Seventeen credit unions on the forefront of discovery for the industry

Participants of "The Lab at Filene" begin testing concepts in January 2023

MADISON, Wis., Dec. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 17 credit unions and three system organizations that currently make up The Lab at Filene begin testing four concepts in 2023 to grow the bottom line of credit unions and create a deeper impact on credit union members. Three spots remain for credit unions to become a Lab sponsor and join their innovative peers finding solutions to the largest challenges to growth and impact.

Leveraging the strength Filene has around creating new opportunities for credit unions to engage, test and learn, these organizations have raised their hands and are leading the way for credit unions to identify and implement proven solutions faster:

• Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union
• Chartway Federal Credit Union
• Community Financial Credit Union
• Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC)
• Elements Financial Federal Credit Union
• ELGA Credit Union
• Farmers Insurance Group Federal Credit Union
• Financial Plus Credit Union
• Logix Federal Credit Union
• Michigan State University Federal Credit Union
• Municipal Credit Union
• Origence
• Royal Credit Union
• Truliant Federal Credit Union
• Unitus Community Credit Union
• University Credit Union
• Verity Credit Union
• Visa
• Visions Federal Credit Union
• Westerra Credit Union

"Credit unions face a wave of challenges and opportunities, and are constantly wrestling with which ones they should be putting their resources toward to grow and increase their impact," said Filene Senior Director of Incubation, Josh Sledge. "In the spirit of cooperation, The Lab at Filene brings sponsors together to better understand what works and what doesn't, and then builds frameworks for others to apply learnings across the entire credit union industry."

In August, the first ever Lab Symposium was held in Visa's San Francisco innovation center and set Filene's 2023 testing agenda. The Lab is now transitioning to the next phase and will begin running tests in January on four solution ideas that garnered the most interest from The Lab's participants:

•  To address the challenge of differentiation and amplifying the credit union value proposition:
• subscription-based packaging models
• re-thinking physical spaces
• To address the challenge of engagement for new and expanded relationships:
• digital engagement for indirect lending, with fintech partner Ignite Sales
• financial wellness as an engagement strategy, with fintech partner Pocketnest

"As a CUSO, we're deeply connected to credit unions and their pain points, and are committed to helping them grow their business and value—all while bringing their community financial wellness," said Jessica Willis, founder and CEO, Pocketnest. "We're grateful to Filene for helping us reach a broader audience as we scale our team and grow our product to help credit unions boost their digital strategy, reach and engage with millennials, and identify more cross-selling and deposit opportunities."

Throughout the testing, Filene is providing technical assistance and capacity to help the testing credit unions operationalize and run these pilots. Filene will also work alongside Jeffrey Robinson, Filene Fellow for the Center for Innovation & Incubation, to collect insights and share them back out with the industry.

"Through our work with credit unions around the country, we know that when given the opportunity, they provide unparalleled levels of service to their members," said Whitney Loe, VP strategic sales and partnerships at Ignite Sales. "We are very excited to partner with the Lab at Filene to support credit unions as they leverage digital engagement technology to mine their indirect loan portfolios and build deep direct member relationships."

Three sponsor opportunities remain available to join The Lab at Filene.

About Filene: Filene Research Institute strengthens organizations through innovative research and incubation to improve consumer financial well-being. As an independent cooperative finance think tank, Filene's membership network connects a community of leaders and bright minds to change lives through innovation, truth and cooperation. In addition to delivering cutting-edge, actionable academic research, Filene also provides incubators to test and scale solutions, events to spark organizations into action and advisory services to help accelerate and implement innovation. For more information, visit filene.org and @fileneresearch. 

Filene Research Institute Contact:
Holly Fearing | hollyf@filene.org | 608.661.3758

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SOURCE Filene Research Institute