In a revealing episode of the FIsionaries™ podcast, Grant Karsas, VP of Digital Experience at Travis Credit Union, shared detailed insights into the credit union’s journey through digital transformation, highlighting their innovative digital banking solutions and digital account opening solutions.
It's clear that financial institutions of all sizes must become truly customer-centric to compete in a very crowded marketplace. Travis Credit Union provides a model case study for using data-driven personalization, fintech integrations, and member journey enhancements to stand out.
- Jim Marous, Host of the FIsionaries Podcast
Founded in 1951, Travis Credit Union has grown substantially, both in membership and in assets. As one of California’s largest credit unions, Travis CU supports more than 245,000 members and manages nearly $5B in assets. Karsas credits the credit union’s continuous commitment to community and deepening member relationships, particularly through embracing digital channels, as key to their retail banking solutions’ success.
Travis Credit Union faces a highly competitive landscape in California, with major banks and fintech firms vying for account holders. Karsas highlighted the credit union’s approach to differentiation: focusing on member-centric technology and strategic partnerships, emphasizing their business banking solutions and treasury management solutions.
A key to Travis Credit Union’s success has been their thoughtful approach to choosing technology partners, ensuring new features align with member needs and expectations, and enhancing their online banking platform.
We have to always have the next thing ready up in line...we need to be cognizant of the things...of how we are bridging that gap of bringing that trust and level of service into the digital extension.
- Grant Karsas, Travis Credit Union
Karsas’s background in traditional banking, starting with Wells Fargo, laid the foundation for his understanding of consumer challenges and the need for financial literacy. His pivot to fintech with HelloWallet (now a KeyBank company) marked a significant shift towards leveraging technology to provide accessible financial guidance, a cornerstone of consumer banking solutions.
We don't need to have billions of dollars in budget to be able to give just as good of digital experiences to our members (as a top 5 bank). We just have to go about it in a different way - the build versus buy decision is a huge question for us in the credit union space. But it's more so on how are we partnering with the right vendors to bring in the right technology and experiences that we can provide to our members because their expectations are through the roof now with the growth of digital account opening and account origination solutions.
- Grant Karsas, Travis Credit Union
Adopting new technologies isn’t just about implementation; it’s also about engagement. Karsas shared how they measure the success of their digital banking platform, focusing on adoption, engagement, and operational metrics.
Karsas underscored the importance of aligning digital initiatives with financial services marketing efforts. By coordinating with the marketing team, they ensure members are kept aware and can take advantage of new digital services, leveraging financial services marketing automation.
The recent economic conditions, especially inflation, posed unique challenges for Travis Credit Union. These external factors impacted not only the cost of technology upgrades but also influenced strategic decisions about technology partnerships and implementations.
Looking ahead, Karsas is focused on continuously innovating and adapting to member needs. The credit union is exploring more personalized banking experiences, leveraging data analytics in banking to enhance trust and engagement in their digital services.
Travis Credit Union serves as a valuable model for other credit unions and community banks aiming to enhance their digital capabilities while remaining true to their core mission of serving members and account holders.
Listen to this episode of FIsionaries for the full story of how Travis Credit Union is navigating through the complexities of digital transformation in today’s competitive financial landscape.
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