By Anne Battle Schultz
TREVOSE, Penn.–As credit unions seek to drive greater growth and penetrate new markets in Q4 and 2027, one person is recommending they take a hard look at the “unicorns” among members.
Mark Ritter, CEO of MBFS, which provides business-lending expertise and services to credit unions, believes credit unions could tap into significant opportunities for growth by pursuing holistic relationships with their business members and by paying special attention to business owners’ pain points.
Ritter’s comments are appearing here as part of the CU Daily’s 2026 “Growth Imperative” series, which is now focusing on strategic planning for the year to come.
Below are the observations and advice he had to share:
CU Daily: The theme of this article series is “The Growth Imperative.” How are your credit-union clients focusing on growth? What do you think they should focus on?
Ritter: For the past few decades, helping business members has meant making business loans and leaving business services and the overall relationship on the side. But small business owners are the unicorns of members: they have deposits, take out loans, fund investments, and have employees who make great prospects for members. A credit union that only focuses on business loans will be left behind as they miss out on a great opportunity to help their community. Lack of access to business services technology is no longer an excuse.
For many years, I have said that you shouldn’t have “business members” and “consumer members”—you have members, and some of them have business needs. Normalize having a complete relationship with the business community for long-term success and viability.
CU Daily: If you could put one item on the agenda for CUs’ strategic planning meetings this fall, what would it be?
Friction—looking at the [business-lending] process from members’ point of view. Where can it be easier for them? What are their pain points? Every credit union has loyalists who will use the credit union without looking around; that’s your board and executive team. What about the others? What is holding them back from using other CU services? Credit unions often set up their own barriers to success with internal roadblocks that their members feel every step of the way. CUs don’t hear from those members; they just leave.
CU Daily: What will MBFS focus on in Q4 of 2026 and in 2027?
Ritter: Our number-one priority is to increase automation and efficiency in our operations. Business lending is typically the last frontier in financial services to automate due to the non-standardized nature of the process. However, costs keep increasing, and maximizing our output is critical to making sure we deliver a quality service at a reasonable cost to credit unions for years to come.
Our macro-level focus is on credit union consolidation and how it impacts CUSOs. We are created by credit unions for credit unions. There are just as many business-lending CUSOs in the country now as when I became CEO of MBFS in 2012, but with more than 50% fewer credit unions. We are not a shrinking industry but a consolidating industry. How can we work with other CUSOs? How can we bring credit unions together? More importantly from my viewpoint: what can we do to strengthen the small and mid-size credit unions that do not want to consolidate?
CU Daily: Has MBFS’s focus changed to accommodate clients’ needs? If so, how?
Ritter: Managing business-lending portfolios is a top regulatory priority. Business members and credit unions change, so keeping up with their financial situation and understanding how the environment impacts them need to have the same priority as the sales effort.
We joke that there are two types of credit unions: the ones that have been criticized for their annual reviews and portfolio management, and the ones that will be criticized for their annual reviews and portfolio management. Credit union CEOs sometimes feel they are on an island with this issue, but portfolio management is a very common concern, no matter what efforts the credit union has made in the past.
CU Daily: What do you consider to be your successes in 2026? How do you hope to build on those in 2027?
Ritter: I am very proud of MBFS’s efforts to offer business-lending services to smaller credit unions. MBFS began partnering with [non-profit organization] Inclusiv a few years ago to assist CDFIs and other community development credit unions in offering business loans to their members. Over 25 CDFIs are signed up at MBFS, with a steady pipeline in process.
It can be much more profitable to ignore this segment and their members and cherry-pick multi-million-dollar commercial real estate loans, but I think the values of our CUSO should reflect the industry we serve. At MBFS, we hope to keep making these smaller loans to members of community development credit unions easier and more efficient.
CU Daily: Has a particular program, offering, etc. significantly grown and proven popular? Do you plan to develop it further next year?
Ritter: The Relationship Manager program at MBFS is the ultimate win-win-win for credit unions. MBFS has a team of loan originators to manage referrals and bring business loan prospects to our client credit unions. This team can be your primary sales engine or complement your existing team. Credit unions control the rates, terms, and conditions of the loan.
Setting up business loan operations is easier than hiring a team of originators, and the economics of this program make sense for everyone. Credit unions gain loans, while the business community works with our team to get matched with a credit union that fits their borrowing needs. We offer the program remotely as well. We are seeking to expand into new markets in 2026 and 2027.
CU Daily: Fraud, especially AI-driven fraud, has been a significant threat to businesses and is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Is it possible to stay ahead of this threat?
Ritter: Business lending is a low-volume, high-touch service compared to every other aspect of the credit union, so the risk of fake borrowers compared to consumer lending is lower. What keeps me up at night is the ease with which someone can create fraudulent financials or business entities. When you fraudulently obtain a business loan, the risk can be millions of dollars. Business lenders can be very trusting and relationship-driven, so due diligence outside of having lunch with someone is crucial.
CU Daily: How has your organization embraced (or not embraced) AI internally? Do you have an AI strategy for 2027 and beyond?
Ritter: MBFS has worked with CU 2.0 on our AI execution and strategy. We know business lending but are admittedly less adept at technology. We have to develop an AI-first strategy when it comes to improving our systems and delivery channels to complement our industry knowledge. I don’t believe we will have an industry of business lending professionals with AI knowledge, so we will need to drag the old timers—including myself—into these efforts because if we do not, our credit union partners will be left behind.
CU Daily: Will market uncertainty and potential interest rate changes affect MBFS’s business?
Ritter: I am hoping that interest rates remain stable or slightly elevated because that means the economy is stable. Business loans are a great hedge for a credit union because they are not as sensitive to the ups and downs of consumer loans. Most business loans are on five-year interest rate renewals, along with businesses constantly buying, selling, and taking on other new initiatives. There is always a steady stream of commercial loan activity as long as the economy is stable.
