White Clay Survey Amplifies Member Relationship Building Needs at CUs

By Roy Urrico

White Clay’s annual survey on banking relationships found 67% of accountholders do not feel genuinely known by their primary financial institution. White Clay CEO and Founder Mac Thompson sat down with Finopotamus to provide insights about the survey and credit union and bank relationship building strategies.

The survey from the Louisville, Ky.-based relationship profitability and analytics software provider White Clay also found 53% of respondents would consider switching financial institutions if another credit union or bank offered a more personalized experience.

White Clay CEO and Founder Mac Thompson.

“Consumer sentiment is sticky; while the world is rife with change, from more advanced technologies to shifting economic landscapes, year over year data on consumer feelings remains unchanged,” said Thompson. “In the past twelve months, Americans have lived through rising rates, inflation pressure, political uncertainty, and leadership transitions at the national level. These are times when trust and stability in one’s financial provider matter. Still, most consumers do not feel seen and would consider moving their accounts because of it. This is both a significant opportunity and a loud alarm. Banks and credit unions must move beyond transactional engagement and focus on relationship banking to earn long-term loyalty in this new environment.”

Survey Results

The White Clay annual survey, conducted online by The Harris Poll from September 30 to October 2, 2025 among nearly 2,000 U.S. adults with a primary credit union or bank relationships, included:

• Despite advances in artificial intelligence (AI), digital banking, and marketing, consumer sentiment toward their financial institutions has remained largely unchanged year-over -year.

• Users of online-only and national banks are more likely to not feel truly known by their primary financial institution, with 75% and 68% reporting this sentiment, compared to 65% of users of local/community banks or credit unions, and 63% of users of regional banks.

• Fifty-two percent of people surveyed feel less personal connection with their bank/credit union now than they have in years past. This sentiment is stronger among users of local/community bank/credit unions and regional banks, with 57% and 56% expressing the loss, compared to 52% and 42% of those who use national and online-only banks.

• Online-only bank users are most likely to consider switching (63%) compared to users of national banks (55%), regional banks (50%), and local/community banks or credit unions (45%).

The Goal: Building Relationships

“We are all about building relationships,” Thompson told Finopotamus. He explained one of the questions White Clay wanted to ascertain was the quality of the accountholder relationship at financial institutions “across the spectrum — from the nationals down to the smallest community (bank) or credit unions.”

Thompson explained, “It is surprising because the results are very different than what most people think about inside of their credit union or bank. They think they are a lot better at building relationships than they are.”

On credit unions, Thompson said, “Credit unions are really interested in getting members, members are super important. But they are thinking about new production, they are thinking about new accounts being opened. The organization isn't built around the concept that you have this relationship with these members and those members are part of a relationship; the industry just isn't built around that.”

One irony of these findings, Thompson noted, is that large national banks are actually much better at understanding banking relationships than smaller financial institutions. He continued: “They have the data, they have the intelligence around it, and they basically train their people to go after that. In the smaller (FIs) like the credit union space, community banking space, they don't really have the information or the intelligence around it. We don't have modern information in front of them, empowering the team members at the credit unions to take care of their members' relationships.”

Getting Help

“We help banks and credit unions build deeper, more profitable relationships. How we do that is we take all the information in the financial institution, every account, every transaction across all the various systems, put it all together, build a relationship view of the customer,” Thompson said.

White Clay then adds business intelligence around transaction behavior, deepening opportunities, lifetime value, prioritize it, then delivers that to the frontline customer facing team members and they help them build those deeper relationships, according to Thompson.

He added that White Clay works with a range of credit unions and banks with the smallest financial institution about $350 million in assets. “Our largest is about $300 billion. So, a pretty wide range of clients.”

Bank Profitability vs. CU Equitability

While White Clay tries to optimize accountholder profitably, Thompson admits credit unions and banks view the term differently. “They both look at profitability. I don't know if credit unions will characterize it as that. Banks definitely look at profitability. (For) credit unions it's really more about treating all members equitably.”

As an example, Thompson cited the introduction of commercial banking. “A lot of credit unions had excess funds and they decided to do some commercial lending. If you don't understand the product-level profitability of those loans, what you could be doing is subsidizing the commercial business through members, because members participate in the income streams from their credit union.”

If credit unions are making loans that are unprofitable because they want to show some revenue, “you might be doing that at the expense of your consumer members,” advised Thompson. He added from a credit union perspective, it's a lot more about equitable treatment. In the banking space, “It's really more about a return on capital and liquidity.”

Credit Unions Should Prioritize Account Holders Strategies

Heading into the new year, credit unions should prioritize their strategies on accountholders, suggested Thompson. “Credit unions started as a service for their members. They cared about them (because) they didn't have a means to buy homes and things because traditional banking at the time wasn't doing a great job of it. I think traditional banking is doing better now, but still, there is a market for credit unions, They just need to take a step back and refocus on why they exist.”

Thompson recommended that credit unions ask members: Are we delivering what we should be delivering to you in a way that's most effective for you to accomplish whatever it is you want accomplish with you in your life? He reiterated that White Clay’s focus is helping credit unions and banks better know their members and clients. “We are a powerful enabling force that can really help people. And I think refocusing on understanding how and what your members need, what you can do to help them is a great way to drive growth, to drive revenue improvement and in the bank space drive improved profitability.”

For credit unions, Thompson indicated White Clay offers two unique strategies:

1. “We move zeros and ones around with technology,” said Thompson, describing the fundamental way digital technology works. “We can talk about transacting, we can talk about how we service accounts, calculating things, but it's just zeros and ones.”

2. “The second part is we deal with people and money and I think we're spending a lot of time on how the technology's moving those zeros and ones around. And we're losing focus that money is emotional.” Thompson explained that money is something “when people have a problem, they really want help. And if they try to buy a home or they have a life event or something they're trying to do in terms of their life goals, this is all emotional.”

Making Strategy More Human Centered

Thompson suggested credit unions need to refocus their effort on that people side much more. “Because it's really focused on the technology side. But we're leaving the humanity piece of this banking equation on the side.”

To create a more human-centered accountholder relationship, Thompson recommended credit unions start with empathy. “We're going to have to do a lot more listening, as an industry. We're going to have to start actively trying to figure out what our members are doing. How they're different, because all members are not one population.”

Once credit unions listen to member concerns underscored in the White Clay survey, Thompson said next steps involve developing the organization’s team members, processes, and technology to align with a human-centered approach. “Because there's financial goals that banks and credit unions have, but there's also should also be a client experience piece to this. The people that get better at both those things, the technology and the client experience are going to win.”

Thompson also suggested how White Clay might help credit unions. “We have the technology and the knowhow to put all the information together. We can help work with you on how you can execute that capability. We need to improve where we are as an industry (toward) a better overall experience for members across the country. We curate the data and we provide guidance along this evolutionary path.”