Arbor Financial Credit Union Boosts Efficiency with Accurate Reporting

Arbor Financial Credit Union was founded in 1935 and provides a full range of financial products and services to people and businesses in Southwest Michigan. The credit union has over $465 million in assets and serves more than 37,000 members. Arbor Financial is headquartered in Kalamazoo, MI, and operates seven local branches. It also has a network of over 35,000 surcharge-free ATMs nationwide, providing its members with local service and nationwide convenience.

Arbor Financial Credit Union, a financial institution with over $465 million in assets and more than 37,000 members, was grappling with the challenge of reconciliation reporting within their accounting department. The data they needed to reconcile came from various sources, including PDF and text files, and they required a tool that could extract and blend this information for reporting purposes. The strategic implication that led Arbor Financial to reassess their situation was the need for efficiency and quality time savings. They were in dire need of a solution that could pull thousands of reconciliation reports daily without error, a task that was nearly impossible with their existing system.

Arbor Financial's core process vendor, Fiserv, recommended Altair® Monarch® for their data preparation needs. The accounting department at Arbor Financial now uses Monarch daily for at least 30 different projects. The software allows them to reduce teller transaction errors by extracting data from multiple sources, such as PDF and text files, blending that data into Monarch, and then exporting it into Excel in just a few simple steps. These reports are then created and presented to management, who use the accurate data to make better business decisions. The implementation of the software was straightforward, with Arbor Financial quickly learning the tool due to its user-friendly interface. They also utilized resources available to them for enablement, including the Altair Community, an online portal providing tutorials and tips, and the Professional Services team. As a result, formalized training was not necessary.

• With the implementation of Monarch, Arbor Financial has been able to consolidate large reports from core vendors that used many data sets into one database. This has enabled them to utilize accurate and efficient data reporting that impacts the organization as a whole. Monarch’s value provides accurate and fast reporting to make business decisions that are crucial. As a result, better decisions have been made regarding branch activity, employee tracking, regulatory reporting, and product development opportunities. With an efficient tool like Monarch, Arbor Financial has been able to grow their business without increasing their employee count.

• Arbor Financial now uses Monarch daily for at least 30 different projects
• The software allows them to reduce teller transaction errors
• The implementation of the software was straightforward, with Arbor Financial quickly learning the tool due to its user-friendly interface