When Prospera Credit Union decided to support its growth plans and member initiatives with a new core retail banking system from Fincentric, it became the world's first financial institution to put Fincentric Fincentric Wealthview Banking to the test. Today, Prospera is more than double in size, at approximately $1.7 billion in assets compared to approximately $900 million prior to the merger in 2001. Its data
processing costs, as a percentage of average assets at the end of May 2004, is 16 basis points, compared to the average of 24 basis points for the B.C. credit union system.
Prospera has expanded and enhanced service to members, and dramatically improved profitability-all while operating on the Fincentric Wealthview Banking platform it chose back in 2001.
Customer profile
Prospera is a fast-growing credit union, dedicated to helping its members achieve financial freedom, through a unique blend of hightouch service excellence and high-tech banking products. Launched in 2001 following the merger of British Columbia's Fraser Valley Credit Union and Edelweiss Credit Union, Prospera is currently Canada's 9th largest credit union with more than 44,000 members, $1.7 billion, 17 branches, ten insurance offices, a call center and six commercial banking centres. Prospera recently launched a national chartered bank, Ubiquity Bank of Canada.
Situation
The creation of Prospera in May 2001 launched a dynamic new financial institution with bold plans for the future. Born from the merger of Edelweiss Credit Union and Fraser Valley Credit Union, the new organization set out to provide members with the services normally offered by national banks, while maintaining the friendly and intimate environment of a credit union.
Branches were soon transformed with inviting interiors, including fireplaces and Comfortable seating areas. Members gained access to new products and services, including insurance and brokerage services. And Prospera began to grow-first expanding into British Columbia's Okanagan region with new branches, and then across Canada with the recent launch of a nationally chartered subsidiary called Ubiquity Bank of Canada. In less than three years, Prospera increased assets under management from $900 million to $1.7 billion, while simultaneously achieving dramatic gains in assets per member and overall profitability.
"We wanted to create something unique in Canada,"
says Keith Puiu, Chief executive Officer of Prospera.
But before Prospera could embark on this strategy, it first needed to put a key piece of infrastructure into place. At the time of the merger, senior management had assessed the IT platforms of both predecessor organizations and determined that neither was up to the task of supporting Prospera's dynamic vision of the future.
Prospera needed a new core banking platform that could help fulfill its mission of providing members with a unique blend of personal high-touch service excellence and high-tech banking products, while also supporting the credit union's ambitious growth strategy.
The solution
Prospera found the solution at Fincentric in an innovative, new banking platform called
Fincentric Wealthview Banking. Fraser Valley Credit Union had been a Fincentric customer since
1992, and was confident that the Wealthview system would be a good fit for Prospera.
Fincentric Wealthview Banking is a customer-centric, core retail banking system. It offers comprehensive applications for deposits, payments, and consumer lending, with real-time transaction processing, and integration across multiple delivery channels including
branch, ATM, telephone, and Internet banking.
After carefully comparing Fincentric's offering with a number of alternatives, Prospera decided Fincentric Wealthview Banking was the right choice.
Greg Dyck, Prospera's Chief Information Officer, says Fincentric Wealthview Banking appealed to
the selection team for a number of reasons. First, it was built on a Microsoft/Intel platform with open standards, allowing for maximum interoperability and a high degree of control and flexibility. Prospera already had a talented in-house IT department and wanted to avoid platforms that would force the credit union into a service bureau-style of environment.
" Going with Fincentric meant retaining our ability to customize
and be in control of our own system," says Dyck.
Cost was another factor. Fincentric's lower total cost of ownership appealed to a credit union with big growth plans. The only hurdle? Fincentric Wealthview Banking was a new product, and no other financial institution had yet used the system. Prospera would become the first financial institution to put the new platform to the test.
Prospera made the decision to proceed, running Fincentric Wealthview Banking on the Microsoft Windows/Intel platform. While being the first on Fincentric Wealthview Banking in the midst of a merger was a recipe for some early headaches, Fincentric provided excellent support both during and after implementation.
In the months that followed, the decision to go with Fincentric Wealthview Banking was further validated by results.
" Fincentric stepped up to the plate every time we needed
them," says Dyck. "They were particularly open to
adapting their system to how we wanted to use it."
Supporting the strategy
For Prospera, one of the greatest benefits of Fincentric Wealthview Banking has been its ability to propel the credit union's business strategy.
Dyck describes Fincentric Wealthview Banking as a highly flexible platform that readily accommodates new products and services. "Whenever we need a new product or feature, we simply configure it with Wealthview. That used to be because we were small and wanted to save money. Now it's because we can build it exactly the way we want it."
Fincentric Wealthview Banking is also credited with supporting Prospera's swift and successful entry into the Okanagan region and its subsequent launch of Ubiquity Bank of Canada.
Darryl Verbeek, Senior Vice-President, Operations and Sales,
concurs, saying that Fincentric Wealthview Banking has leveled the playing field
for Prospera, letting a small credit union compete effectively against much
larger players. "This technology allows us to be quick," says Verbeek.
More profitable customer relationships
Another compelling feature of Fincentric Wealthview Banking is the capability to build more profitable customer relationships. Its customer-centric approach and unique Customer Value ManagementT (CVM) capabilities give financial institutions a complete view of customers and their financial picture at all levels of the organization.
Using Fincentric Wealthview Banking, front-end service representatives in Prospera's branches and call centre now have a view of Prospera's full banking relationship with each member, presented in a visually attractive, easy-to-understand display. That in turn has provided the basis for providing better service to members, and the ability to recognize and reward excellent customers.
Marketing of new products has also become easier. Using the built-in Fincentric Wealthview Banking DesignerT tool, programming time to add or update new products has been cut in half.
Enhanced features for members
Fincentric Wealthview Banking has also provided noticeable benefits for members. The speed of online banking has improved along with functionality, such as the ability to future-date bill payments, add and edit payment lists, and put stop payments on bills. A key differentiator is that Prospera is now able to react quickly to the changing business environment, and Dyck says, "With Fincentric Wealthview Banking, we are in control of our own destiny."
Member statements are also more informative because Fincentric Wealthview Banking provides
" I don't know of any other banking system that would have let us
add another region and a whole new entity that easily," says Puiu.
"I never once heard 'We can't do it' or 'It'll take too long' from
our IT group. They just kept hitting the deadlines."
the comprehensive information needed to present members with a complete account summary that reflects all of their assets.
According to Stacey Irwin who served as Project Manager during the Fincentric Wealthview Banking's implementation, Prospera is now better positioned to build strong relationships with members across all channels.
"This system lets us provide high quality service-not just in our branches-but online and through our call center as well. It gives us the ability to provide high-touch, hightech service to our members wherever we interact with them."
Security and reliability
Security and reliability are two additional features Prospera has come to appreciate. In its two years of service at Prospera, Fincentric Wealthview Banking has proved highly reliable with a superb uptime record, which Dyck estimates to be around 99%. Security has also been consistently tight. No security issue has ever been reported, nor has any turned up in any of the numerous security audits Prospera has conducted.
Untapped capabilities
However the greatest benefits of Fincentric Wealthview Banking may be still to come. The Prospera team acknowledges it is currently using just a fraction of the system's capabilities.
Over the near term, a key objective will be to draw on Fincentric Wealthview Banking's CVM capabilities to automatically calculate the total value of each customer and to adopt relationship-based pricing. Ubiquity Bank is already using relationship-based pricing, eliminating service fees for customers that maintain deposits of $25,000 or more. Prospera envisages utilizing this feature to activate different treatment strategies based on individual member profitability.
One feature Prospera is certain to draw on is Fincentric Wealthview Banking's scalability.
CEO Keith Puiu says the organization is set for continued expansion, with Prospera pursuing internal and external growth, and Ubiquity Bank planning to open new branches in Western Canada over the next three years.
Fincentric Wealthview Banking has already helped Prospera more than double in size. As this innovative credit union continues to evolve, Fincentric Wealthview Banking will remain hard at work behind the scenes, supporting Prospera's remarkable growth and success. Dyck says, "We are extremely pleased to be continuing our relationship Fincentric,
and together, we are moving forward on new initiatives."
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Fincentric solution benefits:
- In-house control
- Low total cost of ownership
- Opportunities to develop more profitable customer relationships
- Enhanced functionality for members
- Scalable
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