In 2022 Open Lending served the underserved market by certifying over 86,000 auto loans to individuals who otherwise would not have been approved for an auto loan if it weren’t for Lenders Protection. In Q1 of 2023 another 32,408 lives were impacted by the accessibility of a car through an auto loan by Lenders Protections certified loans.
Posh AI: At Posh, they believe in democratizing access to banking and empowering financial institutions with the benefits of conversational AI. It’s Posh’s mission to facilitate this change and make it a feasible reality for financial institutions while setting the new standard for a VIP banking experience. There is a huge opportunity to help credit unions unlock their full potential while prioritizing an integral part of any business – customer service and VIP experience. Posh understands that better conversations lead to better banking, thus making its mission to facilitate change and make implementing conversational AI a feasible reality for financial institutions.
QCash Financial, LLC: Since 2015, the CUSO known as QCash has empowered credit unions in their quest to improve the financial well-being of their communities by providing small-dollar loans to their members. QCash loans leverage its patented relational underwriting technology, allowing the member to go from having a financial need (i.e., a life event) to a cash solution in under 60 seconds – without using a credit score, but in a safe and responsible way. This is life-altering for individuals that do not qualify for or have access to a traditional lending option. QCash’s patented relational underwriting technology allows historically marginalized and vulnerable populations to access safe, efficient and equitable small-dollar loans, which would otherwise cause financial turmoil due to inflated fees and interest rates of predatory lenders. Together with QCash, credit unions have the power to better serve the underserved.
SMA Technologies: SMA Technologies has experienced significant growth and success in the past year, with numerous accomplishments highlighting its technological advancements. These accomplishments include over a third of U.S. credit unions adopting the power of OpCon, showcasing its effectiveness and value while its extensive integration capabilities break down silos and optimize operations. OpCon efficiently handles a quarter-million tasks daily, streamlining processes and automating manual tasks, with potential cost savings of $30,000 or more per month. OpCon Cloud, the industry’s first cloud-based automation platform offering flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency, has garnered strong market demand. Additional enhancements include a revamped Solution Manager that simplifies automation processes for users of all levels. Managed File Transfer capabilities streamline file transfers and enhance security. Along with the integration of VisualCron introduces Robotic Process Automation (RPA), allowing credit unions to automate tasks and improve operational agility.
Think|Stack: Think|Stack’s virtual Chief information Office offering (vCISO+) launched in 2023 to help credit unions without the adequate financial resources or internal IT structure to address the growing threats cyber criminals pose to their organization’s most important asset, its data. The NCUA’s February 2023 ruling requiring all credit unions to notify the NCUA within 72 hours of a reportable cyber incident only enhanced the need that credit unions have for not only a strong cybersecurity platform, but for key cyber leadership. Additionally, Think|Stack has seen credit unions that are able to hire CISO’s full-time struggle to retain their hires as they are poached by banks and other organizations able and willing to pay above-market salaries to professionals with even a few months experience in the role. The vCISO+ offering gives credit unions a C-level executive responsible for data security; it provides access to a bench of engineers, security consultants, and technicians that are informed and able to jump in at a moment’s notice should a cyber-incident occur.
Total Expert: Total Expert is changing how financial institutions engage with their customers or members, which in turn, is creating a financially healthier world. By creating a people-first, purpose-built platform, Total Expert is helping credit unions form deeper member relationships through meaningful engagement, financial education, and innovative product offerings. Having access to the right data, especially in a challenging or down market, helps credit unions understand the nuances of their members’ financial situation. With Total Expert, credit unions can use data-driven insights to anticipate their members’ needs, educate them about their options, and advise them on the right decision. Traditional credit unions have one big advantage – the strength of their human-first member connections. While most fintech companies eliminate the need for personal member relationships, credit unions can reverse this trend by leveraging technology that empowers them to continue a human-first approach.
Xchange of America: Xchange of America allows credit unions to use innovative white-labeled, online foreign currency exchange through their secure platform, member home delivery and live 7-day a week customer support. This new business model saves significant labor costs and red-tape for smaller institutions, increasing profitability and reducing the stress on branch tellers and management. This also improves customer satisfaction with a huge convenience factor and saves them from having to seek out ATMs when traveling overseas, a safety benefit especially at night for women and families as well as saving them foreign ATM fees. They’ve dedicated over $175K of their resources to promoting safe travel for females, familys and individuals through informative articles and blogs. Their 5-star “excellent” Trust Pilot rating reflects their dedication to excellence in customer service and security. Trust is essential when completing online currency transactions and they have proven themselves to be a valuable partner to credit unions across the country.
We are excited to present and recognize the organizations in the CU Times LUMINARIES Class of 2023 Finalists category that have proven themselves to be exceptional innovators serving the credit union industry.
This slideshow highlights the 15 finalists from our Product Innovation – Company category of Service and Technology Organizations of all sizes from around the country.
