New Council White Paper Asks if CUs are Relevant

CUNA Councils
March 9, 2009 | COMMENTS

Credit unions professionals can learn ideas and advice to ensure that credit unions remain relevant in the current marketplace in a new all-CUNA Councils white paper (research paper).

“Are Credit Unions Relevant?” explains that one of the best ways for credit unions to stay relevant is by being member-centric and fully understanding each member’s individual needs. It also addresses the following three factors to help create relevance: do the right thing, know your markets, and differentiation.

The paper also offers this caveat to its credit union readers: “If you’re not offering competitive products and services, you can talk about the credit union philosophy all you want, but it won’t bring people in, or keep them.”

“The public doesn’t really care if you are a credit union or a bank – what they care about is, ‘Can you meet my needs? Can you facilitate my dreams?’ says D. G. Markwell, senior vice president of marketing and business development at MAX Federal Credit Union in Montgomery, Ala. “It’s too easy to wake up every day and do the same thing we did yesterday, last week, last month, last year, and last decade.”

CUNA Council members are entitled to complimentary copies of this white paper; non-members may purchase the white papers for a price of $50 per copy.

The papers are available online in the white paper section of each council site - select the “Cross Council” tab for the paper.