The remarkable shift to a point-to-point credit ecosystem
Credit unions have an opportunity to bring a new level of service and a wider product range to their members.
As I looked up at the enormous frame, it seemed to resemble the carcass of a humpback whale. I was standing on the floor of the Airbus aircraft manufacturing facility in Hamburg, Germany, witnessing one of the first Airbus A380s in production.
It was early 2007, and an ideological battle between Boeing and Airbus was taking place. On one side, Airbus was backing the hub-and-spoke transportation model with the largest passenger aircraft ever built, the A380. On the other side, Boeing—with its sleek B787—was betting on point-to-point travel, taking people directly from A to B on thinner routes. At stake was some $50 billion—the combined cost of both programs.
About 13 years later, Boeing was announced the victor. On June 20, 2020, Airbus transported its last A380 fuselage to the final assembly line in Toulouse, France.
The Battle Over Credit Data
Credit unions currently have a ring-side seat for a similar battle over credit data. In the hub-and-spoke camp are TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax, the three major credit reporting agencies that receive and aggregate credit data from thousands of lenders across the U.S.
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