USAA Easy Deposit Press Coverage Misses the Point

This fall, USAA began offering free check deposit services at nearly 30 United Parcel Service Inc. stores in San Antonio, where USAA is headquartered, and San Diego. USAA, whose main office is its only branch, plans to expand the service to more than 1,700 UPS sites nationwide by spring. Some of the press coverage of this initiative would have readers concluding USAA’s move into physical branch like deposit mechanisms is somehow a concession that its Deposit@Home and Deposit@Mobile services somehow fell short of the mark. Not so. Not even a little. The notion that not all customers enthusiastically embrace self-service transaction methods isn’t exactly a shocker. Most FIs (USAA included) serve a diverse customer base. Instead, USAA’s growth over the past several years absent a branch network is a huge success story and directly challenges the status quo among the significant majority of US banks. USAA grew its deposits at roughly three times the industry average since 2001 – and nearly doubled its growth since the launch of electronic check deposit gathering channels. Far from an indictment of Deposit@Mobile, USAA’s Easy Deposit initiative gives testimony to today’s multichannel imperative. But, instead of spending millions for traditional brick and mortar branches, USAA created an in-person deposit gathering channel on the cheap. By doing so, it has turned the historic competitive advantage of traditional retail banks (their collective branch networks) into a competitive cost disadvantage. Sure, there is a segment of consumers that prefer to transact with their FI in person – a shrinking segment. Soon, USAA will be competitive among that segment as well. Whoa – wait a minute – what about cross selling? The main point of USAA’s growing market share as well as its Easy Deposit initiative is this: the idea that bank branches are necessary for effective selling is simply a myth. There won’t be much selling of USAA services in the UPS stores. Not to worry, USAA has learned how to sell effectively with its other channels. In this capability, USAA has a significant competitive advantage. Today’s industry wide challenge is learn how to sell and service customers effectively across all channels. This must be done with efficiency ratios and net promoter scores that are both compelling by historic standards. USAA continues to do so as its growth exemplifies.