FinTech Magazine - May 2022 | Page 92

MSU FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

A year on since we spoke with MSU Federal Credit Union , Benjamin Maxim , VP of Digital Strategy & Innovation , discusses the success of its Innovation Lab

Touching base with Benjamin Maxim , Vice President of Digital Strategy and Innovation at MSU Federal Credit Union ( MSUFCU ), a year has passed since he discussed the launch of the credit union ’ s Innovation Lab with FinTech Magazine . Today , Maxim is proud of the lab ' s success over the past year and is keen to share the company ' s journey .

‘ BUILDING DREAMS TOGETHER ’ As a credit union , MSUFCU ’ s core mission is to serve its members . Its tagline is ‘ Building dreams together ’, but when it comes to innovation , Maxim stresses that it isn ’ t just about the big things like the creation of the iPhone or Tesla , it ’ s also about making your operations better day-by-day .
“ In general as a business , if you are not growing and improving , then there is a good chance you won ’ t make it long term ,” he says . “ Innovation is truly the way forward .”
Founded in 1937 during the Great Depression as a way to gain access to loans , Maxim reflects that the service back then was really nothing more than an innovative way to buy financial services at the time . “ Innovation has been at our core ever since ,” says Maxim .
When it comes to technological innovations , MSUFCU was one of the first credit unions to tie into an ATM network , one of the first to use Visa cards , and an early
adopter of mobile apps . " At the time these were revolutionary ,” says Maxim .
Today the credit union is investing heavily in the fintech industry to keep the organisation moving forwards . “ This is where our Innovation Lab comes in ,” explains Maxim . “ A primary focus of our Innovation Lab is to get our members involved early in our product development , which allows us to utilise our members to find out what they are interested in , how we can help them and to ensure we are developing products and services our members will actually enjoy using .”
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE INNOVATION LAB The Innovation Lab was born out of MSUFCU ’ s need to better serve its growing member base . “ We have a track record of building our own technology to serve our customers ,” says Maxim . “ Almost twelve years ago we launched our own online banking and mobile banking apps .”
Since Maxim started his digital journey with MSUFCU , its membership base has grown from 170,000 to over 320,000 .
“ With this growth , a lot of work was needed to be done to scale our services and make them work better for the larger quantity of people using them ,” explains Maxim , who adds : “ When we were a small and nimble team , there was a lot of organic innovation , but with growth , this has become harder .”
92 May 2022