Kasasa accounts have already helped community financial institutions grow despite competition from large banks. A new search tool from the company that’s been a long time in coming could help depositors find and then jump over to these lenders.

A financial technology company that designs checking and savings accounts for banks and credit unions has a new online tool that could help boost these community financial institutions as they compete for customer deposits. 

Austin, Texas-based Kasasa has launched an online search function that will provide consumers with a list of nearby community financial institutions that offer its checking and savings products. And Kasasa has plans to drive consumers to the online tool, with national and local marketing campaigns planned into next year. 

Beyond helping more than two dozen Massachusetts community banks and credit unions compete for deposits, financial institutions also see their partnership with Kasasa as helping to build on some of their own strategic goals.  

“It’s designed to be a win-win,” said Jim Petkewich, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Marlborough-based St. Mary’s Credit Union. “We get to reward our members for doing things that help the credit union.” 

A Mission to Boost Competitiveness 

Kasasa checking accounts let customers choose either a high-interest account or a product that offers debit card rewards. Accounts come with no monthly or annual fee, and ATM fees are reimbursed. Banks and credit unions determine the interest rate and set their own requirements for the products, such as a minimum number of monthly debit card transactions or deposits. 

“Customers can get the benefit by simply doing things they are doing every day,” said Raichelle Kallery, executive vice president and chief operating officer with Wakefield-based The Savings Bank. “It really just rewards them for everyday transactions.” 

Customers who don’t meet monthly requirements can still remain in the product without a fee and then try again next month to qualify for rewards. 

For Kasasa, these accounts provide community financial institutions with a product that helps them stay competitive, said Kasasa’s CEO Gabe Krajicek. 

“Our mission is to help community financial institutions – banks and credit unions – not go the way of the dodo bird,” Krajicek said. “You just see continual declines in market share and the numbers of these institutions, and we’ve always wanted to try to solve that problem.” 

Millbury National Bank, one of the smallest banks in Massachusetts with $114 million in assets, began offering Kasasa products in 2016. The bank, which operates in a town with other community banks and a credit union, wanted to increase its core deposits and rely less on buying certificates of deposit through listing services, said Assistant Vice President Jaquelene Kelly.  

Kelly, who first learned about Kasasa from a targeted ad on a streaming service, said the company helped Millbury National Bank launch a quality product that worked around system limitations that the bank had at the time. The bank soon saw deposits grow. 

“The growth that we were seeing and the pace of growth that we were seeing was what [Kasasa] told us to expect,” Kelly said. “It even beat our own projections.” 

While the bank was initially concerned that all the financial institutions operating in Millbury might adopt the products, Kelly said Kasasa does limit how much their products can saturate a market, though some crossover with other institutions is allowed.  

Kasasa Plans National Campaign 

Millbury National Bank does not have a staff member dedicated to marketing, so the bank outsources its marketing and advertising to Kasasa for advertising, Kelly said. The bank expects to benefit from Kasasa’s new online search tool. 

“It gives us another foothold in the industry given how small we are,” Kelly said. “It’s just another marketing kick to get people to see us.” 

Kasasa’s research has shown that while a majority of consumers support the idea of community financial institutions, but they do not know where to find these institutions, Krajicek said. Only recently, though, has Kasasa been able to help consumers find community banks and credit unions that offer its products. 

While Kasasa products had launched in 2009, national advertising – including on the company’s website – had been on hold since 2014. Kasasa had spent a couple of years resolving regulatory issues related to whether their products were considered brokered deposits. Even with those issues resolved in 2014, Kasasa was no longer able to operate a website or advertise nationally until 2021 following regulatory changes in the FDIC’s final rule on brokered deposits. 

Diane McLaughlin

Kasasa’s website now includes a search tool, branded as “(FI)nder,” which lets users put in a ZIP code to see a list of nearby community bank and credit union branches that offer Kasasa accounts. Some institutions in the list, including Millbury National Bank, The Savings Bank and St. Mary’s Credit Union, let customers click through to open an account online. 

To get people to its site, Kasasa has already started a national marketing campaign, including through a partnership with a social media influencer and a contest with cash awards. More initiatives are being planned for next year, Krajicek said.  

Kallery, with The Savings Bank, said the bank is pleased with how the search tool looks. While the bank streamlines most of its advertising through another the vendor, it plans to participate.  

“Engaging with a national campaign run by Kasasa – it makes sense,” Kallery said. “As long as it’s driving it local and keeping our customers local and keeping us in our community, we’re all for it.” 

Accounts Support Strategic Goals 

In addition to bringing in more deposits, Kasasa helps banks and credit unions meet other goals. The Savings Bank, which launched Kasasa in 2018, wanted a rewards program that could compete with big bank products, keep deposits local and avoid “heavy lifting” by the bank, Kallery said, who noted that Kasasa offers administrative, reporting and training support. 

St. Mary’s Credit Union just launched its own Kasasa accounts in September, with marketing beginning last month. The credit union requires members to make at least one monthly deposit into the accounts, use the debit card and receive electronic statements. Petkewich said these requirements all help the credit union, because they eliminate expenses associated with debit cards that don’t get used and the costs for paper statements.  

As Kasasa becomes more known nationally as a brand, Petkewich expects St. Mary’s Credit Union to benefit as well. 

“We’re excited and looking forward to it,” Petkewich said. “It’s exciting for us and good for our members.”