Anheuser-Busch Employees' Credit Union (ABECU) is a full-service credit union that offers a wide variety of products and services to nearly 100,000 members nationwide and around the world. The St. Louis-based credit union is currently ranked as a "Top 150" credit union in the U.S. and is a recognized leader in the development of interstate delivery of financial services. The credit union’s robust online services have enticed over forty percent of their members to use services such as online banking, e-statements and bill pay, which is one of the reasons that they have chosen to partner with Memphis-based uMonitor, a top provider of a wide range of financial services solutions specifically designed to help credit unions provide the most up-to-date online services.

Back in 2006, Calvin Curdt, Vice President of Information Systems at ABECU, and his team were looking to add an online account opening and funding solution to their online banking platform. Curdt recalls that "our team spent quite a few months researching and reviewing various vendor solutions." After this extensive due diligence, ABECU felt that uMonitor was the best choice. Curdt explains that "we felt that uMonitor was the best fit for us because they had a tight integration with our Summit core system and were flexible in terms of customizing the platform to our needs, especially since we have a fairly unique membership base that is spread out geographically. We also liked the fact that their initial pricing was more competitive."

ABECU was not only rolling out uMonitor's uOpen and uFund applications to their potential and current online bankers, but also to their member service representatives (MSRs) in their 26 branches. According to Curdt, "While the system deployment with customization took over a year, the planned production rollout over three months went well. Our MSRs and branch managers have been very pleased with the ease of use of the programs." It used to take thirty to forty five minutes to ‘onboard’ a new member. Now with uOpen this process has been cut in half. Curdt confirms that "the system prompts the MSRs through the process just like it does for our online self service members, so it is very easy to use. Members can even start online and then come into the branch and have our MSRs finish the process."

When combined with uMonitor’s switch kit, uSwitch®, ABECU has a powerful cross-selling and up-selling system in place. Curdt points out that "the platform automatically prompts for additional product sales, for example, every checking account is offered a debit card." Everything is designed to makes it easy and convenient for members to move their financial relationships from other financial institutions over to ABECU. In terms of security, uMonitor’s uOpen & uFund solution makes it simple for credit unions to meet the USA Patriot Act, Section 326 regulation requirements, as well as the FACT Act Section 326 Red Flag requirements. The application’s sophisticated workflow automatically validates identification information and helps reduce fraud with its efficient behind the scenes compliance checks.

With eleven years at the credit union and over thirty years of IT experience, Curdt is well positioned to talk about vendor technical support. He is pleased to report that "while deployment was challenging, once the system was fully deployed and transitioned to operations, the service has performed well and any issues reported now are resolved promptly," He adds that "we also have a good relationship with the senior management team at uMonitor, especially Dinesh Sheth, the CEO of uMonitor."

In terms of costs savings, the credit union is enjoying the benefits of the low cost self service online channel. 8 – 10% of our new member activity is directly attributed to online applications. Curdt confirms that "our senior management team has been very pleased with the results that we have seen from deploying uOpen, uFund and uSwitch, and it has been successful overall."