CEFCU Partners With Consumer Analytics Startup
The partnership highlights the increasingly interwoven lives of credit unions and fintechs.
Peoria, Ill.-based Citizens Equity First Credit Union (CEFCU) has partnered with consumer analytics startup Stakana to boost member retention and reduce member churn, according to an announcement from the credit union.
Stakana, which is based in Seattle, operates a technology platform that applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to member data in an effort to analyze and predict their behavior.
“As a newer company, finding the right partners as our pilot clients is key, and CEFCU just made sense,” Stakana CEO Nate Derby said. “We are excited to partner with the team at CEFCU to predict which members are considering moving to another credit union or bank and the reasons why, which will allow CEFCU to continue their direct outreach to their members.”
In 2015, Stakana piloted the first version of its platform with five credit unions; in 2017 it expanded its reach to community banks with $100 million to $50 billion in assets. The company said it plans to offer more analytics to financial institutions of all sizes in 2019.
“The mission of analytics at CEFCU is to drive growth, and we’re thrilled to work with partners like Stakana. Their capabilities complement CEFCU’s strengths, and we look forward to our shared success,” CEFCU Assistant VP for Strategy and Analytics Jennifer Flexer said.
Citizens Equity Credit Union has $5.9 billion in assets and about 335,000 members.
The partnership highlights the increasingly interwoven lives of credit unions and fintech, which has made things such as algorithms, machine learning, predictive analytics, cloud computing, blockchain and application program interfaces part of day-to-day operations in many credit unions.
Many have found multiple applications for predictive analytics.
Portland, Ore.-based Mirador, for example, partnered with local credit unions on a platform that uses machine learning and predictive analytics to help credit unions lend to small businesses. CU Revest, a CUSO, helps credit unions manage charged-off debt via predictive analytics based on 21 years’ worth of tracking recoveries on charge-off accounts.
Payments CUSO PSCU recently launched its Linked Analysis system, which uses data science and machine learning to identify linkages, compromises, breaches and common points of purchases in order to predict and mitigate fraud.