A text from your credit union should look different from a text from a stranger pretending to be your credit union, and until now it mostly hasn’t.
Eltropy, the agentic AI platform for credit unions and community banks, just launched Branded Texting to change that, pairing carrier-verified identity with richer, tappable messages.
The product runs on Rich Communication Services (RCS), the upgraded messaging standard that now works on Apple iOS and Google Android across major U.S. carriers. That puts Branded Texting within reach of nearly 9 in 10 U.S. phones. Members see a verified business profile on messages from their institution, plus easier ways to respond and act.
Texting is already a habit, which is the whole point. CTIA counted nearly 2.2 trillion texts exchanged by Americans in 2024. Financial institutions lean on that channel for payment reminders, loan updates, appointments and support. Branded Texting layers on verified profiles, images, interactive cards, carousels and tap-to-act buttons.
The timing comes down to reach. Juniper Research estimates that the share of North American mobile devices able to receive RCS business messages jumped from 40.3% in 2024 to 86.5% in 2025. “That broader reach creates an opportunity for credit unions and community banks to offer more capable digital interactions within the messaging apps consumers already use,” said Dibyendu Roy, Senior Director, Products at Eltropy.
Ashish Garg, Eltropy’s Co-founder and CEO, framed it as a matter of fairness. “Texting works because it fits into people’s lives. Branded Texting is a game changer because it builds on that familiarity with verified identity and a much richer experience,” he said. “Credit unions and community banks ask consumers to verify their identity every day. Consumers deserve that assurance in return.” A carrier-verified profile helps people recognize a message as genuinely from their institution, while rich content and clear buttons make the next step obvious, all inside the app they already use.
The fraud numbers show why that assurance matters. The Federal Trade Commission says consumers reported losing $470 million in 2024 to scams that started with a text message. Fake fraud alerts, warning of suspicious purchases or account trouble, were among the most frequently reported schemes. Institutions pay too: LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ 2025 True Cost of Fraud study found that every $1 of fraud loss cost U.S. financial services firms $5.75 in total.
Eltropy handles a thorough carrier-verification process that ties the institution’s identity to its displayed name, logo and business profile. The goal is to help members tell their trusted institution apart from impersonators, as a complement to the fraud controls already in place rather than a replacement for them.
The richer format also upgrades the lending, payment, collections and service conversations institutions already run through Eltropy. Messaging compliance rules still apply, backed by Eltropy’s existing consent, opt-out and audit controls. Branded Texting stays tied to the institution’s established service and authentication workflows. When RCS isn’t available, messages fall back automatically to SMS, though that fallback carries neither the verified profile nor the interactive features.
Next up: watch how quickly credit unions and community banks adopt it, whether members come to treat the verified profile as a trust signal, and how scammers respond as RCS reach keeps growing.