Size, scale and service fuel credit unions’ need for speed
Many states in the U.S. have raised speed limits on their interstates in the past several years. 36 states now have speed limits of 70 mph or above. The “Drive 55” era vanished long ago. I mention the trend toward higher highway speeds because a similar phenomenon has been happening in our payments industry. The speed of business is climbing as innovations – particularly those related to account security, digital and mobile – are delivering greater horsepower and options to the consumer’s payments experience. There appears to be no limit to how fast new technology can be placed in the hands of consumers.
Prior to returning to PSCU, I was removed from direct involvement and awareness of the dynamic and rapid emergence of “game changing” payments products and players. After 30 days getting reacquainted with the latest developments in payments, it is not surprising to me that many credit unions may feel challenged to make sense of the new technology, much less know if or how to integrate these new developments into their growth strategies and product sets. How do we hold our lanes, but still keep the pedal down and avoid making any wrong turns or hitting a wall?
The cooperative CUSO model, with the benefits of its size, scale, buying power and strategic partnerships with industry leaders, can help credit unions more nimbly negotiate the twists and turns of complex new payments technologies. EMV and digital wallets, like Apple Pay and the recently announced Android Pay, are great examples of sophisticated technologies that involve the coordination of many moving parts (and multiple partners) to be successfully delivered to members. The depth of resources within a full-service CUSO can relieve credit unions of the burden of managing dozens of endpoints, processes and tasks associated with launching these new technologies into your market.
PSCU has been implementing credit EMV programs since 2011 and is intimately familiar with the certification, testing and production processes for these chip cards. EMV credit card program deployments for PSCU’s member credit unions officially surpassed the one million-card mark. 100 member credit unions are currently certified for credit EMV, with 350 credit unions slotted for credit EMV certification this year. Another 125 credit unions are slotted for certification of their new debit EMV programs. Credit unions that seek to mitigate their liability for fraud following the October 2015 deadline can most certainly bring their EMV programs to production much faster by enlisting the help of a CUSO that has deep experience with these types of implementations.
And the need for speed was never more evident when Apple introduced Apple Pay on September 9, 2014. Their announcement was a bolt from the blue that caught nearly every issuer by surprise. All reacted and mobilized, some better and with more agility than others. PSCU relationships with its payment partners enabled our technical and service teams to rapidly and efficiently bring the convenience and security of this new digital wallet to Member-Owners. Less than nine months removed from the announcement, over 70 PSCU Member-Owners are live now with Apple Pay, with another 130 credit unions in the implementations queue. PSCU Member-Owners account for roughly 40% of all credit unions offering Apple Pay.
EMV and tokenization will address our current threats, and somewhere down the road we’ll no doubt need to manage to a new set of risk challenges and threats. Credit unions will have to meet those challenges in order to continue to deliver on the promise to members and to protect and preserve their value in the payments industry.
The combination of the cooperative model and rich payments industry expertise enables payments CUSOs to focus on resolving the most strategic credit union business challenges, and in the most operationally efficient manner. During times when the payments universe is changing at such breathtaking speed, a trusted CUSO’s deep resources, experience and access to key industry experts and partners can be a credit union’s best tools for higher growth, greater relevance and stronger member relationships.
