The following blog post was written by c. myers and originally published by CUES on January 2, 2019.
How will you respond?
Imagine a world where member deposits are harder and harder to come by—a world in which slow leaks in the potential deposit pool have become a steady drain. As you imagine that world, the time to think strategically about how you could respond is now, before it actually happens.
People have been moving away from cash and checks as payment methods for years and it’s no surprise that the trend is more pronounced with younger age groups. At the same time, the available alternatives for payments have been exploding. Consider the ways in which the following could stealthily shift significant funds away from credit unions in the long term:
Credit unions have been wrestling with ways to keep members from straying too far. Person-to-person payments are an example of the conundrum this represents. P2P platforms cost money but are thought to build relationships and keep members engaged. They may even prevent members from shifting some of their deposits away from the credit union. But are the trade-offs worth it?
The following strategic thinking exercise is a thought-provoking way to explore possibilities and test drive the future so that decisions can be made swiftly and with confidence when the future suddenly arrives. For this to be effective, ask your team to really put themselves into the future, think deeply and be as specific as possible when answering the questions.
Imagine it is 2025 and 20 percent of deposit funds have drained away: