How Digital Events May Change the Credit Union Industry

Credit union professionals have always presumed webinars, online education courses and other virtual events would never be able to replace the in-person conferences that yield so many benefits such as networking with, listening to, and learning from industry experts and colleagues.

And then came the COVID-19 crisis, which led to the cancellation of dozens of industry conferences following the state-by-state declarations of emergency and lockdowns that began taking place less than a month after CUNA’s 2020 Governmental Affairs Conference concluded on Feb. 27.

All of a sudden, webinars, online education courses and virtual events became a critical lifeline for credit union executives learning how to manage through the new complexities of a national pandemic that has created the worst health and economic crisis in decades. And like the coronavirus, these new web tools – and others bound to come online in the future – are expected to change the industry forever. Moreover, this massive digital transformation is serving as a wakeup call for credit unions to invest more resources in the digital solutions consumers are relying on to meet their financial needs during the pandemic.

Although NAFCU COO Anthony Demangone noted that in-person conferences will always produce great value, particularly for personal networking, the ever improving virtual experience will enable trade groups to reach and serve more people.

“We’re actually looking at some other virtual conference platforms, which might be an interesting way of the future,” Demangone said. “Some of the new technologies might be able to bridge that gap between people who travel to conferences and people who don’t. So it’ll be exciting to see how this virtual technology develops moving forward. We’re going to look at everything and do what’s best for our members.”

That could be welcoming news, particularly for small credit unions that may have found it difficult to shell out money for travel, hotel, meals and conference expenses. The average business trip in 2019 cost nearly $1,300, and that number is expected to climb in the years ahead, according to a report by Runzheimer, a Waterford, Wis.-based workforce management firm.

NAFCU is leveraging virtual technology to reach all credit union executives and board members by making its June 25 “State of the Industry” event complimentary.

Demangone said the NAFCU board decided it was important to help as many credit unions as possible so the industry can stay strong during and after the health and economic crisis.

The virtual event will explore new and upcoming trends in lending, consumer spending and other critical indicators, and how these trends can impact credit unions and their strategic plans. In addition to updates from NAFCU’s regulatory compliance and government affairs team, the virtual event will feature real-time polling of participants to enable a discussion about what is top-of-mind among credit union executives across the nation.

At the end of the day, the event will hold a virtual networking happy hour, which NAFCU described as a unique video networking opportunity that will allow participants to connect with peers in small groups and facilitate discussions. NAFCU staff will drop by as many networking rooms as possible.

The trade group also launched an ambitious 22-event virtual roadshow webinar series this month, which will cover all 50 states and U.S. territories. During each state- or region-specific event, NAFCU executives and staff will lead discussions on how the current crisis has impacted the industry, what credit unions can expect from a regulatory and legislative perspective in the coming months, and tailored strategies for each state or region.

Since the pandemic began, NAFCU has seen demand for its online offerings increase by more than 50%, and it has already produced more webinars than what the trade group had planned for the entire year.

Lately, its webinars have focused on reopening branches, personal protective equipment protocols, teleworking policies, the Paycheck Protection Program, operations, collections and compliance. Demangone noted that NAFCU’s compliance team answers more than 1,000 compliance questions a month.

CUNA has also seen explosive growth in its diversified portfolio of web-based offerings, including e-schools, webinars and online training programs.

“Since probably the GAC, we’ve offered multiple different webinars that are COVID-related, and demand for those webinars has been extremely high,” Todd Spiczenski, CUNA’s chief products and services officer, said. “In addition to the COVID stuff, there’s this channel of compliance that I think we’ve updated on 19 different COVID-related compliance regulations that immediately got pushed out to credit unions through all of those different digital channels, whether it’s through our compliance management system platform, a webinar, an updated online course or other digital channels.”

In 2019, more than 43,000 credit union employees from over 1,200 credit unions completed

465,687 of CUNA’s Professional Development Online courses and exams. As credit unions have migrated to more digital training solutions, the trade association has seen an 11% increase in usage in online courses and exams since March.

In addition, 8,867 staff members from more than 1,600 credit unions viewed 95,206 CUNA webinars, audio and eSchool programs in 2019. Since March, CUNA reported a 15% increase in similar webinar usage.

The CUNA compliance community has 5,866 users representing 2,126 individual credit unions and leagues, which have already contributed nearly 35,000 posts. The traffic on all of CUNA’s online communities has increased substantially since March.

COVID-19-specific podcasts that featured CUNA experts and industry leaders drew more than 4,000 downloads. CUNA also collated and created 19 courses around COVID-related topics.

Some specific topics that have been popular included how to keep members engaged through the pandemic, how to salvage strategic plans, how to keep work-from-home employees engaged, how to make sure they are ready to return to work once branches and other offices gradually reopen, how to keep employees and members safe in the workplace, and how to hire and onboard new employees virtually.

Also gaining a lot of attention from credit unions are topics around financial health and financial counseling.

“As consumers are now dealing with the economic downturn and the challenges of not being at work, there’s obviously an impact on how they handle and manage their finances,” Spiczenski said. “We’re seeing a pretty strong uptick from credit unions looking for resources related to financial health, financial counseling. We just did a webinar in conjunction with the National Credit Union Foundation dealing with financial health and empathy during this challenging time that was attended by well over 600.”

While the demand for webinars, online training and education is expected to remain high for at least as long as the pandemic remains, Demangone pointed out that the health and economic crisis has accelerated digital trends at credit unions.

“I think you are going to see a rush to esignatures and other really good digital solutions,” he said.

For example, the $903 million Marine Credit Union in La Crosse, Wis., decided recently to close half of its 37 branches to make way for significant investments in digital banking to serve members’ evolving demands for improved convenience, self-service and availability.

Despite the pandemic and a recession, the credit union has seen a 25% growth in assets driven by increased member savings and loans, including a record loan volume in May, notwithstanding the temporary closure of all of its branches.

“Marine Credit Union’s five-year strategic plan included significant investments in digital services for our members as a result of increased preferences toward mobile and online banking shown by the industry at large and our membership specifically,” Marine President/CEO Shawn Hanson said. “This trend accelerated during COVID. Habits have formed; consumers have spoken. Our ability to adapt quickly allows us to better serve members now and into the future.”

Hanson said the credit union will invest more than $3 million in operating expenses per year in digital technology and talent.

Because many members had to stay at home during the COVID-19 crisis, they were looking for digital and remote tools to manage their financial needs.

Since the beginning of the health crisis, Marine said it approved more than 1,000 “completely digital consumer loans” and completed a fully digital CD special, which provided a premium interest rate to members.

Some of its new digital services will be introduced this month with an interactive chat feature on the credit union’s website, and in July, Marine plans to launch digital account opening for all new deposit accounts.

The credit union also installed its first “smart ATM,” which will be able to handle nearly 90% of all member transactions. Plans are in place to install smart ATMs at the branches by the end of this year.

The credit union will permanently close 18 branches in July, which means 13 leadership positions will be eliminated. However, 97% of employees will remain employed.

Hanson estimated the branch closures will save $4 million annually.

The remaining 19 branches will operate with “streamlined hours to align with member needs,” the credit union said.

“We are making these changes from a position of strength and because it is the right thing for our members and the future of the business,” Hanson said. “Our goal is to develop a more efficient branch structure and organization for the long-term, so we can serve more people in our communities, provide better products and services, and further our mission of advancing lives. We will emerge stronger and more resilient for our team, members and communities.”