Reclaiming our Relevance Qorus-Infosys Finacle Banking Innovation Awards 2024

This initiative was much more than branding, the process reinvigorated KSCU’s commitment to its credit union and cooperative principles while simultaneously sparking renewed enthusiasm and engagement amongst employees and members. KSCU reached out and shared their journey.

Focus on value The central theme was value: the value of community banking, the value of credit union and cooperative principles, the value of the credit union’s collective intelligence, and the value of technology. This theme of value feeds into the credit union’s strategic objectives:

• Resilience through employee engagement: encouraging active participation and providing the right tools to ensure employees can provide value to members and the credit union.

• Relevance by growing membership: attracting and retaining members through a strong value proposition, innovative products, and excellent service. This includes reaching out and working with the local college to attract and hire new Canadians.

• Sustainability through financial stability: focusing on growth and efficiency to ensure the credit union can deliver sustained value.

The new brand KSCU recognized that the best way to reflect these values in a new brand was to tap into the extensive knowledge and enthusiasm of its own staff. The KSCU marketing team rose to the challenge, taking on the entire development and design of the new brand. The resulting crest, KSCU Manager of Brand Development and Community Engagement Aron Burke explained, is more than a logo; it is a promise.

The logo celebrates the community and the credit union’s long history in that community while also recognizing life’s ups and downs and promising to help guide members through challenges to ‘reach the peak.’ Proudly local, the logo also signals an ongoing commitment to serve the community. Burke reported that KSCU has received feedback on the new logo: “it feels ‘Kootenay’ to me.” Along with the new crest, KSCU adopted a new tagline: “your path. our purpose.” This new tagline embodies the credit union’s values and commitment to supporting members and the community along their entire journey, while also serving as a touchstone to guide employees’ relations with members.

In these relationships and in its products, the credit union also promises transparency, with the core commitment: No Games. No Gimmicks. No Gotchas. Burke explained that any new product will be guided by this commitment. Bushore added that too much small print, balloon payments, and too many games confuse and frustrate consumers. KSCU’s goal is to be transparent, clearly describing the value members receive and the additional benefits they can gain by conducting more business with the credit union.

Marketing KSCU is grounding design elements in the community, with marketing materials featuring natural scenes from the Kootenays, local landmarks, and real-life situations, with employees, members, and partners from the community.

Innovative mortgage product Last summer, KSCU introduced an innovative, new mortgage product.

The rationale The Three Summits Mortgage was developed in response to the current economic challenges facing members and the broader community.

Burke explained that the credit union was looking to create tangible value for mortgage borrowers and leaned on the extensive experience of KSCU’s staff to determine what borrowers want and need in a mortgage product. The new product incorporates an operating account, rewards, discounts, and savings to build long-term value and thus long-term loyalty rather than time-limited perks or a chance to win.

This process of seeking input from credit union staff and tasking the KSCU marketing team with product development ensured the new mortgage reflected both the credit union’s values and the needs of the local community. Furthermore, the opportunity for the staff to work together and contribute to the product excited enthusiasm and strong support across all employees.

It was the development of this new mortgage product, with its focus on tangible value plus the enthusiastic support of staff, that pushed KSCU to re-examine its brand. This product creation process provided the template for KSCU’s rediscovery of its strong co-operative and community roots which formed the basis of the credit union’s new brand, while the new logo created for the Three Summits Mortgage was the launching pad for the credit union’s new brand and crest.

The mortgage The Three Summits Mortgage helps mortgage borrowers earn and save money, while providing competitive mortgage rates with “no gotchas and no gimmicks.” The mortgage provides borrowers three important benefits:

Cash back: • The amount depends upon the amount of the mortgage and the term. For example, members can receive $3,500 on a $500,000 five-year fixed term mortgage, of which $500 is made immediately available, with the balance deposited in a Kootenay Saver term deposit.

• This redeemable savings product is intended to provide members with a ‘rainy day’ fund and earns higher interest.

• While funds are not locked in, any withdrawals within the first 90 days do not earn interest. Minimum withdrawals of $500 are allowed as long as the balance remains above $500. Members can choose other KSCU term deposits.

High interest chequing account: • The interest is paid on a tiered basis, with the highest rate paid on the lower balances: six per cent on balances of $5,000 or less; 3.5 per cent on balances between $5,000.01 and $15,000; 0.5 per cent on balances over $15,000. The second and third tiers are subject to change.

Loyalty discounts:

• This Prestige chequing account offers unlimited bundled transactions (cheques, debit, bill payments, in-branch withdrawals/transfers, e-transfers, credit union ATM withdrawals, pre-authorized withdrawals); five Interac, five US, and five international ATM transactions; and optional overdraft.

• The monthly fee for Three Summits Mortgage holders is $16.50, down from the standard $30 monthly fee.

• Existing members will need to change their account type; but the account number stays the same so pre-authorized debits and credits will continue with no action from the member.

• Loyalty discounts increase with each subsequent Three Summits Mortgage renewal. For example, members would receive an additional one basis point (bps) discount for each year they have the product (i.e., five bps for their first five years) with a cumulative maximum of 25 bps.

The Three Summits Mortgage is a closed, fixed rate product with a term of one year or more and is available for new mortgages or renewals, not originated by brokers.

Bushore reports that the new mortgage product has been a “runaway success,” attracting new members to the credit union. New operating model

KSCU also adopted a new operating model that leverages the credit union’s collective intelligence in real time.

The new system ensures tasks, processes, and policies are linked, standardized, and harmonized. To optimize team collaboration, the new system enables credit union-wide communication, feedback, and learning. This allows employees to tap into existing knowledge and focus on delivering services. Additionally, the system tracks all service request to optimize workloads.

KSCU explains that this allows the credit union to “go from a collection of tasks performed at the pace and knowledge of one to a system of knowledge in the fulfillment of task performed at optimal pace,” using technology to support, not supplant, people