Central 1 welcomed several new fintechs and credit unions this year to Forge Community, an innovation hub intended to accelerate the pace of innovation and value-add experiences for credit union members.

This month, we announced the latest deployments from Forge Community, including news about DUCA Credit Union, who leveraged the ecosystem to introduce a new profit-sharing rewards program for their 92,000 members.

We checked in with DUCA Credit Union’s Jay Mehta, Vice President of Applications, Integrations and Data, Arvind Dhar, Director of Digital Banking Channels, to learn more about DUCA’s experience joining Forge Community and any tips for his peers in the credit union system.

Can you tell us a bit about your experience in the Forge Community?

The implementation of Forge Community has gone extremely well and allowed us to build our own functionality on top of Central 1’s Digital Banking platform. Central 1 worked with us closely to determine the right type of plug in to use and to set up our test environment.

Once set up, the DevOps pipeline has made it easy for us to continually evolve our code and deploy new versions for testing. Our release to production went very smoothly and we have already released an update based on stakeholder feedback.

We are excited to have access to Forge Community, as it will allow us to integrate with fintech developers and remain at the forefront of digital innovation. The Central 1 Forge Community team has been a great partner throughout the integration process, empowering us to build the experiences our members need and expect.

Can you share more about what you developed?

We leveraged Forge Community to build DUCA’s exciting new Do More Profit-Sharing program. This program lets members earn and use rewards to “buy” better rates on GICs, term products, fixed loans or fixed mortgages, or convert the rewards to cash.

The introduction of this plugin involved changes to the online banking navigation along with a new section displaying personalized data on the account summary page. Given the positive experience of our first plugin, we will continue to look for opportunities to leverage Forge Community to cultivate digital solutions that can enhance the experience of our DUCA members while supporting our growth objectives.

Where will you go from here with Forge Community?

Forge Community has been instrumental in allowing us to develop our own Forge integrated digital capabilities. The platform allowed us to create a bespoke user interface, unique widgets and integrate with our core banking’s APIs to successfully launch DUCA’s new profit-sharing program.

The authentication is seamless to our members and allows us to securely and quickly access member data to build the new capability. With this success, we are now looking to see how we can build other tailored solutions for our members. We will also be looking at the existing portfolio of plugins to see which ones will help us bring exciting new member experiences.

Any advice for peers who may be exploring the use of Forge Community?

For those that are contemplating the usage of Forge Community, we would strongly recommend it as a tool to maintain competitiveness in the dynamic realm of digital banking. By gaining access to state-of-the-art external digital solutions, collaborating with Fintech developers and immersing oneself in a collaborative environment, credit unions can expedite the development and implementation of innovative digital banking features and services.

Given the intensifying competition within the market, it is imperative to proactively embrace digital banking services to remain at the forefront. Through the adoption of Forge Community, credit unions can elevate the member experience, optimize operational efficiency and exhibit agility in the face of change.

Are you interested in becoming a Forge Community contributor or participant?

• Becoming a Forge Community contributor brings many benefits and is open to both fintechs and Forge clients –  Learn more.
• As a Forge Community participant, you’ll be connected with innovative fintechs, empowering you to continuously enhance your digital offering with the capabilities your customers desire – Learn more.