Credit Union Management

As CUs have entered the commercial arena, they have discovered that the sophisticated world of commercial lending is supported by pretty unsophisticated technology. CUs, used to streamlined processes in consumer and mortgage lending, are finding the world of commercial loan automation to be fragmented and complex. In fact, commercial lending in banking is going through a major evolution. For CUs growing commercial lending individually or via a credit union service organization, automation is ...

Cues Skybox

Truth be told, word of mouth was and is the best marketing. According to the book, The Ultimate Question by Fred Reichheld, customer satisfaction surveys do not cut it. Loyalty is directly related to customers' feelings about recommending you. If they love you (are loyal) they will recommend you. There are two conditions that must be satisfied for a member to make a referral. They must believe that you offer superior value in terms that an economist would understand: price, features, quality,...

Management Network

Lessons Learned: Telecommuting

For seven years School Employees Credit Union of Washington's CU has employed phone representatives who telecommute from home and from remote office locations. Although they have experienced great benefits, there are some challenges CU executives should be prepared for when employing telecommuters. At this time they have two employees working from home. They have had as many as four telecommuters in the past, but found it to be challenging with equipment limitations and mail delivery. They al...

Talent Markets: Key to Promoting From Within?

Open Forum

Small Branches

Most credit unions still have someone around who can remember the days when their organization was a one- or two-person operation. Many credit unions still offer their members a one- or two-person branch to serve a specialized or long-standing segment of their membership. Jenee Rawlings, VP/operations/human resources at $156 million/18,000-member Yolo Federal Credit Union, Woodland, CA, said her credit union's single-employee branch was no less vulnerable than larger branches. Jeff Bassill, V...

General Management

What She Does Best

It would not be a very far stretch to say Patsy Van Ouwerkerk, CCE, began preparing for her ultimate career as the president/CEO of a $1.5 billion credit union in her early childhood. Today, Van Ouwerkerk heads Travis Credit Union in Vacaville, CA. She is one of only 10 women to lead a CU with more than $1 billion in assets. Van Ouwerkerk's previous positions with other CUs have been marked by similar growth-oriented achievements. When Van Ouwerkerk first came to Travis CU in Jun 2002, she wa...

X Marks the Spot

When Vantage Credit Union decided to develop a customer relationship management (CRM) system, it chose to pursue a different path than other organizations have taken in launching CRM programs. Vantage CU is working to create as complete a portrait of its members as possible from information already squirreled away in its own database and related technology solutions. CRM is a highly touted member service and sales solution that sometimes has a hard time getting off the ground and living up to...

Human Resources

Two Teams, One Goal

Credit union service organizations (CUSOs) let credit unions (CUs) offer services not traditionally available to members, such as real estate services or financial consulting. When CUs band together to form a jointly owned CUSO, they capitalize on economies of scale or leverage an expertise (like business lending) that individual CUs would find difficult to provide. In essence, the design construct of the CUSO influences greatly the answers to questions of structure and relationships between ...

Board

No More Vacancies

When selecting directors, you have an important strategic choice. You can strive for excellence, or you can strive for comfort. While many credit unions rightly brag about the diversity of their staff, this is not always true of their boards. Maybe it is time to look for directors who will represent certain segments of the credit union's field of membership, whether of a particular race, gender, national origin or age. If you already have been on the lookout for directors of different backgro...

A Pretty Package

In today's competitive economy, many credit unions (CU) recognize it is not enough to compensate top executives with salary and the same benefits allotted to other employees if they want to retain and attract the best executive talent. Yet, packaging the right benefits in an executive compensation arrangement can be an intricate process. Many variables need to be considered when incorporating components into a fair and appropriate package to benefit both the executive and the CU. Performing e...

By Invitation Only

According to a recent study conducted by the Credit Union Executives Society of board members from nearly 200 credit unions, 53% regularly include their organization's CFO in board meetings, while 70% indicated they ask senior management to tag along with the CEO. Only 19% of credit unions said they invite lower-level employees to board meetings, however. Board members sometimes feel intimidated by the expertise of their staff and constrained from raising questions or making comments, explain...

Hr Solutions

Taste of Victory

Just like professional athletes, employees need to taste victory so they know they are winners and strive to continue to win. Most employees do not have a scoreboard that judges their performance and, in fact, get minimal immediate feedback on their performance. On every athletic team, the coaches not only teach the fundamentals of the game, but they continuously drill home the psychology of winning. If a player thinks he is going to lose before the game is even played, forget it; the game is...

Marketing

Perfect Pitch

A credit union (CU) rewrites its charter or enters a new market, and suddenly public relations (PR) is far more important than it has ever been in the past. A PR consultant can help the credit union put a strategy in place and make sure that the principals understand the function and potential benefits of PR. But others -- both in the CU movement and, not surprising, in the PR field -- feel that outsourcing can create the ideal partnership. Usually there is one person at the PR firm who is de...

Beyond the Numbers

While credit unions regularly publish financial information for members -- federally chartered CUs must publish 20 days after the end of each month, and rules for state chartered CUs may vary -- they are not required to publish the information in a traditional annual report format. But because credit unions are member owned and believe in the importance of financial accountability and transparency, many credit unions do create and produce annual reports. Depending on how a CU uses its annual ...

Cues News

Six Credit Union Leaders Inducted Into Cues Hall of Fame

Cues Institute Grads Climb the Cu Ladder

From The Editor

100 Million Members

While 100 million is little more than an arbitrary number, the serious slowing of CU membership growth is a real concern. The reasons for this decline are many and varied. In an effort to help, CUES recently donated funds to support four initiatives with long-term benefits for CUs and consumers in the US as well as abroad. The largest donation, $50,000, went to the Filene Research Institute, earmarked for R&D on increasing CU membership. The second highest contribution, $25,000, went to B...

P & S

Monitor Fraud and Settle Workplace Conflicts with Cues Ethicsource(Tm)

Cues Webinar to Address Card Fraud Prevention

Avian Flu Policy Added to Members Share

Calendar

Keep Your Finger On the Technology Pulse

Cfo Focus

How Much and When?

Credit union branches need to maintain an optimum level of branch cash. Holding too much cash at the branch sacrifices earning; idle cash earns nothing. Moreover, it may cause safety and security issues. The following procedures calculate the optimum cash reorder point and reorder amount using the most recent general ledger transaction history of the branch cash. 1. Calculate the total deposits for the two-month period. 2. Calculate the total cash actually needed from bank for the past two mo...