As 2015 draws to a close, it’s a great time to look back at the year in hindsight. What worked, what didn’t, and why? From there, it’s easier to make plans and strategies for the year ahead.
This week and next, CreditUnions.com is running down some of our best and most actionable content from 2015. Use these programs and initiatives to provide a creative spark for 2016.
Lending
The hits just kept happening on the lending front for credit unions in 2015. For example, according to the third quarter Trendwatch report from Callahan & Associates, mortgage origination growth hit a record high. That’s on top of year-to-date loan originations hitting a record high earlier in the year.
Across the country, innovative managers with a finger on the pulse of their community and an eye for the latest tools are executing diverse loan programs. In Lending Feats From 2015, Callahan senior writer and editor Marc Rapport runs down a list of reader favorites.
HR
Making the most of personnel is essential if a credit union is to execute on the movement’s philosophy of people helping people. Although it’s been a long time since the department was called personnel, today’s human resources professionals still focus on bringing out everyone’s best.
CreditUnions.com regularly showcases innovative, practical, and successful ideas from cooperatives across the country. As 2016 looms, Rapport also identifies some of the most popular from 2015 in A Heaping Helping Of HR Highlights.
Compliance
It’s no secret that financial institutions face a significant compliance burden. With so many new rules and regulations out there, compliance and risk management have become more complex and costs have risen, requiring of credit unions a greater investment of time, money, and resources.
Throughout 2015, however, we’ve profiled different strategies credit unions are taking to combat this rising burden. Callahan writer Erik Payne lists some reader favorites in 2015’s Best Lessons In Making The Most Of The Compliance Burden
Mobile
Smartphones and tablets might soon render laptops about as relevant as the VCR. That day isn’t here yet, but by standing on those digital shoulders, mobile banking has grown much faster than its PC-based forerunner.
According to the Federal Reserve, more than 70% of mobile users in the United States have smartphones and that’s out of the 87% of the U.S. population that have mobile phones.
More than 45% of the country’s credit unions, meanwhile, offer mobile banking services, according to Peer-to-Peer Analytics by Callahan & Associates. That was up from 39% at the same point last year.
To read how innovative credit unions increase security and functionality and ratchet up the marketing to make their mark in mobile banking read How Credit Unions Went Mobile In 2015
Happy Reading!