Success Stories

FORUM Credit Union

Growing value of loan portfolio through automation

Fishers (Indiana), US

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At a Glance

● 100% increase in automation

● 60% of all loan decisions now automated

● 87.5% faster in audit and fund loans

● 135% Consumer lending portfolio increase

● 27% Membership base increase

● 97% customer satisfaction rating

FORUM Credit Union aims to help its members achieve their financial dreams by offering innovative products and high-quality customer service. Headquartered in Fishers, Indiana, it was initially formed to serve the employees of the Indiana Bell Telephone Company. Today, the credit union manages total assets worth $1.9 billion and provides personal and savings accounts, home and auto loans, credit and debit cards, financial advisory, and business banking services to 171,773 members.

Embracing advanced technologies has long been a central part of FORUM’s growth strategy. The credit union was among the first in the USA to offer checks as a payment method in the 1980s and was also an early adopter of fingerprint and facial recognition authentication systems for its mobile app.

Meeting increased demand

FORUM’s membership had expanded by 52% in the ten years preceding its adoption of Temenos, with particular growth in requests for auto loans. At the same time, members increasingly expected a slick, seamless digital experience when they interact with their financial service provider. However, FORUM struggled to process rising application volumes quickly with its previous loan origination system, increasing the risk of members switching to a competitor.

Specifically, FORUM wanted a platform that would accelerate and automate as many steps in the loan origination process as possible and enable the consumer lending team to set their own procedures for whether an application should be approved. It was also essential to connect the new solution to the systems of FORUM’s auto dealer partners, which provide indirect loans on its behalf.

Implementing a customizable, integrated solution

To modernize its auto loans business, FORUM decided to implement Temenos Loan Origination (2015), which provides intelligent decisioning functionality to manage the application, risk calculation, and loan disbursement processes. The Temenos solution enables the credit union to create unique approval rules and decisioning models for direct and indirect auto loans, based on its own lending and risk guidelines.

Another major plus for FORUM was the Debt Protection panel within the Temenos platform. The credit union uses the feature to enhance its auto loan service by providing an accompanying quote for insurance. Through the integrated Trustage Protection Advisor Connector, FORUM can generate quotes for Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP) and Mechanical Repair Coverage (MRC) services from Trustage Financial Group.

“The solution was very easy to configure” explains Chris. “And whenever we experienced challenges during the deployment, we worked closely with Temenos to keep the project moving forward. Temenos understands that every financial institution is unique and possesses distinctive goals. Having spent time listening to our requirements, the Temenos team set us on the path towards realizing our objectives.”

Accelerating approvals

By deploying Temenos, FORUM increased the levels of automation in its loan origination process by 100%.

The impact has been profound, says Chris.

Extending value

The story of FORUM CU’s partnership with Temenos is one of continual improvement. During the almost-decade long partnership, FORUM CU has extended the technology to its consumer account origination business and small business account origination businesses.

Today, the powerful engine manages over 60% of all lending decisions, helping to minimize the risk of human error, protecting against fraud, and freeing up time for operational teams to focus on value-add tasks, such as exception handling.

Meanwhile, automations have significantly reduced the time it takes to develop new products. This has emboldened the credit union with a newfound agility. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the credit union launched an emergency loan scheme within just a few hours—a process that would have taken several weeks with the old system. Today, that can be done in just 10 minutes.

More time to be productive

Chris says that a major impact of automation is not simply measured in time savings, but what colleagues can do with that time. “They don’t feel overwhelmed by the number of applications coming through. So they can spend more time on applications that need more attention, and make more quality decisions.”

Automations have also made it easier for FORUM to cross-sell and up-sell other savings and credit services to loan applicants, driving revenues and strengthening brand loyalty. The financials speak for themselves. In the nine years since deploying the Temenos platform (Loan Origination in 2015, and then Account Origination in July 2018) the credit union increased its loan portfolio by 135% (from $382m to more than $900m) and its membership base by 27%. Additionally, FORUM’s consumer lending division saw consumer loan originations double between between 2021-22. FORUM also receives around 97% positive ratings in user satisfaction polls—significantly higher than its competitors.

In addition, Temenos is helping FORUM to address constantly evolving financial regulations. The credit union configured the Temenos system to collect relevant data points, which it uses to create reports that demonstrate compliance with industry guidelines.

More to come…

Next up is an implementation of Digital Onboarding (previously Journey Manager) to support a redesign of their digital experience and an upgrade to their fraud management capabilities. “Over the last 10 years, there’s been continued evolution and enhancement, with new features and functions that we continue to build out. We have a lot of plans for the future and Temenos will definitely be coming along for the ride.”

Today, the mood at FORUM is one of confidence