No longer. A forthcoming report from a collaboration between PYMNTS Intelligence and Velera reveals how top-performing credit unions are surging ahead in modern financial services, not just by offering more of the money products and features found at traditional banks, but by strategically aligning their offerings with the expectations of their digital-minded members.
PYMNTS Intelligence’s Innovation Readiness Index (IRI) measures how well credit unions’ current and future offerings align with what their members expect in a modern financial institution, from credit cards with perks and financial planning apps to digital onboarding and the ability to apply for loans and other credit products online. Based on surveys of credit union executives, consumers and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the coming report shows that top-performing credit unions have boosted their consumer innovation readiness substantially over the past two years and are now 49% closer to offering the complete suite of financial products and features their members want.
The findings in “2025 Credit Union Innovation Readiness Index” underscore that failing to modernize, particularly in digital services, poses a significant threat to credit unions’ relevance and market share against traditional banks, from regional to national. Digital capabilities are becoming a factor as critical as George Bailey’s winning rapport with members in growing and retaining customers.
Roughly one in five Americans, or around 63 million people out of 328 million, live in rural areas, the traditional stronghold of credit unions. But the institutions aren’t just small-time rural: Vienna, VA-based Navy Federal Credit Union, which serves current and former armed forces members and their families, has $190 billion in assets, the biggest of its kind and larger than Cleveland-based KeyBank, the nation’s 22nd-largest traditional bank. Multinational companies from Boeing to Disney have their own credit unions for current and former employees. The institutions, which took off after the Great Depression, now number nearly 4,500 and more than 142 million members, National Credit Union Administration data shows, making them a mainstay of financial services for a large swath of Americans.
The forthcoming report is based on three surveys: of 500 credit union executives conducted from Feb. 6, 2025, to April 14, 2025; a census-balanced survey of 15,758 U.S. consumers between Feb. 28, 2025, and March 31, 2025; and a…
