Kinecta Wins Best of Show CUNA Technology Award

Published: October 12, 2021

Kinecta was announced as the winner of the “Best of Show” Award by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Technology Council at the 2021 CUNA Operations & Member Experience and CUNA Technology Council Virtual Conference. The prestigious CUNA Technology Council's Excellence Awards identify and honor credit unions that exemplify excellence in technology, and have shown outstanding commitment and innovation in their field.
 
The “Best of Show” award went to Kinecta’s entry, titled “Preapproval of Credit Cards using Machine Learning” (Asset Group > $500 Million). The winning team was led by Sharon Moseley, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Kinecta.
 
“We are deeply honored to be awarded by the CUNA Technology Council for the extraordinary outcome of a technology transformation model that increases needed access to credit by our members,” said Keith Sultemeier, Chief Executive Officer of Kinecta. “I would like to congratulate Sharon and especially Bhavesh Shah, who leads the BI/AI technology team, on this outstanding accomplishment and contribution to the success of Kinecta.”
 
As the winning entry, Kinecta’s team created a new analytics model that predicts the probability of credit card application approval without using credit report information. The model uses a kind of artificial intelligence called machine learning. It is given real members’ credit card applications that are already approved and processed. From these, it “learns” how that data correlates to the likelihood that a member will be approved for a credit card.
 
The model finds similar factors in applications that normally would have been turned down due a low FICO score. Kinecta can then market credit-building products to these members. The goal is to increase the acquisition of credit cards among members who do not currently possess them. In this way, product penetration on credit cards should improve by preapproving members, without adding undue risk.
 
The CUNA Technology Council's Excellence Awards are voted on by a panel of CUNA Technology Council Committee members and industry professionals, and presented to recognize the 10 best and brightest in the industry. The winners and their accomplishments will be featured in an upcoming issue of Credit Union Magazine.
 
“We are pleased that so many credit union professionals joined us to help honor their peers’ achievements,” said Brad Aspgren, chair, awards & recognition committee and SVP Operations, American Airlines Federal Credit Union. “The award winners’ work was inspirational.”