3 competitors for credit unions to watch for in 2015

As this year begins, many credit union leaders are surveying their landscape to see what will be the big areas of concern for them in 2015. Competition is naturally one of the first areas evaluated. We suggest you brush aside the big players (Chase and Wells) and give a close eye to the following three competitors:

  1. Bit coin
  2. Lending Club
  3. PayPal

Bit coin, while it started out as an alternative digital currency to fund the black trade of the internet, this currency keeps on expanding its reach. There are ATMs that now accept Bit coin and the company sponsored the St. Petersburg College Bowl in 2014. But most importantly, as Apple Pay is teaching everyone how to be cashless, the transition to digital currency like Bit coin will seem easy and natural.

Lending Club. Hold your loans close and keep your members making payments to lending club tighter. Lending Club is a peer-to-peer lending company that allows borrowers to get a loan and investors to purchase notes backed by payments made on the loans… Um yes, this is about as close to credit union business model as you can get. As of fall 2014, Lending Club has originated over $6.2 billion in loans. That is a strong indication of demand as well as the performance of their IPO in December of the same year. The stock soared to 56% on the first day of its trading. So what does Lending club offer that a credit union doesn’t? If credit union members are making or receiving payments from Lending Club, what are you going to do to help keep them happy and continue using the credit union?

And finally PayPal. Most of us are familiar with the payment system. The numbers of users are staggering. PayPal operates in 203 markets and has 152 million active registered accounts. PayPal allows customers a fairly secure way to purchase goods online as well as donate money or receive donations. PayPal is available as an app and offers a “one touch” service that allows users to pay with one-touch on participating merchant websites. This features alone make the payment system easier to use than a credit card. As the consumer moves toward these more secure online payment methods. What does that mean to the future of all payments? What can credit unions do to help create products/services that are simple, safe and secure?

As we head into 2015, keeping a watchful eye on these competitors is crucial. To perform a quick and easy assessment of your competition, download this very simply tool http://www.thirddegreeadv.com/quick-assessment-tool-how-competitive-is-your-cu.

Happy 2015!

 

 

Anne Legg

Anne Legg

Anne Legg, founder and principal of THRIVETM Strategic Services THRIVE works with credit unions to develop transformational business strategies from their business insights to grow in a competitive, highly regulated ... Web: https://www.anneleggthrive.com Details