Go digital or go home: The rise of digital banking at Wildfire Credit Union
by Robert McGarvey
“What could we do to make our members’ lives better?” That question, said Mark Shuiling, vice president of technology at $900 million Wildfire Credit Union in Saginaw, MI, is what set the institution on a quest to bring its members a unified, omnichannel banking experience. The quest began maybe five years ago.
It is now coming to fruition, with help from digital platform developer Backbase.
Here is the story of an institution that decided that digital was its future – if only because it is what the Millennials and Gen Z members of any credit union crave. These are people who grew up with personal computers at their sides and the younger ones cannot remember a time when they did not have an iPhone or Android phone in their hands.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the wisdom of Wildfire’s decision became all the sharper, said Schuiling – it was suddenly obvious that digital is the future for all of us, simple as that.
Understand, Wildfire is just now beginning to roll out its new unified banking platform and it will do it deliberately, carefully, said Schuiling.
Know too that Wildfire is way ahead of most credit unions in its digital journey. Sure, just about every credit union executive pays lipservice to the idea of digital banking, but the stark reality is that few have climbed aboard this movement. That’s why Vince Bezemer, head of strategy for Backbase, which also has worked with Navy Federal, Schools First, and State Employees’ Credit Union of North Carolina, estimates that maybe 10% of financial institutions really get what it means to be digital.
And 90% don’t.
Which side are you on?