Call Center Transaction Volume and Costs

By Jon Haller
Director of Market Research,
Credit Union National Association

Over the past several years, call centers have become commonplace in financial institutions, in general, and in larger credit unions, specifically, as these credit unions strive to more effectively battle the competition, expand their wallet share of members' financial business, and meet the ever-increasing convenience-related needs of their members.

While just 13% of all credit unions currently have a call center, the figure rises dramatically with asset size, reaching about 60% among credit unions with assets of $100 million to $200 million, and to over 90% among those with assets of over $300 million, according to CUNA's 2002/2003 Technology & E-Commerce Survey Report.

Nearly one in three credit unions with call centers initiate outgoing calls to their members for telemarketing and other purposes in addition to accepting incoming calls, with this proportion varying only minimally among credit unions with assets of $20 million or more.

Credit union call centers are handling an average of nearly 16,000 incoming calls per month, with this figure rising with asset size and reaching about 55,000 among credit unions with assets of $500 million or more (see figure).

Conversely, among those credit unions that initiate outgoing calls through their call center, the average number of monthly outgoing calls made stands at just over 1,600, with this figure increasing with asset size and topping out at about 3,600 among credit unions with assets of $500 million or more.

The 2002/2003 Technology & E-Commerce Survey Report also shows that credit unions are spending, on average, more than $375,000 annually to run their call centers (including staff salaries and benefits), with this figure increasing with asset size and topping out at over $1.3 million among those with assets of $500 million or more (see figure).

Use the above information to benchmark your credit union's volume and operating costs against those of your peers, and consider what changes, if any, might be in order to enhance your efforts to serve your members' remote-banking needs.

Next month's topic: PC banking transaction volume and annual costs.

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