RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.–One of the largest CUSOs in credit unions is changing its name. CO-OP Financial Services is now Co-op Solutions.
In a statement released in conjunction with the name change, which was announced during CUNA’s GAC, Co-op Solutions said the new name, tagline and logo represent its “ongoing evolution as a proven innovator of reliable, secure, digital-first payments for the modern member, and fintech solutions for credit unions.”
The new tagline is “Make every experience matter,” which is further accompanied by a new mission statement, “To connect credit unions to the technology, strategic partnership and scale they need to best serve their members now and into the future.”
According to Co-op, the new name and branding reflect its evolution from being a reseller of others’ products to building an “ever-expanding technology ecosystem to address the lifestyle needs of members as they pay for things daily.”
“Not only do credit unions have a true fintech company within the movement, but a consultative partner in providing complete solutions for members,” Co-op said.
While the new logo will continue to render the company’s name in all caps, Co-op said the name is to be appear as “Co-op” in regular text in order to invoke the word “cooperative,” which it said is core to its business as a
provider owned by more than 900 shareholding institutions and which services 85% of the nation’s credit unions.
A ‘Transformation’
The new name and branding have been in the works for half a decade, according to CEO Todd Clark.
“It probably started five years ago when I got here,” said Clark. “We knew we were going through a transformation. We were very much a siloed--this is what debit does, this is what credit does--organization at the time. Over the last four or five years we've really transformed into a platform-based business. What I mean by that is there are several pieces of foundational architecture and software that we use, Springboard being one of those, Resolutions Center being another and Insight Center being the third.
“If you then mix that with the new rewards program that we've created and built, it is those things together that make a heck of a solution for members and clients alike,” Clark continued, noting a credit union has the option of using solutions individually or taking the whole pie. “The more you use the better it gets. Selling solutions is better than selling widgets.”
Clark said Co-op was in position to introduce the new name and branding at the end of 2020, but given all the uncertainty taking place due to COVID and the lack of any in-person events, it delayed pulling back the curtain until this year’s GAC in Washington.
What the Brand Brings to Mind
With the company using the new name to put the spotlight on the suite of solutions it offers, Clark was asked by CUToday.info what he believes credit unions think of when they hear the Co-op name and what Co-op would like to come to mind for them when CUs hear or see its name.
“I think, obviously, because of the brand recognition, from a consumer perspective people think of the ATM network and shared branching first,” he responded. “What I'd like for them to think of is that we don't want to be thought of as a vendor, we don't want to be even thought of as a partner––we want to be thought of as ‘yours.’ Credit unions own us. I want them to think of us as a tool provider and, frankly, almost as one of their children, because we are and they own us, they lead us, they govern us. I want them to think of us as a solutions provider for credit unions.”
All About ‘Experience’
The “experience” members have with their credit unions has been a primary area of focus for Co-op in recent years. The company has conducted consumer research around what it’s like for members to interact with their CUs and has given the issue significant attention during its THINK conferences and webinars.
Now that word is front-and-center in its new tagline, “Make every experience matter.”
So, where can the member experience be improved?
“I think there's a lot more opportunity for self-service, obviously,” said Clark. “As we think about it now, we’re looking at outcomes. We used to talk a little bit about the member journey and things like that, but now you're thinking about outcomes as much as possible. What you want is easy, fast and often-times free for member. Anytime you can put them in charge of their own destiny they will take that opportunity to be in charge.
“Take card controls, for example. Your most active card users are also your most active card control users,” Clark continued. “If you give them a chance to help you with fraud, they will help you with fraud. The next step is what happens if they have a transaction that for some reason goes bad. Ninety-nine point nine percent of all transactions flow smoothly, but then there is that 0.1% that goes in the other direction, that needs to be reversed and gets disputed. If they can do that themselves and then follow that through the system themselves to see the provisional credit, that’s the sort of thing then that makes their life so much easier.”
‘Principles You Can Live By’
One of the challenges for any credit union is understanding exactly how the member perceives their experience with their CU and in gathering insights into where the “friction” is taking place. Clark acknowledged the challenge, but said there are strategies for gaining that understanding.
“We do it through a wide variety of surveys as we attempt to find friction in the system,” said Clark. “Every credit union is unique in its own way, each one has its own configuration. But I think there's certain principles that you can live by, such as give self-service (options) where available--give self-service service for the client where available. (Credit unions) don’t need to phone us. They can enter a ticket right into the system and follow it through the system and we can work on it in the background.
“We surveyed not only members last year; I think we surveyed 3,000 prospects/members of credit unions and talked to them about exactly what they were seeing in the space. A lot of our decisions and our development is driven by what we find in those surveys. And then also we survey the clients multiple times per year.”
Co-op also hosts its Co-Creation Councils in which more than 70 credit union representatives come together to help the company where the company should be investing and the types of solutions it should be developing.
“What's really great is for those credit unions to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, that was something we talked about 18 months ago and it's now walking across the finish line and I can use it,” shared Clark. “They’re the ones on the street talking to members every day, so we think that they provide incredibly invaluable opinions.”
The Other Side of Experience
But what about the other side of the experience, the side where credit unions interact with Co-op? How has that experience changed?
According to Clark, that experience is also much improved and the company has “totally revamped” its Springboard application, which has been moved to the cloud and which is designed to give credit unions real-time access to cardholder account information. Co-op says the web-based system automates many of the services CU staff perform every day and makes it easy to get a clear view of your members' accounts and activities.
“It's able to handle the capacity that we are putting through right now. We’ve connected that to Resolution Center and all of that flows back and forth very easily for the credit union. And then there is Insight Center on top of that,” Clark explained. “For forever and a day, everybody in the industry kind of had similar type reports and they were meant to be printed out on green bar. That’s all going by the wayside to modern, build-your-own, custom-type reports with peer review and a wide variety of custom solutions.”
Not About Large & Small, But…
All of those solutions are technology-based and, as every credit union knows, technology comes with a price. For an increasingly bifurcated credit union community in terms of assets, those costs can be quite a strain on smaller CUs. Clark said Co-op is sensitive to that issue, although there are realities that must also be recognized.
“We think we serve all credit unions because, obviously, we're owned by over a thousand credit unions. We're well-represented with both large and small. But the truth is that you have to build most things with the large in mind and then it will trickle down over time into the smaller credit unions,” Clark stated. “One of the ways we do that is we start with the (application programming interface—API). and then once we have the API in place and a couple of folks have used it, then you do a (software development kit) that'll make it that much easier to interface. You have drop-in code where somebody can just drop it in, because not every credit union has developers.
“Actually, we have stopped short of saying large and small; we think of it more as sophisticated or technical and unsophisticated and less technical,” continued Clark. “There are a few multi-billion dollar credit unions that don't have a single developer on staff, but there are also a few CUs that have $300-$400 million in assets and they have 14. It just really depends on your approach and how you want to interface with us. We design and build products for every part of the credit union system.”
How Company Must Think of Itself
In announcing its new name Co-op also referred to itself as a fintech. Clark said the company has no choice but to think of itself that way.
“We have to,” he said. “Those are the people we're trying to hire. It's the space we want to live in. The only thing I think is different is we're not doing it for a market cap or valuation, we're investing on behalf of our credit unions and there is no desire to monetize that in any way. They just want control and ownership of the technology. I think it's a little bit of what got everybody so excited about the Curql Fund,--which is super successful--that maybe you might have a little bit of say (in where fintech investments go). I would argue that that you have all the say here at Co-op.”
The Next Steps
In addition to describing itself as a fintech, Co-op said the new name reflects its ongoing evolution. That raises the question of where the company sees itself going from here.
“I think that we are either on the doorstep or already are the top payments provider in the credit union space,” said Clark. “We have the most recognizable consumer brand out there. We want to continue to grow our business in credit unions and provide more solutions to credit unions and, frankly, we are doing the right things. We're listening to our Co-Creation Councils and we’re standing in the places that the credit unions need help.”
For credit unions wondering about the new branding and potential changes to signage, Clark said the current Co-op triangle brand is prominent in the market at 30,000 ATMs and at 5,700 shared branches and will “not be going away anytime soon.”