‘Investtech’ Opens Door for Member Securities and Crypto Investing

By Roy Urrico

Dover, Del.-based InvestiFi claims it is the only “investtech” platform that enables credit union members to invest in securities and crypto from their checking account. The 1.5 billion Las Vegas-based Clark County Credit Union (CCCU) credit union recently partnered with InvestiFi to offer guided and self-directed securities investing for its more than 57,000 members.

“At InvestiFi, we believe in the power of community and the financial institutions that support them. Our one-of-a-kind investment solution, when integrated with an existing digital banking platform, brings investing inside, enabling members to invest with their trusted financial institutions, moving away from the pull of third-party apps,” Kian Sarreshteh, CEO of InvestiFi, commented.

 Kian Sarreshteh, CEO of InvestiFi.

“We could not be happier to announce our new partnership with Clark County Credit Union, a credit union known for returning profits to its members, making it clear that it does not profit at its members’ expense.” Sarreshteh said. “In addition to our digital investing solutions, we provide financial institutions with financial education resources to support their members in their digital investment decisions. Our goal is to democratize investing and support community financial institutions like CCCU to ensure wealth-building opportunities are accessible to everyone.”

Sarreshteh spoke with Finopotamus about InvestiFi’s investtech platform and how it can help credit unions such as CCCU add value to its members.

Creating a Robinhood-like CU Experience

InvestiFi (formerly Cryptify), originally focused on crypto trading integration in online/mobile banking but rebranded to reflect full-service digital investing solutions. “The initial product was integrating a crypto buy, sell, hold solution inside of online and mobile banking. As we studied the impact and what crypto was providing, one of the major drivers why this was adding value to credit unions was curbing the deposits flowing out to third party crypto exchanges,” explained Sarreshteh.

After becoming a CUSO in November 2023, InvestiFi acquired a broker-dealer and registered investment advisors (RIAs) to offer securities products. The investtech now offers a full-service digital investing solution, including crypto trading, as well as self-directed and guided Investing (robo-advisory) services. “By having these securities products that sit alongside crypto, credit union members can have essentially a Robinhood experience that's white labeled inside of online and mobile banking.”

Sarreshteh pointed out InvestiFi gives credit unions and community banks the tools to offer investing from checking. “Very similar to Robinhood (but) it does keep that idle cash sitting on the books and the balance sheet of the credit union (or the bank) so they can benefit from that net interest revenue.” No external money movement is required

The InvestiFi CEO noted his company’s primary model is just to serve credit unions directly. The primary way we add value and why we have really grown our sales and marketing team is to ensure that credit unions know that they can get direct access to iInvestiFi technology solution, and they do not need to invest in the CUSO, for example, just to be able to work with us.”

Bringing Returns to CCCU and Members

The mission of CCCU, which serves over 57,000 members in southern Nevada is to return the profits it makes back to its members as better rates and fees, high yield savings and high-demand services. “We are excited to be partnering with InvestiFi to provide our members with the ability to invest directly from checking. At CCCU, our mission is to help our members achieve their financial goals and dreams, doing whatever it takes to support our tight-knit community,” said Dave Upham, COO of CCCU.

Upham added, “We are delighted to offer education tools, in addition to access to digital investing from within the online banking experience, to support our members in their investment decisions as they look to grow their portfolios.”

Sarreshteh described how InvestiFi will deliver a simplified approach with its guided investing solution by delivering portfolio options that align with CCCU’s members’ risk tolerance and interests, providing a secure financial experience. The partnership will provide CCCU with additional insight into its members’ needs, allowing it to offer tailored solutions that align with their financial goals.”

Sarreshteh continued, “We just announced that (CCCU) partnership and so we are starting to work through some of those implementation details with them now. We should be live in the coming months.”

Investment Benefits

CCCU’s members will have the ability to buy and sell more than 8600 and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) directly from checking to expand their investment portfolio. “We will support positive growth through our unique funds flow, which deposits the proceeds of an asset sale back into a member’s account,” Sarreshteh said.

CCCU will launch InvestiFi’s “self-directed investing as well as the robo-advisory product that we call guided investing,” said Sarreshteh. He noted from the self-directed standpoint the key value add to the members is they can invest right from their account with as little as $1 in fractional shares. Investments are based on members’ risk profile. InvestiFi matches it to one of 15 different portfolios designated to accommodate various risk profiles, explained Sarreshteh.

Sarreshteh made clear because InvestiFi built its robo engine from the ground up, “Instead of using a third party's cash product we have natively integrated it into the banking core to allow the credit union members to use the credit union money market account for the cash component of these portfolios.” Besides keeping funds on their balance sheet, credit unions also get to keep 100% of the assets under management (UM) fees charged for these robo portfolios.

Additionally, InvestiFi generates significant ROI for credit unions, according to Sarreshteh. He mentioned the market rates for UM fees is anywhere from 25 basis points on the low end to probably 75 basis points on the high end. “The credit union can pick up the fees and then that turns into a great new stream of non-interest income for that credit union.” Additionally, he said according to the company research, InvestiFi produced $5.31 per member per month from crypto fees alone in the first quarter of 2024.

Integration and User Experience

Credit unions can choose from three InvestiFi’s products: crypto, self-directed equities and guided investing. “Certain credit unions may feel uncomfortable with crypto; they do not have to offer crypto. Their members will not see crypto anywhere in the experience. They will just see securities. That is actually how Clark County (Credit Union) is starting,” said Sarreshteh.

“We have actually signed up eight different FIs this year, but seven out of eight, Clark County being the exception are actually going to be offering crypto in addition to securities,” noted Sarreshteh.

InvestiFi did add some guardrails. Said Sarreshteh, “We do not allow the transfer of crypto off platform, which is by design. So, if there is an account takeover with that user's online banking credentials and a scammer goes in and tries to buy crypto and then send it to a different wallet off platform, we do not allow that. What they can do is they can sell their crypto right from online banking and when they do sell their crypto, that is converted back into just cash and that is deposited directly back into their checking account in near real time.”

InvestiFi’s products can integrate with digital banking providers Q2, Alkami, Jack Henry Banno, Candescent, CU*Answers, and Constellation with Apiture coming soon, according to Sarreshteh. “Any bank or credit union that uses one of these digital banking providers for their web and mobile banking can turn on InvestiFi solution with very little technical lift to offer this solution to the accountholders at the banks and credit unions,” he said.

The data appears as a tile on main online banking dashboard. “So, they can see their checking account, savings account, and then that tile will display their digital investment balance summary. Then they can click on that and it really opens up like a full experience where they can see stocks, crypto, robo-advisory, all available in the same UI,” explained Sarreshteh.

InvestiFi is live at:

• WeStreet Credit Union (Tulsa, Okla.; $962 million; 58,000 plus members)

• Frankenmuth (Mich.) Credit Union ($1.5 billion; almost 75,000 members)

• Bluestone Federal Credit Union (Sioux Falls, S.D.; $202 million; almost 11,400 members)

• United Financial Credit Union (Saginaw, Mich.; $327.4 million; almost 21,350 members)

In addition to CCCU, also signed and in the implementation phase are Madison County Credit Union (Anderson, Ind.; $114 million; almost 9,000 members); and Element Federal Credit Union (Charleston, W.V.; $74 million; 4,500 members).