Evolving Credit Union Branches with the Power of Technology

These days, more people would rather take care of their banking needs digitally rather than make the effort to go out to a branch. At the same time, there are still those situations where having human interaction is preferred and necessary. Credit union branches have had to quickly evolve and embrace technology in order to stay relevant, and MiniBranch has been helping credit unions do just that!

Our Co-Founder Sarah Snell Cooke sat down with Co-Founder/Director of Business Development at MiniBranch Albert Howard to discuss how credit unions can use technology to improve their branch and digital experiences. They also talk about how we can keep the credit union movement going forward.

Read the full transcript:

Disclosure: Transcript is automatically generated

Sarah Cooke 00:03
Hello and welcome everybody to The Credit Union Connection. I am Sarah Snell Cooke your host, and today with me is Albert Howard. Welcome. Yes,

Albert Howard 00:12
thank you. It's good to be here finally with you, kind of in person, but you know, we will soon be in person, but here we are right now, which is great.

Sarah Cooke 00:21

Absoluteyly, and Albert is the co founder and director of business development for MiniBranch. So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and MiniBranch? Quick, 60 second elevator pitch,

Albert Howard 00:31

yeah, absolutely. So a little bit about me, a little bit about MiniBranch. You know, we have a sister ATM company. It's called A1 ATM, and back in 2020 we had many different credit union partners that were coming to us, and they said, Albert, we like the idea these ITMs, but we do not like the cost of these ITMs. Help us to solve this piece, and we will adopt it. And so we went to the drawing board, 2021 we spent a lot of time, probably the majority of time, really working and developing, creating the idea of the concept. And sure enough, we were that solved the ITM features without the ITM cost. And that was kind of our original use case. 2022, July, we did an official launch, like, let's see how it goes. We did official launch. It went out. We had a first couple of credit union partners that signed on on the software side of MiniBranch, and they said, We love this. Can we start duplicating this and having this connection kind of everywhere? We want it on our website, we want it in print, ads, digital ads? We said, Absolutely, and that's what has led now to MiniBranch being what it is today. It is an all inclusive digital connection and marketing platform built specifically for credit unions. And that's a little bit about MiniBranch, I guess.

Sarah Cooke 01:46

So I find, I find the evolution of the branch fascinating, honestly, like in the olden days, it was like, build it and build it with gothic columns, and build a lot of them. And then it was like, Okay, we need to shrink 70s, 80s, shrink, shrink, shrink, the number of branches and the number of credit unions, which is another thing we will get to. But then with Covid, it was like shrink faster with the branches. And you know, we've we've shifted from tellers to more well rounded service reps, and we've just shifted from a lot of exclusively manual work in the branch to incorporating a lot more technology, yep. And now you're saying the branch is a platform. How's that? Right.

Albert Howard 02:32

Yeah, no, exactly right. Certainly, you know, we would say that the branch isn't solely a platform, but it works in conjunction. So, you know, here at MiniBranch, we don't believe that the branch of the future is just a place, but in conjunction, it is a place and a platform. Right now the credit unions are competing with, you know, banks, maybe even some, a lot of FinTech companies that are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they don't care if your credit union closes early on Wednesday or, you know, it closes early days of the week, like they're going to find somewhere to get that account. If that's what they're wanting, is that account. And so what we've done is we've kind of bridged it. Credit unions are, you know, they pride themselves on the personal relationship. I've been a member of a credit union since I was nine years old. Shout out to Moxie Credit Union, Modesto, California. My very first Credit Union Savings Account, I was, I don't know, third grade or something, and so I love, I love credit unions, and that has always been something that they've prided themselves on, is the relationship piece. And what we've done now is we've allowed that relationship piece, that communication, that face to face, that members know, they love, they trust, the folks that you know, approve them when the bank down the road didn't approve them, which is actually what happened to me when I was a little bit older. And so that trust is there. And so what it's doing is it's now providing that connection, that bridge, that no matter where your member is, if they're traveling for work or they're traveling for vacation, if they move because of work or they move because of family, technology, in conjunction with a face to face at the typical brick and mortar branch location. And so no matter where they go now, they're still able to maintain that communication, maintain that relationship. So, yeah, I mean, it's just, uh, it's amazing, it's fascinating. But we're certainly not a, you have to be a branch or you have to be virtual. We're like, man, let's put this together. And that is MiniBranch.

Sarah Cooke 04:23

well, and that's one of the things too. I was going to ask about when, when you're in a platform. You know, one of the things people talk a lot about with digital or whatever thinking is, you know, credit unions are known for that human touch, and how do you do that in a platform?

Albert Howard 04:40
You said, How do you do that? How?

Sarah Cooke 04:42
How do you do that in a platform? Oh,

Albert Howard 04:44

yeah. Naslus, how do you do that in platform? No. I mean, obviously you've got, you've got the ability to have video chat, right? So here you are. You're able to have video chat. You and I, I don't think we've ever actually even met in person. We've been at some of the same locations, kind of at the same time, in different parts of it, but you and I, I mean, when we, when we see each other in person the first time, it's going to be like, we felt like we've known each other forever because of all of the technology, because all the different virtual, you know, video, face to face interactions that we've had together. And so it provides that piece to be able to maintain and nurture that relationship with the people, in this case, that they know, that they love, that they trust. If I met, you know, I could go down to my credit union that's literally probably a half a mile from where I am right now. And I went in there, and I started talking to them. I love them. Great folks, all of them shout out to Spero Financial in this case. And if I we, you know, go in there. I know many of the folks and I move now for whatever reason, let's say we move towards, I don't know, Disney World. We spent a lot of time over there. My wife and boys love it. I do too, you know, to be transparent, not just them, but you know, if we move to near Orlando, right there, where Disney World is, and I'm no longer able to go in and to see the people that I know, that I love, I trust, open my account, you know, took care of me everything that I needed. And, man, if I'm able to see them just like this, they'll still maintain that communication. I've got the personality where I don't need to have to see them in person, like, I just love people. I just love people in general. And so that's certainly what this allows it to do. MiniBranch provides that piece where you're able to do those things like, you know, I can remember working inside of the branch. I had many different members that would be working the same time, they wouldn't be able to come into the branch during banking hours to come and see me or come talk to me. And so now with you know, features and functionalities that like MiniBranch provides to be able to send documents securely, whether they're there in their break room, 15 minutes, they want to apply for a loan and talk to somebody face to face, this gives the ability for even those that weren't able to have that face to face communication before to now have that face to face communication. And so it's really cool, because it just it expands the overall connection that credit unions are able to have with their members and with their, what I would call their future members as well.

Sarah Cooke 06:57

Yeah. And so this is a great efficiency for, for any credit union, I am sure, which is very important, especially now when you know margins are tight, and you know liquidity is tight, and we, the, where, where, I think in particular, those small credit unions, of course, are being hit. I know you are also a friend to the No Credit Union Left Behind movement. Give them a little shout out to Juan down in Louisiana, right? So you know, how is this? I mean, who's, who's going to get the most benefit out of this as far as the different types of credit unions?

Albert Howard 07:40

Yeah, no, absolutely. So just to be clear and transparent, while I love every credit union of all asset size, I think they're amazing and wonderful, our focus are those, specifically 300 million in assets, and below, that is who we created MiniBranch for. I think given the size of many of these credit unions that are above it, say even above 500 million, multi billion, they have the liquidity, they have the access, they have the tools, they have the resources to go and to be able to splurge, buy a bunch of other things, maybe even build out their own type of platform. But I don't even call them small credit unions. I call them growing credit unions. I think it's a mindset thing, but a lot of these growing credit unions, they were left with one option, and it was to either pay up what many of these competitors in the space were wanting or to miss out. And so for us, that was there was that was not going to be the case anymore. And so it's why we stepped in, why we filled this gap, and why we're doing wildly successful right now, why we have so many, you know, growing credit unions that continue to partner with MiniBranch because that is who this was created for. When you talk about, like, who would be able to see kind of the benefit, who would be able to see that kind of pretty quick? Honestly, the smaller the size of the credit union, the one that sees the quicker ROI. Because I had a credit union I was talking to just the other day. They have four employees. We've got a virtual assistant chatbot that's included with a MiniBranch platform, like included. It's not even, like, piecemeal or, Oh, we're going to show you, you know, here's MiniBranch features and, oh, here's the price point. But you want all these things, we're going to start pricing out. No, it's one price includes everything, and this virtual assistant included for them. Like, how transformative is that for a credit union that's only got three team members, four team members, because right away, on day one, which we roll out in four to six weeks. So we move very quickly, on day one, they're now having that extra virtual assistant chatbot that is working 24 hours a day, seven days a week for them. So it's just, yeah, it's amazing. So I have nothing against the larger financial institutions. We just signed one the other day, $1.8 billion you know, another one a couple weeks ago, 300 and something million in assets. So this can work for any credit union, regardless of asset size. But if you take a look at the marketing or any of the posts that I'm doing, like I love working with those growing credit unions, yeah, and

Sarah Cooke 09:49

that's so refreshing, too, because there's so many vendors that only want to work with the billion dollar credit union, right? And I understand that a lot of them are for profit, and that that's what they gotta do, and I understand that. But, yeah, it's nice to see a business partner actually working to help shore up some of these smaller credit unions. And so, I mean, I've been doing and we have a small credit union, or I'm gonna call her now, growing credit union correspondent, Denise Wymore. And so I know you. You know her, and you're also I've seen you use the the No Credit Union Left Behind hashtag, again. Shout out to Louisiana League. Or excuse me, Luminate. So do you feel like there's a movement within the movement for smaller credit unions? 100% 100%

Albert Howard 10:46

Yeah, absolutely. I love it. I love the collaboration, right? Going back to even the six principle kind of cooperation among cooperatives, I love the cooperation, and I certainly think there's a lot of excitement. And you know, you've got Denise Wymore, but you've got so many other awesome folks, kind of, even alongside Denise as well, that have looked to Denise as being the one that's kind of paving the way and making it honestly, quite frankly, a lot easier for other folks like me and many others. Nancy Wilson, I think there's so many amazing other folks that are out there that are just transforming the way that they're thinking, like, let's embrace the digital transformation rather than running away from it. Let's help kind of equip the credit unions with the tools that they need to succeed. And so, you many things. Let's make charters a little bit easier. Let's help with funding. You know, funding is going to be one of the issues in even creating a credit union. Let's help solve that piece. And so I think you're starting to see just so much more collaboration. You know Juan over there at, you know, Luminate, I want to say Louisiana Credit Union League, but Luminate as well, Abby out there, but you've got so many, even just credit unions in general, that are part of the, what I would, you know, consider and classify as growing credit unions, organizations like CUWLA. I don't know if you've ever been to a CUWLA conference, but if there's anybody watching this, that is a female CEO of that...below, you need to 100% join CUWLA because so you've got great organizations like that. I mean, that didn't even exist five years ago, right? So you're seeing other organizations like this that are popping up, that are there to help each other, build each other up and help it, make sure that they're all succeeding. Here's what I'm using. What are you using? You know? What are the good things about this part, all of these different things that they're able to collaborate. And I just love it. It's, it's very refreshing. And the other certainly is that movement that is happening, and it's happening pretty quick too,

Sarah Cooke 12:38
yeah. And I've just got to point out CUWLA, of course, is female credit union executives under 300 million in assets. And that is what 90% of credit unions,

Albert Howard 12:49

yeah, no, 100% and I think that they're looking at increasing those asset size to 500 million, which is why I bring that up as well. But, yeah, female CEO. So if you're a female CEO, 100% you need to go in CUWLA, C, U, W, L, A, Credit Union Women's Leadership Alliance. Take a look at that. So we're obviously a big fan here. Mm,

Sarah Cooke 13:09

hmm. And so, I mean, one of the things I think we have to, because when Denise first started her De Novo Collective, I was like, why do we need new credit unions? They're already going away, like, why don't we save the ones that we can right? It's currently because, I do believe some credit unions don't need to exist because they no longer are serving their mission. And that's just poor whatever. There's probably, there's some more circumstances, some, you know, I don't even got into that, but, but, you know, now I'm seeing, not only is there, you know, in her group, they, they help preserve credit unions, yeah, that are smaller by finding business partners who help, you know, willing to work with smaller credit unions and things like that, but they also started this new foundation that I spoke with her about a few weeks ago, and that is the biggest hurdle to starting new credit unions, is having that funding, having the capital for the new credit unions. And so one of the things that has happened, instead of, you know, three credit unions, three people applying to start credit unions. Now there's in the upward of 60 I believe it is, trying to start credit unions through the NCUA right now. So do you feel like there's a resurgence, a renaissance of of the true? Because I used to argue that, I would say 10, 15, years ago, I argued the credit unions weren't a movement anymore, because they were, they were nice banks, alright? And I know that's, that's an overgeneralization. I understand to that, because my credit union saved my butt when I was younger, like you said, for sure, but, but, yeah, the the idea that we are now a movement again, I feel like. Uh, where credit unions are, are more into collaborating together. I don't know if you're seeing those trends as well. Yeah, no, absolutely.

Albert Howard 15:07

I mean, you're starting to see that a lot more. I think, you know, one of the things that was lacking for quite some time was just the ability to access that liquidity, to access the funding, like we can, all right, we can get through the paperwork, maybe, right? Like there really was, you know, very few resources, and it seemed like the NCUA was kind of like the primary place. Let's just go there. But for somebody that wanted to, maybe they had an idea, right? Like, you could be a part of an industry, an ATM industry, for instance, like, Hey, do we have a credit union that is focused, that understands the needs of the ATM space, or whatever manufacturer? We've got a ton of manufacturers, even where I am here in South Carolina. Michelin Bosch, many others that, do we have is there a financial institution that understands that, hey, maybe I'm a teacher during the summer time. I don't really have, you know, the pay that's coming in consistently during the summer, as I do during the actual year. And so you see credit unions like Hampton Roads Educators Credit Union, right out of Virginia, that is created serving the members that are there, that understand, hey, during the summer we even have a promotion. I've got to try to think of the name of it off the top of my head, that during the summer you don't even have to make the payments on this loan when you get it out. We start back up in like September, or whatever it is. I may be off on the exact dates, but to be able to create products that are specific to that industry is huge, and are things that the bank down the road, I mean, they don't. They don't, I'm not saying they don't care, but they just that's not, that's not their their mode of operation, that's not their mission, to try to work around the needs of every individual, group or manufacturer, plant or community or church or anything else like that. So to be able to see that there is a need for credit unions, and not only that, but now that process that has otherwise been fairly complicated is starting to have some assistance from those that are saying, hey, let's put this together. This is a good way. Here's here's somebody to help with the core. Here's somebody to help with the marketing. Here's somebody marketing, here's somebody help with the connection piece, here's somebody to help with the funding, like to be able to have all of these resources now in one place, I think we will continue to see that trend going in that direction. That's certainly the hope, that's certainly the prayer. And I think if we continue to stay focused on that mission, I think, yeah, we'll continue to see that. So I think you said a

Sarah Cooke 17:20

couple interesting things there, because you talked about the need for credit unions. And we've all, like all of us in the credit union movement, we like our own echo chamber, like we know there's a need for credit unions, but we don't get that story out right? We talked about that before we got on, on video here. But I think not only is there a need, but now we're seeing from the outside, there's a demand. So it's not just us talking to ourselves anymore. You know, which I felt like what it was my first 20 plus years in credit unions. But now, yeah, we see the demand from from the outside, from the outside, too, and so part of that I'm hoping, might be that we're building a better industry-wide brand for credit unions. Because, you know, we've talked about, and I recently posted on LinkedIn about, you know, credit unions are often an oversight in legislation, you know, certain regulations that aren't from the NCUA. Or, you know, I don't know the media, you know, they all want to talk to the bankers. Or even in the local media want to talk to community banks because everybody knows what a bank is. Right, [but not] credit unions, but we it's our job to educate them and, and so, and there are thousands, if we all did our part in raising our voices. And I say we, because, you know, those of us who are outside credit unions necessarily, although I'm emeritus on my board after I moved still. But those of us, who are, we still care. We still give a damn. We aren't. You know, we aren't outsiders. I would say we're kind of on that tipping point there, but we're real believers in the credit union movement, and to see them not be overlooked in the future, would be very nice. Brand bill. You're biz dev, talk about brand billing for credit unions? Yeah, no.

Albert Howard 19:07

I mean, absolutely. I mean, so, you know, obviously a little bit about, like, even what MiniBranch includes, which is helping these credit unions continue to market, continue to get out there is, not only do we provide, like, live chat and video chat and texting and AI chat bot and those kind of cool things, co-browse, right like these different types of things. But even just, even enhancing the entire marketing of the credit unions as well. What I mean by that is we even create custom quick response codes, so custom QR codes that will launch immediately once scanned, the MiniBranch console, the direct immediate connection piece so that member, or one who's wanting to become a member, they literally can scan that QR code or click the link if they're already on their smartphone. Doesn't make sense for them to scan it, and they're now able to open up their digital branch that is customized to the credit unions. Brand, colors, logo, our team does all of that, so they don't even have to do that. Credit unions don't even have to do that, which is great, because they already all wear so many hats. And then we've got a built in translator, over 100 languages is built in within the platform as well. Sarah, it doesn't matter like what that member or potential members language may be, they could type in whatever language they're most comfortable in and now the credit union, even if the one who answers it is only English speaking, is able to communicate to them in their language, whatever, again, that language may be, so it will immediately translate it on both sides, so they're able to have the same kind of member experience as if they were speaking each other's exact same language. So in the past, it's been like, Hey, we've got, you know, two Spanish speakers here, one is on vacation and one is on lunch, but when they come back from lunch, give us your phone number and call you back, right? Like, it's funny, because we'd even raise our voice, like, thinking that if we talk louder, it'll help them to understand better. And, you know, so that was kind of what it looked like in the past, but now, with tools that MiniBranch is able to provide. It's amazing. A really cool example. We've seen so many different use cases. There's these little ATM coin banks, right? This one is Seaport, Federal Credit Union's, an example of theirs, just little ATM banks. But the really cool thing about this is one, it's got their virtual assistant here, but on the back, it's got the MiniBranch quick response code, that QR code, so literally, whoever they're giving these to, it is like a little branch that's going to them. They can literally just scan that and able to connect immediately from anywhere, live chat, video chat, a chat bot, you know, literally 24/7 is working for them. So even in terms of marketing, we've seen credit unions that are going out there with their logo on the front and their QR code on the sleeve. So as they're out doing business development or community engagement, they're able to hold up, hold up that QR code immediately get scanned. They're able to connect directly to the branch or to open an account, apply for a loan. So it's amazing. It's not even just connection, but it's also the marketing. Everywhere that they go, we're seeing cardboard cutouts of their virtual assistants. Shout out to many that have done that, including Maple Federal Credit Union, Terry County's, many of them cardboard cutouts out of the virtual assistant, Copper Basin, for instance, as well. And so in their branches, or as they're going to schools, they've got this little cardboard cut out. Their cute little virtual assistant that's there just personalizing it, making it fun and reaching the next generation of those it's also going to be opening up accounts, which are in those classrooms as well. So I think, you know, continuing to reach them while they're young as well, and making it fun and demonstrating the credit union difference is all, I mean, all great ways and great things in terms of marketing and branding that we're starting to see now. So it's fun. It's so fun. Sarah, it's so fun. And I want to

Sarah Cooke 22:30

point out too, like, in addition to the brand identity, you all are not only, you know, spreading that around so that people can visually identify a credit union, but they also associated with being high tech, and that's especially important for younger people. And thank you for I never knew it. I never thought about it. What QR code stood for. So thank you for that. Use them. I've made them. Did not even think about what it stood for. Thank you. So as we wrap up, I always let my guests have their final thoughts. You get the last word here. What say you today?

Albert Howard 23:09

Oh, man, let's see if I had to narrow down to a final thought. You know, there's probably two off the top of my head that I would think of, but one, it would be embrace digital transformation. I think for so long, so many have been so scared to embrace it, hesitant. Let's let the others kind of go and test it out before we adopt it. Let them work through everything but, but just embrace it. I mean, the digital transformation that's taking place is absolutely amazing. The connection to be able to translate the language immediately, able to be launched literally, your, your, your branch, the virtual, digital branch presence that MiniBranch is able to help create for you that can be launched from your website, from your ATM fleet, your existing ATMs, any new ATMs, current ATMs, you don't have to upgrade the hardware. MiniBranch is able to launch from it, providing that connection, piece, social media, digital ads, print ads, signage, promotional items, just everything that's going out there that is promoting your credit union. So embrace a digital transformation. It is amazing. Everything, especially as it pertains to MiniBranch, is secure, is encrypted from both sides. So it's just a great way to be able to even send documentation or anything like that. So that would be it. Embrace digital transformation.

Sarah Cooke 24:19
Awesome. Thank you so much. Have a great rest of your day. Albert.

Albert Howard 24:22

Thank you, Sarah, you too.