Credit Unions Have Partners in Retaining Profitable Members
CUNA Mutual/RFG Alliance Offers a Solution

December 26, 2000,  OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL/ MADISON, WI -- 
Raddon Financial Group (RFG) and CUNA Mutual Group have announced an agreement that will allow credit unions to improve profitability by identifying investment and insurance sales opportunities.

The Investment & Insurance Product Analysis is available to members of RFG's CEO Strategies Program and CUNA Mutual's MemberCONNECT and MEMBERS Financial Services programs.  RFG currently provides core deposit and loan product analysis for more than 400 credit unions nationwide through the CEO Strategies Program.  Approximately 4,500 credit unions are served through CUNA Mutual’s MemberCONNECT and the MEMBERS Financial Services programs.

Through the Investment & Insurance Product Analysis, RFG and CUNA Mutual integrate the credit union’s member household database with NCUA 5300 financial information and investment and insurance data retained by CUNA Mutual.  Each credit union receives a unique report containing their results with comparisons to industry averages.  Representatives from RFG and CUNA Mutual present the results to the credit union at a regional workshop.

"The Investment & Insurance Product Analysis was designed specifically for credit unions to help them enhance their member relationships and to assess their performance," said Kevin Lentz, vice president CUNA Mutual MEMBERS Enterprise.  "It will show credit unions how investment and insurance sales impact their profitability."  

The Investment & Insurance Product Analysis gives credit unions:

• A comprehensive look at how investment and insurance product sales impact household level relationships;

• A list of cross-selling opportunities between traditional products and investment/insurance products;

• An analysis of product penetration across member segments;

• A list of sales and marketing opportunities that will leverage investment/insurance products

"We continually work to enhance the management information for our clients.  This relationship is a good fit for RFG, CUNA Mutual Group and our credit union clients,’’ said Bill Handel, RFG vice president of research. “Measuring investment and insurance information alongside core deposit and loan products will enhance the credit union's analysis of their member household relationships, product penetration and overall performance.”

The Investment & Insurance Product Analysis offers credit unions a new level of management information to make strategic decisions.  Analyzing investment and insurance product sales will help credit unions identify the impact on member household profitability and overall performance, while identifying product sales opportunities that may have been overlooked.

"Integration is key to this program," Lentz said.  "It integrates investment and insurance data held by CUNA Mutual to determine the complete member household relationship.  As a result, credit unions receive an accurate account assessment that includes household and product profitability information."

Gary Raddon, RFG chairman, said: "Credit unions will find this new product analysis extremely useful for product development and targeting key segments for growth and retention strategies.  This program will likely drive retention strategies as credit unions learn how the loyalty of an investment household compares to a household with core products.

"We were looking for a way to increase our per-member profitability," said Leo Ardine, president, United Teletech Federal Credit Union, a New Jersey-based, $203 million credit union.  "We knew we were not getting all of our memberships’ business and were looking for a way to help us identify what we could go after and how much it would mean to us.  We met with CUNA Mutual and Raddon, and they suggested the Investment & Insurance Product Analysis.  Once we looked over the data they gathered, we could really see the bottom-line impact of expanded member relationships.

We knew our membership had tremendous potential.  The analysis quantified it for us.  It looked at profit contributions by household and it showed us how we could increase profit contributions by member," Ardine added. "The analysis helped us validate some of the initiatives we were undertaking and caused us to change some others.  It also identified product sales opportunities based on demographics and profit potential. The data was very helpful in reinforcing with our sales team how important these products are to our bottom line."

The program is $2,250, plus a nominal workshop registration fee.  The Investment & Insurance Product Analysis is currently available in the Northeast and Southeast regions of the country.  Both organizations plan to expand the program to other regions in early 2001.

For more information, contact RFG at (800) 827-3500, ext. 330 or the CUNA Mutual Group at (800) 937-2644, ext. 6016.

For more than 20 years, RFG has provided primary research and marketing solutions to the financial services industry.  To learn more about RFG’s integrated solutions, please visit www.raddon.com.

The CUNA Mutual Group is the leading provider of financial services to credit unions and their members worldwide, offering insurance, investment and technological solutions through strategic relationships and modern service channels.  More information on the company is available on the company's Web site at www.cunamutual.com.

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