Page 15 - BusinessWest December 12, 2022

Rich Kump, president and CEO of UMassFive Federal Credit Union.
Banking & Finance
Points of Interest
UMassFive Charts a Course for Continued Growth, Expansion
RBy George O’Brien
ichard Kump says he’s disappointed by — but quite philosophical about — recent statistics show- ing that credit unions are
not faring as well as they have histori- cally when it comes to customer sat- isfaction.
“Most of our members have Amazon — with one click, you can purchase something. And that’s what they expect from us, being able to accomplish whatever their need is quickly and without friction.”
“For just about our entire existence, credit unions have always outperformed banks, particularly the big banks, but just a few years ago, credit unions dipped in our satisfaction rating com- pared to particularly the national and multi-regional banks,” he said, adding that there’s an obvious reason why.
“It used to be that satisfaction was coming into the branch, being met with a smiling face that was empathetic and there to help — that in-face, smiling employee,” he explained. “Now, satis- faction is defined a little differently; it’s defined by speed: ‘how quickly can I accomplish this?’ The Bank of Ameri- cas, the Wells Fargos ... their ease of use has surpassed that of credit unions and small community banks.”
Getting up to speed — figuratively but also quite literally — is one of the broad strategic objectives identified by Kump, president and CEO of UMassFive College Federal Credit Union, and other members of the leadership team at this 55-year-old institution.
Others include everything from ter- ritorial expansion — Springfield and
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