In recent years, community financial institutions are outpacing even the largest commercial banks and fintechs — in shaping a thriving and supportive financial landscape for the members. In fact, they led the way with 27.3% of all U.S. bank deals in just the first quarter of 2024, proving that size isn’t everything when it comes to making an impact, but the value delivered to the communities they serve.

As a leader guiding your institution through this merger, you are under great pressure to roll out exciting upgrades and benefits for your members. However, you cannot overlook the member’s anxieties and concerns that may arise during the transition. Their initial impressions of the merger – and how they perceive its impact on their accounts, services, and experience – can create lasting attitudes that will either build or undermine their loyalty to the new entity.

Undoubtedly, M&A brings its own set of challenges: while the team is worried about job security, members are looking for proactive reassurances about the continuity of their services. For the leadership, it is all about maintaining the delicate balance of managing complex integrations while ensuring members feel valued and supported.

That’s why, in this blog, we’ve identified the top 5 member concerns in M&A and provided effective strategies to address them.

1. 

How Will the Merger Affect the Existing Policies and Membership Terms?

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Mergers and acquisitions often bring a lot of changes in the policies and membership terms — and this can make even the most loyal members think twice. For members who are used to the benefits their Credit Unions and Community Banks offer — be it low fees, competitive loan rates, or other membership perks – these shifts can raise serious concerns.

As a banking leader, you may know that the changes brought on by the merger will ultimately benefit your members. However, if they feel that the trusted terms – often the main reason they stayed loyal – are being taken away, they might start questioning whether the merger was truly in their best interest.

Solution? The key is transparency and consistency in communication with your members.

Keep members in the loop from day one about what’s changing—and, just as importantly, what’s staying the same. With regular updates via channels they actually respond to – like text messaging, you can leverage this best approach to explain how the merger will affect their accounts, service continuity, and benefits – and reassure them about the perks they can still count on.

Additionally, you can improve their experience by offering convenient, modern banking solutions, like remote account opening, check deposits, and Video Banking. These services allow members to access their accounts securely, without the hassle of visiting a branch—keeping their trust intact as you work through the changes.

2. 

Can I Still Access All My Account History and Documents?

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While trying to make sense of the joint tech stack of the merging organizations, there might come a time when members-facing applications experience disruptions or downtime.

Now, imagine a member logging in to their account and finding that all the history, statements, or important documents are gone or hard to access, even temporarily. It can cause panic, leading them to question the reliability of your systems and feel anxious if their financial access is still secure.

Solution? As a Credit Union and Community Bank leader, seamless system consolidation is your key strategy to minimize these disruptions and improve accessibility for your members.

By unifying all the vendors across merged entities, you can simplify the tech stack and ensure secure data transfer across systems, such as Core, LOS, Marketing, OLB, and so on – all while reducing the complexity of managing multiple platforms.

Even after integrating your systems, there may still be occasional downtime for additional upgrades or changes. In such cases, it is best to proactively notify your members about the scheduled downtimes to avoid panic. Frequent updates – via text messages – are the best approach to reassure them that while the systems may be changing, their data is safe and accessible.

Take the opportunity to share all the recent policy changes or guidelines that could affect their experience, reducing uncertainty during the transition.

3.

How Can I Provide Feedback or Ask Questions About the Merger?

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Community financial institutions thrive on member experience, it is the very essence of what sets them apart from the big banks, and fintechs. However during a merger, that strong foundation of trust and personal service can take a hit if members are left in the dark about how things will change.

They will need answers – Will my rates stay the same? What’s going to happen to my account? Will I lose access to the features I love? If they don’t get reassurance promptly, it’s easy for frustration to build, and they might feel like they’re being ignored, which is the last thing you want.

You might think it’s best to wait until operations are fully stable before updating members, but that’s not the best approach. Your members are invested in your institution and they deserve to know what’s going on, now!

Solution? Instead of waiting for the ‘right time’ when hundreds of questions can pile up, offer 24/7 support with AI–powered chat and voice agents. These smart solutions can provide instant, quick answers to routine inquiries about the merger – from policy changes to account details and new features. For more complex queries, the system can easily transfer members to your team for personalized support.

On top of that, you can also leverage automated member surveys via texts to get more reliable insights into their concerns and understand what’s on their minds. With a 40X higher response rate, members can conveniently share their feedback directly through texting, ensuring you stay aligned with their concerns and can address them promptly.

4. 

What About Service Continuity—Will My Services Be Affected?

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Service continuity is another big concern for members during an M&A. Members don’t give a dime about the ins and outs of the system integrations or technologies – they just want to know how it will affect the service quality.

And let’s not forget the potential security risks. If sensitive data isn’t handled properly during the system migration, members could be at risk of breaches—an added source of anxiety for them.

Here’s the bottom line: Your members are, at the end of the day, customers who will stay loyal as long as they continue to receive value from your services. If you fail to assure them that services will remain uninterrupted, they might lose confidence in your services – the last thing you want during an M&A.

Solution? To avoid these situations, leverage smart tech solutions by adopting a unified tech stack, to streamline operations and minimize system disruptions — by reducing the points of vulnerability with third-party service providers and CUSOs.

But even with the best tech in place, your team should be trained to operate these systems. Hence, it is crucial to schedule AI-driven training and onboarding sessions for your team to stay on top of these new systems and deliver uninterrupted member service.

5.

What New Features or Services Will Be Available to Me After the Merger?

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When a Credit Union or Community Bank announces a merger, members naturally hope for new and improved services, wondering – what’s in it for them? Faster technology, more convenient features, or more diverse service options?

While they don’t want to be promised the moon and stars, members are often apprehensive if the new services won’t live up to the benefits they have enjoyed, whether there will be hidden costs or restrictions, or long delays before they can see the improvements.

Solutions? Ideally, it’s not enough to simply say “we’re improving”, members need clear and honest communication – with regular updates and notifications – about what they can expect and how these changes will make their lives better.

The key is proactive engagement. If you’re consolidating vendors into a single, integrated platform, the benefits are endless for members: faster, more efficient operations, fewer disruptions, and stronger cybersecurity, to name a few. But these advantages won’t mean much if your members don’t know about them. Consistent, concise updates via quick text messages is the best way to keep them in the loop and help them understand how these changes will improve their banking experience.

By providing transparency and timely communication, you can ensure that your members feel confident and excited about the positive changes coming their way.