Profitability Software Pays Off for Bellco CU

Bellco Credit Union, Denver, is reaping dividends from ProfitVision, an enterprise profitability analysis solution from fti/Financial Technologies (FTI), a provider of integrated financial accounting tools, asset liability management software, and enterprise profitability solutions.

The $1.4 billion institution was searching for a system that could analyze true relationship pricing and support relationship management. "We needed to know who our most profitable segments were, as well as who were the least profitable," said Terri Stonebraker, director of customer services at Bellco Credit Union. Previously, Bellco operated on hunches about its various segments. Now, it has precise information on the amount of profit each segment contributes.

"Being able to accurately identify these segments has already assisted with our planning for both product and marketing initiatives," added Stonebraker.

The solution integrates with Bellco's existing systems and provides reliable information for senior management, she said. Based on specified definitions, processes and thresholds, ProfitVision performs a sequence of analyses from internally-imported data.

Bellco was impressed with the service it received during the installation, she added. "The implementation took six weeks, and FTI was speaking our language throughout the process."

ProfitVision supports Bellco's non-standard funds transfer pricing. Profit results, value indicators and segments are made available to decision-makers via a choice of standard reports, custom reports, screen views and/or browser interfaces. "FTI was very flexible with the look and output, and allowed us to customize to our needs," said Stonebraker.

ProfitVision allows financial institutions to analyze their member or customer base by utilizing a variety of analyses, including funds transfer pricing, cost allocation, budgeting, forecasting, and activity-based costing. Value indicators can be used to segment clients, products, officers or business entities. Results can be exported to internal systems for automated action or third-party software vendors for further dissemination to end-users. The results also can be returned to the originating system or appended to existing data mart records.

ProfitVision meets the needs of banks and credit unions looking to implement relationship pricing, according to Nate Rocco of Tshibanda & Associates, a Kansas City, Mo.-based consulting firm retained by Bellco. "Some systems are only 75 percent there in terms of what is necessary, but FTI's solution is missing nothing."

Bellco's search included an RFP as well as a proof-of-concept phase. After narrowing the field to three providers of profitability solutions, a thorough evaluation of each system was performed. Bellco was impressed by FTI's willingness to permit use of its full system during the proof-of-concept testing.

"We were confident that our system would provide Bellco with what they needed, so we had no qualms about letting them use our system for their proof of concept," saidAnne Miela, vice president and group manager at Glastonbury, Conn.-based fti/Financial Technologies.