From P2P payment apps to digital banking, fintech has ushered in a great deal of change over the past few decades alone. For the first time in history, a whole new generation of banking members has been raised to expect brands to offer technology to go along with their services.
As CNBC notes, a massive $68 trillion transfer of wealth is set to take place in the coming years, as Baby Boomers prepare to pass along their wealth to their children. What will these new members expect from a financial institution? What are their values surrounding money?
These are the questions that credit unions must be prepared to answer in order to compete with an ever-growing wave of challenger banks.
What Do Younger Audiences Look for in a Financial Institution?
Throughout her journey to develop Spave, our CEO and founder Susan Langer put a great deal of time into researching the needs of younger financial members. As Susan mentioned in a recent CU podcast, Gen Z and Millennials tend to share three main goals when it comes to finances:
- Spending
- Saving
- Giving
While these goals may sound simple enough, there’s also an important catch. Younger generations also want to be able to achieve these goals in a way that’s seamless, easy, and innovative. That’s where the importance of technology comes in.
Today, many young people are just as interested in the technology a financial institution provides as they are in considerations like savings yields. Younger audiences are always on the hunt for ways to bank smarter, faster, and more conveniently.
How the Fintech Takeover Is Changing Finance
Digital-only neobanks are now rolling out game-changing solutions that offer members the opportunity to spend, save, transfer, invest, and budget in convenient new ways. And it’s working.
Data recently published in PYMNTS' Credit Union Innovation Index revealed that:
- 1 in 5 credit union members would consider switching to a challenger bank if their CU didn’t make innovation a priority.
- 8 of 10 would be willing to make the switch to a service that offered an easier, more convenient solution.
The reality is that the financial institution members of today are more tech-savvy than ever before. The good news is that credit unions now have plenty of options when it comes to turning these statistics into strengths.
There’s no longer any need to hire an entire digital innovation department to provide your members with the tools they need to achieve their financial goals. By partnering with like-minded companies like Spave, credit unions can provide their members with just as many innovative features as the average neobank.
What Is Spave and How Can It Help Credit Unions Stay Relevant?
Spave is a unique new financial platform that partners with various credit unions to promote a set of shared values. Like you, we believe that financial well-being and security should be accessible to everyone.
When your members sign up for a free Spave account, they’ll be able to quickly and seamlessly connect to any accounts they hold at your institution. The Spave app uses Plaid to securely link your members to their checking, savings, or credit card accounts in minutes.
There’s no need for users to apply for a separate card or account, as Spave is designed to supplement credit unions rather than compete with them. Once a member has linked their accounts to Spave, they can begin automatically enjoying all the benefits our app has to offer.
Spave is designed to provide each user with the ability to spend, save, budget, and give - all in one. By customizing their unique preferences, Spave users can put their financial goals on auto-pilot through the power of options like round-ups.
How Spave Can Help Your Credit Union Members
As a credit union, you understand the importance of giving back to the community. The fact that your members chose you likely means that they do too.
Spave is the first financial app of its kind in that it allows users to effortlessly save money and make contributions to their choice of over 1.5 million charities. Spave’s saving and giving features come with several customizable options.
- Customized Percentages
Each user can adjust their settings to have a percentage of each purchase they make tacked onto their final bill. Similar to how you’d leave a tip, a user might choose to add a 5% charge that will be sent to their savings account and a 2% charge that will be sent to charity.
- Round-ups
Users can also choose to save and give using Spave’s round-up feature. Each time they make a purchase, their spare change will be deducted and distributed based on their savings and giving preferences.
- One-time Donations
Spave also enables users to make one-time donations or savings contributions in any amount, at any time. The app is designed to offer the perfect spending tactics for each user. It also comes complete with a handy tool called “Insights.”
Each member will enjoy unique insights into their spending habits for up to 24 months at a time. With easy-to-navigate categories and actionable analysis, the insights dashboard can help take the time, energy, and headache out of budgeting.
Become a Spave Partner
If you’re looking for a great way to help your existing credit union members, all while attracting new ones, then we’d love to hear from you. We’re thrilled that younger generations are showing interest in the same community-enriching values that credit unions have been dedicated to for generations.
That’s why we’re eager to help ensure that credit unions of all sizes have the tools they need to attract and retain younger members. We provide your members with a free, easy, and socially focused financial tool designed for a tech-centric generation.
Want to find out more about how a Spave partnership can help you connect with younger members? Don’t hesitate to reach out to find out more about how we can help you enhance your dedication to your local community.
