AFCU members have given the application very positive reviews; thus far, it has earned a 4.5-plus star rating in the Apple and Android app stores. Among the factors contributing to the high degree of member satisfaction, according to the credit union, is Helios' native cross-platform framework, which means delivers a stable and optimized device, providing AFCU members with a full-feature digital banking experience on tablets and mobile phones. KIVA's integration technology enables the credit union to move, exchange and translate data from disparate systems – third party and in-house services – in real-time. This ensures that all information displayed in AFCU's mobile banking application is accurate and up-to-date after every member transaction.

The positive feedback also stems from Helios framework's capability to integrate the best of mobile banking functionality with the best of personal financial management tools, permitting members to become financially strong.

"Above all, we're excited to see such a positive response from AFCU's members because it means these members are getting direct financial guidance within the app," Nate Gardner, chief customer officer at MX, said. "This perfectly matches the MX mission, which is to empower the world to be financially strong. We're delighted to partner with AFCU and KIVA to this end."

KIVA has also built several additional back-end features for AFCU that have surpassed the credit union's expectations for data integration and access. For example, KIVA helped connect AFCU's fraud and session monitoring tool with the mobile application. The data exchange gives the credit union an early advantage on fraud detection and troubleshooting.

"At AFCU, member experience is far more than a mission statement, it's a fundamental investment that contributes to members' financial well-being as well as sustains the institutions' growth," Tina Baker, CEO, KIVA Group, said. "This mobile application exemplifies the credit union's commitment to providing smooth interactions and the highest degree of excellence with every contact. The integration infrastructure and features that KIVA Group are providing are the 'bones' of what's going on behind the scenes, making it possible for AFCU to plug virtually any data source into the application to provide a robust mobile experience that can easily evolve to members' needs."

KIVA's service-oriented architecture normalizes the messages between disparate systems allowing interactions to occur without forcing changes on those systems. The underpinning of the normalized messaging is the Credit Union Financial eXchange (CUFX) standard, with micro-services performing the translation between the normalized messages and disparate systems. Credit unions gain the ability to move and exchange data in real time between all the systems that support their various interaction channels, as well as easily manage and change business processes outside of the integration layer.