Leading global AI-powered credit underwriting platform provider, Scienaptic AI, announced today that Great NorthWest Federal Credit Union is now live on its AI-powered credit underwriting platform. This deployment is significantly streamlining the credit union’s underwriting process, leading to an increase in approval rates and automation. Importantly, all these advancements have been realized while ensuring adherence to the principles of fairness and inclusivity, and maintaining compliance with regulatory standards, which are integral to Scienaptic’s AI platform. Originally founded as Schafer Mill Employees Credit Union in April 1953, Great NorthWest Federal Credit Union has experienced transformative growth, resulting in an asset size exceeding $240 million and a membership base of close to 18,000 individuals. Headquartered in Aberdeen, Washington, the credit union proudly serves a wide range of members residing in Grays Harbor, Pacific, Mason, Lewis, Wahkiakum, Clallam, Jefferson, and Thurston Counties. Committed to its mission, the credit union strives to empower its diverse family of members to achieve their unique financial aspirations and turn their dreams into reality. "At Great NorthWest, our core commitment has always been to fulfill the financial aspirations of our members. Drawing on our rich history of supporting individuals and promoting financial well-being, we continuously seek ways to enhance our services and adapt to the evolving needs of our community," shared Doug Page, CEO of Great NorthWest Federal Credit Union. "Going live on Scienaptic's platform is empowering us to support our members at every step of their journey. Leveraging their advanced AI-driven underwriting platform, we are establishing a seamless, automated underwriting process that is allowing us to approve a greater number of loans, while effectively managing risk and revolutionizing the member experience.” "At Scienaptic AI, we're thrilled to see the positive impact that our credit underwriting technology is having on the financial lives of Great NorthWest Federal Credit Union's members," said Pankaj Jain, President and Co-Founder of Scienaptic AI. "It's an honor to support a credit union that is so dedicated to serving its community and providing access to financial solutions that truly make a difference. Our platform is helping the credit union strengthen its loan underwriting, resulting in faster loan approvals and increased credit access for their community."
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CU*Answers is excited to announce that two additional credit unions will join the MemberPass biometric member authentication pilot: Partnership Financial Credit Union (Morton Grove, IL) and Madison County Federal Credit Union (Anderson, IN). Recently, CU*Answers announced the first of its pilot members, encourage Financial Credit Union Network, whose deployment was initiated in March 2024. In December 2023, CU*Answers integrated MemberPass into its CU*BASE core system. MemberPass, developed by CUSO Bonifii, transforms the member authentication process by eliminating the need for knowledge-based questions, such as mother’s maiden name or partial social security numbers, and instead utilizes secure biometric and digital credential authentication. This enables a bi-directional authentication of the member to their credit union within fifteen seconds or less, all without the necessity of sharing personally identifiable information (PII). This advancement results in a simpler, more secure member experience. MemberPass can authenticate in any credit union channel, including contact centers, in-person interactions, at interactive teller machines (ITMs), online platforms, or within mobile applications. CU*Answers has implemented MemberPass for credit unions across contact centers, branches, and ITMs, with plans to begin development on adding the integration to the It’s Me 247 online and mobile environments by Q4 2024. Geoff Johnson, CEO of CU*Answers, expressed, “We are glad that Partnership Financial and Madison County credit unions could take advantage of the new integration to MemberPass. They can anticipate enhancing their members’ experiences while safeguarding both their members and credit unions from fraud.” John Ainsworth, CEO of Bonifii, remarked, "We are thrilled to extend the comprehensive fraud protection that MemberPass offers to Partnership Financial and Madison County credit unions through CU*Answers, and look forward to adding value to many more CU*Answers clients in the months ahead.” In the upcoming months, CU*Answers will progress beyond the pilot phase and provide all of its clients with the ability to implement this groundbreaking fraud prevention solution. Backbase, the leading Engagement Banking Platform provider, announces today the renewal and expansion of its partnership with Navy Federal Credit Union, the world’s largest credit union with more than 13 million members and $171 billion in assets, proudly serving U.S. veterans, retired service members and active duty in all branches of the armed forces and their family members. Navy Federal Credit Union has strategically embarked on an ambitious multi-year transformation journey by continuing to standardize on Backbase as their engagement layer of choice. This renewal positions Backbase as a platform for member and employee-facing applications, ensuring a seamless banking experience across multiple channels. By adopting the Backbase platform, Navy Federal Credit Union will achieve: Modernization and simplification of the credit union’s existing IT landscape by reducing the number of siloed channel applications. One unified platform, consolidating data, business logic, and workflows into a single, member-centric platform for efficient journey orchestration, benefiting both members and employees. Agility and freedom, enhancing flexibility to swiftly implement business capabilities and adapt to evolving market dynamics. “We are continuously looking for ways to enable our digital transformation,” said Kathy Ward, SVP Digital of Navy Federal Credit Union. “Collaborating with strategic partners like Backbase has been instrumental to our goal of simplifying and enhancing member experiences by utilizing a single platform across digital interactions.” “With this partnership renewal, we’re excited to reaffirm our mutual commitment to revolutionizing digital experiences for Navy Federal Credit Union’s members and employees,” said Jouk Pleiter, CEO of Backbase. “Our decision to extend the partnership was driven by Backbase’s comprehensive engagement platform, which allows us to truly innovate,” says Ward. The partnership between the world’s largest credit union and Backbase represents a significant leap toward modernizing banking. Together, the collaboration emphasizes the importance of long-term, strategic investments in technology to bring true value creation, moving away from legacy systems that hold speed and innovation back. Discover more about the partnership between Backbase and Navy Federal Credit Union, and witness firsthand how they enhance the digital capabilities of the credit union’s members, at the Engage Americas event in Miami (April 23, 2024). More information about this event, speakers and sessions can be found at: https://www.backbase.com/events/engage-2024-americas. TruWest® Credit Union is excited to announce it was named Financial Institution of the Year by Priority Financial Group. This esteemed award underscores TruWest’s commitment to excellence in providing exceptional wealth management services and support to its members. This award was based on the credit union’s highest gross revenue and assets out of all the financial institutions on the platform, with the highest Assets Under Management (AUM) at $452 million. TruWest also experienced the highest growth over the prior year in gross revenue and assets. Due to the rapid growth, in 2023, the credit union added a full-time director position to further expand and support the program. TruWest Credit Union’s advisors have distinguished themselves among their peers, securing the first and third positions out of 46 financial institution advisors. Surpassing 24 other institutions, TruWest’s advisors stand out as leaders in their field, embodying excellence and expertise in serving their members’ financial needs. “We are honored to have TruWest Credit Union as our valued partner,” said PFG’s CEO, Mike Prior. “The organization’s dedication to delivering exceptional service and prioritizing the needs of its members resonates deeply with our own commitment to excellence. Congratulations to TruWest on this well-deserved honor.” PFG provides turnkey compliance, operations, and sales support to over 20 financial institutions using Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and AssetMark platforms. TruWest is the number one financial institution in total revenue, assets, and clients. The relationship between TruWest and PFG has grown year over year since 2005. Abby Johnson, VP of Finance and the internal program executive at TruWest has guided the team to outstanding service levels while the Advisors manage $452M in AUA with 1774 clients. Even more impressive is that 87% of gross revenue is from advisory business. “This accolade is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire team at TruWest Credit Union,” said Johnson. “We are deeply honored to be recognized as a Financial Institution of the Year by Priority Financial Group. It reaffirms our ongoing commitment to delivering superior financial solutions and unparalleled service to our members.” TruWest Credit Union remains steadfast in its mission to empower members to achieve their financial goals and dreams. This prestigious accolade from Priority Financial Group serves as motivation to further elevate its offerings and continue delivering exceptional value to its members and communities. For more information regarding TruWest Credit Union, please visit truwest.org. PSCU/Co-op Solutions, the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO) and an integrated financial technology solutions provider, has announced the launch of its new digital lending suite, Origination Solutions, in partnership with Amount. The suite of offerings is currently in the pilot phase with two credit unions, and PSCU/Co-op Solutions is now accepting early adopters interested in offering their members this cutting-edge, innovative experience. Today’s consumers expect immediacy and a frictionless experience, especially around less complex and higher frequency products. Yet digital account opening and credit card loan origination are both currently associated with a number of challenges, including a lack of automation, fraud, integration obstacles and outdated technology. Origination Solutions solves for these barriers through an automated process with secure transactions and seamless integration with multiple systems to power instant decisioning, ultimately creating a better member experience. “Many credit unions have modernized their in-branch and contact center processes to meet member demand for immediacy, but other experiences still lag behind,” said Denise Stevens, EVP, chief product officer for PSCU/Co-op Solutions. “This state-of-the-art technology provides a loan origination and account opening experience cardholders have come to expect, and it helps credit unions win member share and stay competitive in the modern, digital-first landscape.” Origination Solutions supports an end-to-end seamless experience, including digital credit card with new account origination services. Features of the solution suite include:
Through PSCU/Co-op Solutions’ partnership with Amount, enabling a digital-first credit card application experience is simple. The streamlined integration enables a quick-to-market solution – from hosted products such as mobile and online card management to a suite of custom APIs. To learn more about Origination Solutions, visit pscu.com/origination-solutions. Credit unions can also reach out to PSCU/Co-op Solutions’ Emerging Services team, which is dedicated to the next phase in the company’s ongoing commitment to innovation and research and development (R&D) on behalf of its credit unions. Engage fi, a leading consulting firm guiding banks and credit unions through technological advancements and strategic decision making, is pleased to announce the appointment of Fabio Biasella to Director of Strategic Services. Biasella brings a wealth of expertise and strategic vision that align with Engage fi’s commitment to delivering valuable guidance to its client partners. In this pivotal role, Biasella will spearhead efforts to enhance client strategy and board planning which will include consultations, scenario planning, and executive roadmap development to influence organizational direction, setting clients up for future growth and success. He will also provide comprehensive merger & acquisitions support, conduct client performance benchmarking, and drive thought leadership initiatives. Biasella joins Engage fi with over 30 years of experience in retail banking with a focus on strategic and financial analysis. With a distinguished background having previously led Strategic Advisory Services for Raddon for over 16 years and executive-level positions at several high-performing financial institutions, Biasella is renowned as an industry thought leader. With an extensive background spanning over 200 board management and strategic planning sessions, he has been instrumental in driving the development of plans and innovative solutions that have maximized value for financial institutions. Biasella is a frequent keynote speaker and presenter at national credit union and bank events and a quoted thought leader and commentator in leading industry publications. “We are thrilled to extend a warm welcome to Fabio as he joins the Engage fi team,” said Andres Pasantes, President & Chief Operations Officer at Engage fi. “His industry knowledge and strategic expertise combined with his passion for driving growth will further strengthen our client partnerships.” With the increasing demand for strategic services, Biasella and the Engage fi team are poised to provide unparalleled support and direction to banks and credit unions striving to compete in the evolving financial landscape. For more information about Engage fi and its services, please visit: Engagefi.com. Eltropy, the leading AI-powered conversations platform for community financial institutions (CFIs), today unveiled the speaker lineup for its annual EMERGE 2024 user conference. The three-and-a-half day event, taking place May 14-17 in Santa Clara, California, brings together the Eltropy, credit union, and community bank communities for learning, fun, and building connections. The action-packed agenda features keynotes, panels and breakout sessions led by innovators from credit unions such as Hughes Federal Credit Union, Magnifi Financial, Eglin Federal Credit Union, STCU, APL Federal Credit Union, Park City Credit Union, Vantage West Credit Union, Alltru Credit Union, and and Natco Credit Union. “EMERGE 2024 is the place for credit unions and community banks to gain a competitive advantage by digging deeper into generative AI’s profound impact,” said Ashish Garg, Co-founder and CEO of Eltropy. “We've brought together industry trailblazers who have real-world CFI experience to share. I’m confident attendees will leave armed with a roadmap for embracing GenAI to drive operational excellence and deepen member engagement.” “Financial institutions now are facing an unprecedented urgency to build deeper, personal connections with their customers and members in a data-centric way,” said Dave Ginsburg, Chief Customer Officer at Eltropy. “However, the pivotal question is: Are all the devices and data truly bringing us closer, or is a trust revolution required? Our members and customers are evolving, and so must our approach to engaging them. These pressing challenges will take center stage at EMERGE 2024.” Sessions at EMERGE will dive into hot topics such as:
“Understanding Eltropy's vision and having them listen to our needs is invaluable," said Mary Burruel, VP of Product Management at Hughes Federal Credit Union. “But the real magic happens when you connect with peers facing similar challenges. That's why EMERGE is a can't-miss event.” Registration is now open with early bird pricing available. View the agenda and secure your spot at eltropy.com/emerge-2024 to experience the future of financial services firsthand. Origence, the leading lending technology solutions provider for credit unions, announces Chris Gerdes as a keynote speaker for its Lending Tech Live ’24 conference, scheduled June 25-27, 2024, at the Marriot Marquis in San Diego, California. Gerdes’ keynote session, “Cars of the Future – Radically Different or a Lot Like Today?” will unravel the complexities of the automotive industry. He will explore the science behind automotive advances, the latest technologies and how they work, what they will deliver to customers, and what challenges remain. Chris Gerdes, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at Stanford University, leads a dynamic laboratory that delves into the intricate world of automotive engineering. His research focuses on understanding how cars move, human driving behavior, and the design of future vehicles that can collaborate seamlessly with drivers or even operate autonomously. He has also served as the first Chief Innovation Officer at the U.S. Department of Transportation, shaping the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy, and representing the Department on the National Science and Technology Committee Subcommittee on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. “Chris has a very fascinating background and deep insight into the automotive space. We are thrilled to have him share his unique perspective at Lending Tech Live,” said Phil DuPree, chief revenue officer for Origence. “His groundbreaking work in automotive engineering, coupled with his passion for innovation, assures a noteworthy session for all attendees at Lending Tech Live ’24 as credit unions continue to expand their involvement in the automotive lending industry.” Lending Tech Live ’24 will mark Origence’s 30th anniversary and will include opportunities for attendees to help celebrate the milestone. Following a record-breaking year in 2023 with the highest attendance ever, Lending Tech Live ’24 stands as the leading lending conference in the credit union industry. It offers valuable professional insights, educational sessions, and top-tier networking opportunities. This conference delves into cutting-edge tools and technologies that influence the lending landscape, providing expert guidance on best practices, lending strategies, emerging trends, research, and more. To view the full list of speakers or to learn more about registration opportunities, visit the Lending Tech Live website. NCR Atleos Corporation (NYSE: NATL) (“Atleos”), a leader in expanding self-service financial access for financial institutions, retailers and consumers, today announced that $3.3 billion-asset Arizona Financial Credit Union (AZFCU) has selected Atleos’ ATM as a Service (ATMaaS) to increase operational efficiencies within the self-service banking channel while improving the member experience. AZFCU has been serving consumers and small businesses throughout Arizona for nearly 90 years. As many of the credit union’s ATMs were reaching end of life, AZFCU evaluated how to provide strong self-service experiences while supporting ongoing growth now and into the future. The credit union ultimately selected Atleos’ ATMaaS solution, trusting the experts at NCR Atleos to manage the distribution, installation, maintenance and cash management of its fleet. “This is an exciting time for AZFCU as we continue to grow our membership and expand into new areas across the state. We needed a way to support this scale with added operational efficiencies and a robust member experience,” said Chad Forkenbrock, EVP & Chief Operating Officer of AZFCU. “With Atleos’ ATMaaS, we will be able to bring new functionality, faster innovation and greater reliability and uptime to our members while also benefitting from the predictable cost structure and more time to focus on strategic growth plans.” “As business priorities shift, financial institutions like AZFCU are recognizing the value that relying on trusted partners to run the ATM fleet brings,” explained Diego Navarrete, executive vice president, Global Sales for Atleos. “By outsourcing the management and maintenance of the critical self-service channel to Atleos, AZFCU will be able to lower costs and focus greater resources on digital and growth priorities.” Nook (www.nook-inc.com), a pioneer bringing relationship-based banking back to credit unions, is thrilled to unveil a significant milestone in its journey: a strategic investment from Dort Financial Credit Union, one of its earliest clients. With Dort Financial's investment, Nook is proud to announce its transformation to a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO). “We are excited to join Nook as an investor and CUSO owner,” stated Brian Waldron, CEO of Dort Financial Credit Union. “Nook’s solution will change the way credit unions interact with their members in today’s digital world and reestablish credit unions as leaders in relationship-driven banking. We look forward to supporting Nook in their mission to help credit unions succeed. In addition to Dort Financial’s investment, Nook received investment from four other investors to close out its pre-seed investment round. The infusion of capital from Nook’s pre-seed investors will accelerate Nook’s ability to execute on its mission to bring relationship-based banking back to credit unions. By becoming a CUSO, Nook further cements its commitment to the credit union industry and its members. “It’s incredible to have an innovative credit union like Dort Financial believe in your vision and take the leap of faith to join you as a client and help pilot your solution,” said Austin Wentzlaff, Co-Founder & CEO of Nook. “It’s even more amazing to witness their immediate success with your platform and have them become the inaugural CUSO owner. We built Nook to solve a very specific problem in the credit union industry, and becoming a CUSO was always a part of the plan. We are beyond excited to have Dort Financial advance us in that direction.” As Nook continues its journey as a CUSO, it plans to take on more credit union ownership as it remains dedicated to reshaping the credit union landscape, fostering stronger relationships between credit unions and their members, and driving innovation within the industry. |
Author: Mike LawsonMarried to a most gorgeous and wonderful wife, raising 5 kiddos (including twins!), enjoy helping others tell their stories, and love surfing SoCal waves. Keep it simple. Archives
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