MoneySparxs:

Customers enjoy better, individualized assistance and guidance, tailored to their specific circumstances.

The credit union reaps long lasting financial growth that can only come from customer satisfaction, loyalty, and trust: a greater share of wallet, more product adoption and usage, and reducing churn.

Behavioral Banking codifies the aspects of psychology, neuroscience and behavioral economics, (Behavioral Science) which characterize the dominant role emotions have in how we think about and make decisions regarding money. It understands why most people would rather go to the dentist than deal with their finances and how best to engage them. Then, using advanced analytics and AI, it creates situationally relevant and emotionally activating money-related scenarios (Sparxs), individualized and curated to each persons’ unique situation and concerns.

To learn more about the benefits that credit unions like MSUFCU have achieved through behavioral banking with Exagens’ MoneySparxs, click here.

Leveraging tech to improve financial access and literacy

It is in this way that Maxim and MSUFCU have become one and the same after 16 years, with a joint path for progression. As Maxim puts it: “Our mission and focus now is to increase financial access, increase financial literacy, and among many of the other things we are trying to do, build up our communities, making them a place people want to live, work, and enjoy.

“This gives me an aim to build innovations around these values, putting our technological focus into ways of serving our communities and ultimately our members.”

With the spread of fintech innovation on an ever-upward trend, industry-wide conditions are perfect for Maxim and MSUFCU to achieve their goals. Many fintechs are designed to offer ways of improving financial access, which Maxim leverages to support underserved areas of the credit union’s different communities.

“At MSUFCU we have a lot of student accounts. The question is how do we keep them interested and engaged including after they graduate? How do we get them excited about credit unions when they think all they need is a Venmo instead of a bank account?

“For me, the goal is to create new products and digital member experiences that take advantage of AI, machine learning, blockchain, and other emerging technologies that help personalising the experience for younger members (and really all members) to get them products that are the right fit and are the most convenient for them.”

Not content on providing ways to just take MSUFCU above the competition, for Maxim, it’s important to share new innovations and tech products with the wider credit union ecosystem.

“What’s unique about the credit union industry is that we like to share and collaborate, which for me is really exciting. It’s great to have a community, rather than having a singular focus, to talk about innovations, share ideas, and work together to move the whole credit union industry forward.”

Sticking to your roots

Although sharing innovations between banks and other financial institutions is typically considered counterintuitive, for Maxim, this is only natural for credit unions.

“Innovation is the core of what credit unions are. When credit unions first popped up as a result of anti-bank sentiment following the Great Depression, they were considered an innovative way to deliver financial services to people –members had control.”

“At MSUFCU, we were an early adopter of ATMs, and in the 1950s-1960s, we had one of the first female CEOs in the financial industry at the time. Today, our chatbot, Fran, is named after her.”

Serving students, faculty and staff, and alumni, MSUFCU sticks to its roots, having been founded by a selection of Michigan State University (MSU) faculty and staff

Finding financial solutions for all university campus goers is part of the ethos and not just MSU. MSUFCU has a partnership with Oakland University, too as Oakland University Credit Union, and has recently launched two digital-only brands to further support students in their life’s financial journey in AlumniFI and Collegiate Credit Union.

Personalising a service

Now serving a range of community sectors, including government, hospitals and local SMBs, and a wide range of ages from birth to over 100, the aim for Maxim and MSUFCU is to personalise services for each individual and business.

Of course, finding the right mix of products for a potential member is doable following consultation, but in an era of speed and technological innovation, Maxim says it’s important to know the right product for the right person soon after they walk through the door – data and technology help us do just that.

Partnering with over 30 fintech vendors and integrating their services has improved both the speed and efficiency of MSUFCU’s digital member experience.

Maxim says: “As financial institutions are a key enabler of people’s lives, we end up having a lot of data that we struggle to leverage on our own. One of the most innovative fintechs we’re working with is called Exagens, which specialises in the behavioural banking space. Their solution helps us unlock this bank-owned data and addresses a challenge common to all credit unions – engaging members beyond just transactions, to help grow their finances and the communities we serve.”

“They’ve become a core part of our experience strategy and together we’ve unlocked new value from our bank-owned