Small footprint, big economic impact

Part bank, part business center, and all customer-centric, the new Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union (FCU) Administrative Offices and Financial Center in northwest Houston is designed to meet the technologically advanced ways consumers bank today. This reimagined center is the result of an extensive overhaul of an existing branch location. It also indicates the greater lengths banks are going to serve their communities and the broader national economy. PRISM worked with MG Architects to produce several interior and exterior renderings. Inside, the customer experience begins with a Hospitality Counter offering drinks and pastries, and a Technology Bar with wireless charging and a high-definition video wall. New Interactive Teller Machines (ITMs) have large video screens to connect members to associates in real-time and virtually face-to-face. Private consultation rooms are available for individualized services and a commercial member desk is dedicated to business customers. The back office areas feature open plan workstations, a consolidated call center for general calls and ITM services, and expanded training rooms.  The updated exterior features a 3-story lightwell displaying the Cy-Fair FCU branding. Projects such as this demonstrate the vital role community banks play. Past Chair of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke cites these small financial institutions as critical economic engines. Local banks typically have close ties to the surrounding community and a better understanding of their needs than national banks. “Such lending helps foster the economy by allowing businesses to buy new equipment, add workers, or sign contracts for increased trade or services. Those effects are felt at a local level and may appear at first glance to be fairly modest, but when you multiply these effects across the thousands of community banks in the United States, you really see how the lending decisions they make help the broader national economy,” Bernanke reported to a trade publication.