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Solutions January 2006
FINANCIAL
MARKET
Software
that improves layout and content
of statements is a hit with financial
institutions and their customers.
For
years, financial institutions
have delivered to their customers
statements that looked the same
month after month. They could
do little to change the statements’
format, appearance and content.
Now, many companies demand colorful
and attractive statements that
offer them marketing opportunities
and their customers’ information
that is better organized and easier
to read.
In
1999, Mark Selland and Jeff Ziegler
grabbed the opportunity. They
developed proprietary software
that gives financial institutions
such as credit unions and banks
the control and flexibility to
create customized online statements
and more. They launched BIT Statement,
a document creation and delivery
company in Seattle.
Today,
Selland is the company’s
president and Ziegler is the vice
president of technology. Backed
by 35 employees, BIT Statement
serves 125 clients, mostly credit
unions, and has annual revenues
of $6 million. It mainly targets
financial institutions, but also
works with telecom, utility and
dental insurance companies. BIT
Statement offers simplex and duplex
printing, folding, inserting and
variable data printing. It produces
daily notices such as NSF and
certificate maturity notices,
and VISA statements, escrow analysis
statements, newsletters and annual
tax forms. Customers can order
products through the company’s
online inventory system. BIT Statement
also maintains a warehouse to
store forms and envelopes.
Reinventing
Statements
Since
its inception, the software—BIT
RIP and eStatements—has
evolved to satisfy the needs of
both financial institutions and
their customers. On Jan. 8, the
U.S. Postal Service increased
most postal rates and fees by
approximately 5.4 percent. While
financial institutions want to
avoid rising mailing costs, their
customers demand quick and efficient
services such as electronic delivery
of statements, says Kelly Warfel,
vice president of sales and marketing
at BIT Statement. The software
allows a financial institution
to electronically present to its
customers periodic account statements,
billing statements, daily notices,
annual tax forms and disclosures.
The financial institution can
design its own statement format
or select from 25 standard templates.
This allows the institution to
remove unnecessary information
from the statements, and lay out
the relevant information more
efficiently, Warfel says.
A
credit union, one of BIT Statement’s
client, wanted to send monthly
account statements to its members.
Each month, it sends data to BIT
Statement via a secure FTP site.
The software, which accepts data
in a variety of formats, puts
it into an SQL database, processes
it, and places it into data fields
such as name, address, social
security number, etc., on a predetermined
statement format.
BIT
Statement puts an eStatements’
link on the credit union’s
web site for its members to register.
After clicking the link, a member
views the eStatement registration
page, which is branded with the
credit union’s name and
logo. BIT Statement authenticates
the member’s SSN, DOB, and
account number. The member provides
his or her name and email address,
selects a username and password,
and accepts the user agreement.
The
member can link all of his or
her credit union accounts to view
the account statements in PDF
formats with a single logon. When
a new statement is posted each
month, BIT Statement sends an
email to the member with a link
to the credit union’s eStatement
log-on page. The company also
sends a reminder email to members
who haven’t viewed their
statements after a certain amount
of time has elapsed. Members can
view, print and download statements
from desktop computers at their
convenience. The credit union
determines how long the statements
will remain available to members;
BIT Statement offers up to 12
months. BIT Statement also works
with several check image providers
to include check images in the
online statements. It prints and
mails paper statements to members
who prefer the traditional way.
Warfel
says many clients are taking advantage
of adding marketing messages to
the online statements. BIT Statement
can add customized PDF marketing
files to account holders’
screens before they access online
statements, embed eye-catching
graphics into statement messages
for greater visibility, insert
hyperlinks to related information
such as online application forms
or rates for the services being
promoted, and embed links to streaming
video promotions. To make the
marketing efforts effective, the
company delivers different messages
to different account holders.
Reaping
the Benefits
Warfel
says a financial institution can
slash costs by 65 percent when
it replaces paper statements with
online ones because of reduced
paper stock, envelope, processing
and postage costs. Plus, it doesn’t
need to invest in additional hardware
and software to use BIT RIP and
eStatements. End users receive
statements quickly with reduced
exposure to identity theft from
mail fraud.
Distributors
benefit, too. Because banks and
credit unions are technology-savvy,
they’re more comfortable
working with distributors that
show similar capabilities. “They
value working with companies that
continue to evolve their products,”
Warfel says. “BIT Statement
rolls out new product enhancements
every month to its clients.”
Offering
online statements is a value-added
service, one that ensures customer
loyalty. Once the credit unions
and banks use the technology,
it’s hard for them to work
with other companies because of
the convenience and ease of use,
Warfel says. “The program
works so well that we have zero
attrition,” she says. “We
have institutions that convert
other online statement programs
over to our company, but none
that convert to other providers.”
BIT Statement maintains the web
site and related services for
distributors who offer eStatements
to their customers.
Once
the doors open, distributors can
gain more work from credit unions
and banks. “It starts with
the statement work,” Warfel
says. “Then it evolves into
the daily notices such as NSF
notices, CD maturity notices,
late notices, and then the annual
tax forms.”
Preeti
Vasishtha is assistant editor
at Print Solutions magazine. Email
her your comments at pvasishtha@PSDA.org.
Understanding
Credit Unions
Before
you target credit unions, here
are four points that will help
you gain a better understanding
of them. The information was obtained
from Madison, Wis.-based Credit
Union National Association (CUNA),
a national trade association serving
credit unions. Ninety percent
of America’s credit unions
are affiliated with CUNA.
1.
Credit unions are non-profit financial
cooperatives organized solely
to meet the needs of their members.
2.
There are 9,198 credit unions
in the United States. Approximately,
5,493 are chartered under federal
law, while 3,705 are chartered
under laws of various states and
Puerto Rico.
3.
One way to categorize credit unions
is according to their assets.
Credit unions with less than $2
million in assets make up about
17 percent of all the credit unions.
These offer shares and loans.
Credit unions with an asset size
of $5 million to $10 million have
larger memberships that require
extensive services. Credit unions
with $50 million to $100 million
are large full-service financial
institutions.
4.
Credit union membership totals
87 million.
Online
Services Grow
Here’s
a look at some credit union services
that are becoming increasingly
popular with their members, according
to the 2002/2003 Technology &
E-Commerce Survey Report from
the Credit Union National Association,
Madison, Wis.
1.
Three in 10 credit unions offer
internet banking to their members.
2.
Approximately 10 percent of a
credit union’s members conduct
at least one transaction per month
through the credit union’s
online services.
3.
More than 80 percent of
all credit unions larger than
$50 million in assets planned
to offer online statements by
the end of 2003.
4.
The popularity of services such
as online bill payment and e-statements
continues to grow among credit
union members, according to a
survey by Callahan & Associates
Inc., a national credit union
research and consulting firm,
Washington, D.C. E-statements
are the fastest growing online
capability among credit unions.
