TrueStory: Building FORUM's Future Together

Quick Summary: FORUM Credit Union is building a stronger future through its member-owned cooperative model, strategic financial planning and continued technology investments. Learn how FORUM is enhancing the CU Online mobile app, supporting local communities and bringing members together at Community Day.

By Doug True, CEO

We recognize you have many options when choosing a financial services partner and we appreciate your decision to be a member/owner here at FORUM Credit Union. Your membership sets us apart because you and your fellow 166,307 member/owners are the cooperative’s only owners. 100% of your deposits are loaned out to your fellow members and member businesses. This creates a community of people helping people, keeps money local, and strengthens our communities – thank you.

Speaking of our cooperative structure, our nine board members are FORUM members elected to serve the interest of our membership. They volunteer their time to help the Credit Union serve today’s members while preparing to meet the needs of future members as well. One key responsibility is hosting an annual planning retreat with our seven-member executive team to shape the cooperative’s future. This year, we visited our partners at ALM First in Dallas, Texas, to fine-tune strategies related to the current volatility of the interest rate environment and the uncertainty of economic conditions. We are fortunate here at FORUM, as our balance sheet, asset quality (loan portfolio), and our earnings are all strong. This planning was designed to continue this trend into the future so we can continue to maximize the value proposition of being a FORUM member while also investing into the future of the cooperative via technology, new and remodeled branches, and our 439 teammates who serve you.

In exciting news related to technology investments, we recently released a new version of our CU Online mobile app. This version was mostly focused on the back end as we formerly had one code base for both iOS and Android devices. With this version, we split out the code bases to take advantage of each operating system. We are following a project roadmap with many more enhancements coming your way. These include better navigation (the side menu will be replaced with more intuitive navigation based on your behaviors) and new ways to move money in and out of FORUM to other financial service providers. We are unique with our CU Online mobile app as we built this in-house with FORUM teammates along with help from a local company headquartered near Westfield, SEP. What makes this partnership especially valuable is that the SEP software engineers working with us are also FORUM members, giving them a personal stake in improving the app for the entire membership. Only a handful of credit unions in the United States build their own mobile apps as most credit unions rely on third-party providers. This in-house approach allows us to collect your feedback to improve the app. We are excited about the future of our CU Online mobile app as more money movement and financial management tools are coming your way.

To learn more about what it means to be part of FORUM’s member-owned cooperative, join us for Community Day on Saturday, October 17^th at our headquarters location, 11313 USA Parkway in Fishers. We welcome the opportunity to meet you and show you around. Stop by between 3:00pm and 6:00pm for activities, food, games, tours, financial education, and community connections. The event also gives us an opportunity to celebrate International Credit Union Day, observed on Thursday, October 15^th. Thank you for being a FORUM member and we hope to see you at Community Day on October 17^th.