MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – MEMBERS Development Company recently welcomed IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union ($1.087 billion, Moline, Ill.) and LGE Community Credit Union ($1.166 billion, Marietta, Ga.), bringing the total of new owners to eight in the last 12 months, the company said.
Also added in 2016 were Anheuser-Busch Employees’ Credit Union ($1.6 billion, St. Louis, Mo.), Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union ($2.6 billion, Plano, Texas), CU Direct (Ontario, Calif., which has funded more than $186 billion in loans), Tropical Financial Credit Union ($654.7 million, Pembroke Pines, Fla.), Tulsa Federal Credit Union ($715 million, Tulsa, Okla.) and Workers Credit Union ($1.5 billion, Fitchburg, Mass.).
According to Jeff Kline, MDC’s Chief Executive Officer, the CUSO lives out the power of collaboration by providing owners benefits that couldn’t be realized working individually. Together, the owners use their resources to focus on research and development driven by owner credit unions for the benefit of owner credit unions.
“We bring the latest research and education on leading technology solutions to solve real-world problems credit unions and their industry partners face,” Kline said in a statement. “Collaboration ensures that our owners and MDC can perform the R&D, testing and implementation of key initiatives. Even though our owners represent top-tier credit unions, a single organization would be hard-pressed to find the time or financial resources to fund and manage these projects.”
Recent initiatives have focused on analyzing the member experience for clues to increasing loyalty and satisfaction; personalizing the onboarding process; and researching new technology to create apps that delight members, such as tracking their progress through a mortgage loan approval.
“Our goal is to help credit unions grow, pure and simple,” said Kline. “To do that, we must always be looking for better ways to cut costs, improve member service and provide value. MDC does this by working with forward-thinking credit unions to solve challenges and business issues together.”
Kline says MDC and its owners have seen benefits like decreased costs from streamlined processes, a strong team of owners whose talented staff members comprise an Innovation Council, and opportunities to network with peers and industry experts. In turn, credit unions gain a major competitive advantage against larger financial institutions and FinTech startups.