Three credit unions in Ireland are working with banking software company Temenos to digitise their services.
The collaboration will move Capital Credit Union, Credit Union Plus and Tullamore Credit Union away from legacy, on-premise systems to Temenos’ front-to-back Software as a Service (SaaS). They are looking to digitally transform their businesses and prepare for growth.
Temenos’ platform offers pre-packaged front-to-back credit union products, processes and channels, built on modern cloud-native, cloud-agnostic and API-first technology.
The three credit unions hope the switch will add a further 10% per annum to their already strong loan growth rates. Capital Credit Union also predicts an additional 10,000 members over the next three years.
Gerry McConville, CEO, Capital Credit Union, said: “People often ask us how we compete with the banks, but we see the fintechs as our future competition. Our strong community presence is one of our key differentiators – if we couple a strong digital presence with this existing community presence, we will have a winning formula for community banking, and one that our members will appreciate and support.
“We believe that Temenos Community Banking will drive greater interaction with our members and growth in our share of the personal loan and specialist mortgage markets, allowing us to future-proof the credit union to the benefit of all its members.”
John Grogan, CEO, Credit Union Plus, said: “Between mergers and organic growth, Ireland’s credit unions are going though momentous change and we are happy to be at the forefront of these exciting developments. Our aim in this collaborative initiative is to reciprocate member loyalty and trust with the convenient, scalable and secure delivery of a range of contemporary financial services.”
Dennis Daly, CEO, Tullamore Credit Union, added: “Once the Temenos Community Banking system is fully operational, all our members will benefit from reduced paperwork, increased transaction speeds and an expanded services offering. While members are incredibly loyal to their community credit unions, many also feel the need to have accounts with a large bank and/or new fintech entity. This new system is intended to satisfy members’ full range of banking services needs, thereby negating the need to have accounts elsewhere.”
The credit union sector in Ireland boasts 3.4 million members and has assets of €18.3bn (£15.21bn). In the UK the credit union sector’s total assets amount to £3.5bn.
