Great Lakes Credit Union (GLCU) shared its experience with the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in financial services at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on July 23. The hearing explored the impacts, risks, and uses of generative AI in the financial services and housing sectors.
The Northern Illinois-based credit union was selected by the nation’s top credit unions to represent the sector’s perspective.
During the hearing, GLCU CEO Elizabeth Osborne explained how the credit union is using AI to better serve its members and argued that this could be an option for other credit unions, which she said tend to have fewer resources and assets than larger financial institutions.
She added that by using Olive, an AI-powered virtual assistant, the credit union is now able to handle more than 60% of all calls coming into its member contact center during business hours and more than 75% of calls outside of business hours. Before using AI, GLCU served customers through phone banking, which had a handle rate of 25%.
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Osborne said calls handled across the board by Olive have increased by more than 200% since the service launched in August 2023, which has led to increased career opportunities and higher pay levels for members' contact centre staff.
“AI is an important tool for credit unions,” Osborne said. “It helps us serve our members better and offers services that economies of scale can't provide. For GLCU, Olive is a strategic partner that helps us deliver on the fundamental mission of a credit union. Our use of Olive is a great example of how credit unions can effectively leverage AI to improve the lives of their members.”
Osborne argued that credit unions need to embrace AI technologies to compete with larger financial institutions and non-bank financial technology (fintech) companies. GLCU is already exploring other AI technologies, such as Microsoft Power Automate, which can be used to automate repetitive, manual tasks to save time and resources, reduce errors and delays, and improve productivity and accuracy.
“As policymakers work through legislation and regulations in this new environment, it is important to recognize that many existing laws are technology agnostic and still applicable,” Osborne noted. “As with any technology, consumer financial protection and anti-discrimination rules remain broadly applicable whether decisions are made by humans or AI. Existing regulations require credit unions to adopt best-in-the-world practices and ensure new technologies do not jeopardize the safety or rights of individual members. It is encouraging to see the bipartisan task force report recognize the broad applicability of existing fair lending and consumer financial protection laws.”
Osborne explained that AI uses at credit unions generally fall into three categories: underwriting support, fraud prevention, and customer service. GLCU is focusing on the latter, with plans to upgrade Olive to support Spanish to better serve Spanish-speaking members, who make up a large portion of GLC’s membership base.
“Credit unions like mine are committed to using AI safely and securely to help members meet their financial needs,” she says. “AI will enable credit unions to more effectively compete with large banks and non-banking companies in the financial services space. AI will not change credit unions' historic role as relationship lenders committed to maintaining close connections with the communities they serve.”
You can watch the full recording here.
