2024 Tekkie Award for Game Changer: Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union

By Roy Urrico

 The $702.3 million Rocky Hill, Conn.-based Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union is the winner of the 2024 Tekkie Award in the Game Changer category.

Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union (NSFCU) knew it needed to close a digital experience gap created by legacy platform limitations including low conversion rates, significant drop-offs and cumbersome back-office processes. The credit union selected and worked closely with Anaheim, Calif.-based Cotribute, an embeddable fintech platform aimed at helping credit unions grow deposits, loans and memberships.

“Since partnering with Cotribute for both our loan and account opening processes, we have observed significant improvements,” said NSFCU CEO John Holt. “For account openings, we have seen an increase in the speed and accuracy of the process."

Holt noted, "The enhanced security measures have resulted in a decrease in fraud incidents, and the streamlined member experience has led to higher member satisfaction and increased application volumes.”

Holt added, these improvements positively impacted the credit union’s bottom line and reinforced its reputation as a member-centric and digital first financial institution.

“Cotribute provided a next generation digital account opening and onboarding capability that worked in the digital, branch and hybrid environments for Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union,” Philip Paul, CEO of Cotribute, told Finopotamus.

Paul added, “This capability provided an ‘Apple like’ experience to prospective and existing members to easily onboard in less than two minutes and automatically get the account created on the core.”

Busy Credit Union

Besides its partnership with Cotribute, NSFCU, which has over 50,000 members in about a dozen locations, has been busy in other ways in the last few years, according to Holt. The credit union recently completed a merger with First Bristol Federal Credit Union, adding two locations and a little over a $100 million in assets, and completed a major digital system upgrade with Alkami for online banking and a new mobile app with more functionalities.

“We have really expanded our field of membership outside of Connecticut as well,” said Holt. NSFCU also established a lending center in Wichita, Kan. “We do a lot of Midwest lending out of that particular office.”

Nutmeg also has a national presence through two associations. Explained Holt, “Our field of membership expanded to anyone that is a member or an employee of AAA, as well as anyone that is part of the Community Impact Fund (CIF), which is an organization that supports and helps lower income individuals with financial education, emergency savings accounts, and opportunities for loans at zero percent interest.”

Holt added, “We do not have a branch presence anywhere other than Connecticut. But of course, our technology allows anyone to open an account online, [and] transact all their business online. We knew that if we were going to have a field of membership that could be anywhere that we needed to have a robust digital banking platform.”

Starting Its Search

NSFCU and Cotribute completed the first phase of initial consultations in early 2022, followed by a formal engagement in June 2022. The rollout of an auto-decisioning system took place in June 2023. By December 2023, the credit union completed the first phase of optimizations, successfully automating a significant portion of the back office, manual processes. In retrospect, Holt said the credit union attributes this initial success to thorough planning, effective collaboration and continuous refinement.

Cotribute's modular platform enables credit unions like NSFCU to select just the capabilities needed, giving credit unions the flexibility to add additional modules later. The Cotribute platform's standout feature, according to Paul, is its "Lego block" style microservices architecture, providing agility and flexibility for creating tailored packages, products and offerings.

To date, NSFCU has successfully deployed the following Contribute modules: Consumer Account Opening, Consumer Loan Application, Decision Intelligence and Fraud Guard+. The Decision Intelligence framework was customized and configured to meet the credit union’s needs and processes, Paul noted.

“The platform provided sophisticated decision intelligence capability that allowed [NSFCU] to automate manual back-office tasks related to KYC (Know Your Customer), fraud checks and other compliance checks,” explained Paul. In addition, the platform also provided capability to expand their distribution channels to special employer groups and partner organizations.

Measurable Results

By integrating Cotribute's technology with its Corelation core system, NSFCU’s was able to not only attract new customers but also made the process more efficient for employees. Since implementing the Cotribute platform, NSFCU has doubled its volume and significantly improved the member experience.

NSFCU began with a pilot focusing on high-volume loan applications before expanding to membership and deposit applications. This approach, underpinned by the concept of "Decision Intelligence," allowed NSFCU to tackle issues head-on, including improving conversion rates, enhancing user experience, providing decision intelligence for staff, and enabling growth through digital and hybrid channels.

The collaboration led to a comprehensive overhaul of NSFCU’s application system, transforming a previously manual and time-consuming process that involved 41 decision steps into a streamlined and efficient operation. By December 2023, Nutmeg had successfully automated 40 of these steps with Cotribute's auto-decisioning technology, enabling Nutmeg to automate 97.56% of manual steps and 89.5% of onboarding applications are decisioned in a “touchless” fashion.

NSFCU's team has experienced a notable boost in productivity, with Cotribute's auto decisioning technology handling manual tasks, allowing employees to focus on providing personalized service. Overall, the Cotribute platform has optimized NSFCU’s back-office operations, positively impacting both member engagement and employee efficiency.

Game-Changing Benefits

Holt described how NSFCU’s partnership with Cotribute has helped the credit union in a number of ways:

Security: “Our partnership with Cotribute has enhanced the security of our platform, allowing members to apply for loans and open accounts with confidence. By leveraging state-of-the-art fraud protection tools, we have made it considerably more difficult for bad actors to commit fraud. Additionally, the platform ensures that the data provided by our members during applications is secure.”

Member Experience: “The new platform offers a premium user experience, featuring a modern and intuitive interface. It provides the seamless and user-friendly experience our members expect from a leading financial institution. Members can easily apply for loans and open accounts without the complications associated with outdated technology. This improved member experience translates to an increase in loan and account applications, benefiting both the credit union and our members by meeting their financial needs more effectively.”

Analytics and Performance Tracking: “Cotribute’s platform enables us to precisely measure the performance of our various marketing campaigns. This allows us to adjust our strategies to better meet market demands. Additionally, the platform provides insights into where applicants might encounter difficulties, enabling us to refine the application process and enhance the overall member experience.”

Efficiency: “The integration of Cotribute’s technology has streamlined the process of opening accounts and applying for loans, reducing the need for manual intervention.” This technological advancement, noted Holt, allows NSFCU to operate more swiftly and efficiently while minimizing human error. “The system can identify issues that humans might overlook, leading to a more secure and reliable process. The efficiencies gained translate to cost savings, which we pass on to our members.”

Reaction to Winning a Tekkie Award

“We are honored to receive a Tekkie award from such a prestigious organization within our industry. This recognition is a testament to the dedication and hard work our teams have invested in our partnership with Cotribute,” commented Holt. “Winning this award not only validates our efforts but also inspires us to continue expanding these initiatives. Our primary goal is to enhance the member experience and better meet our members' financial needs, and this award encourages us to pursue these objectives with even greater confidence and enthusiasm.”

Said Paul, “We are humbled and honored by this recognition and are grateful to our clients for their collaboration in creating this next-generation account opening and digital onboarding platform.”