Amplify CU's 'Tech-Forward' Roots Fit Well With New Apple Watch Feature

Austin, Texas-based Amplify Credit Union is rolling out a new offering that lets members monitor their accounts via Apple Watch, highlighting growing interest in many parts of the industry in providing members with digital access beyond traditional desktop and smartphone-based platforms.

The credit union’s Apple Watch feature gives members view-only access to transaction history for up to 20 Amplify accounts, Chief Experience Officer Stacy Armijo told CU Times. Members can view the last 10 transactions for each of those accounts, she said.

“Our concept with this is if you’re using Apple Pay to make a purchase, maybe you want to check your balance before you do that. So if you don’t have to take out your phone to be able to use Apple Pay, why are we going to make you take out your phone to be able to check your balance/?” she said.

The credit union, which has $995 million in assets, serves about 60,000 members. Many of them are pretty tech savvy, Armijo said.

“Our heritage as a credit union is the IBM Texas Employees Credit Union. So we have a lot of folks who are into technology among our membership, and we’re headquartered in Austin, Texas. None of those things hurts with being kind of a tech-forward credit union,” she explained.

“Most credit unions are coming from a place where digital is still ‘the new kid.’ And I wouldn’t say digital is any way the new kid for today’s consumer,” Armijo added.

The Apple Watch feature, which Armijo said has been in the works since last fall, was developed in partnership with a third-party digital solutions provider. However, the credit union also has an in-house software development team of four people, and that has provided an important advantage, she noted.

“Our team today is spending most of their time understanding the large systems that we work with and configuring those systems to work best for us in a way that is scalable and sustainable,” Armijo said.

It’s reasonable for credit unions to be wary of building in-house digital solutions that are so customized that they don’t scale or can’t be supported over time, but depending solely on off-the-shelf solutions carries its own risks, she warned.

“All these vendors are going to tell me that it all looks the same, but we all know it doesn’t, and it doesn’t all function the same. And on the back end, it definitely doesn’t all function the same,” she said. “So I think if a credit union is believing that they can deploy technology without having technology expertise in house, I think that’s not a wise direction. Now, does that expertise have to actually build custom solutions and support that for you? No. But do they have to understand the solutions that they’re working within and tailor it for your members, and make it make sense for your strategy? Definitely, because there’s a million and one design decisions that you can make, even with your vendor partners.”