A new credit union in Red Deer aims to combine high-end technology with personal relationships, says the company’s president.
Mountain View Financial, a division of Connect First Credit Union, which has 45 locations, opened in Red Deer with a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday afternoon.
Stephen Brosinsky, Mountain View Financial president, said it’s important to use technology and face-to-face interactions with credit union members.
“Banking has been moving towards utilizing technology. A lot of our members have been involved with us electronically or remotely. This is a chance to put boots on the ground,” he said.
“What we find is that technology is great for some things, but when you’re building strong relationships, you need a mixture of both in-person comfort and the investment of technology.”
Sandi Kaye, Connect First chief financial officer, said the credit union already serves “several” people in Red Deer.
“We’ve been serving them out of other locations and doing a great job, but we really wanted to find a place for them to come to. We found this location and built it for them,” Kaye said.
The new branch will be smaller than a typical credit union, Kaye added.
“Banking is really changing and this location is technology enabled,” she said.
“It’s all Wi-Fi, it’s very high-end technology and people aren’t (completing transactions) as much in branches. We wanted to build this location for that, so it’s a cashless branch helping our commercial members.
“We’re making sure we have the technology to help them and guide them, while not having a great big footprint that isn’t required.”
Brosinsky said this will be a “pilot branch” for Mountain View Financial.
“We’ve never had a cashless branch, and when I say cashless, I mean there’s no frontline. There’s no teller line. We have invested in the technology of a state-of-the-art ATM that can do a lot of those transactions.”
The building is under 1,800 square-feet. Usually, banks open branches with around 6,000 square feet of space, Brosinsky said.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter