“Can a member-owned Minnesota credit union compete with digital banks by deepening in-house product breadth — loans, insurance, digital banking — while staying true to its not-for-profit cooperative model?”
Affinity Plus was founded in 1930 as a Minnesota state-employee credit union and has grown into a mid-sized community credit union serving the broader Minnesota market. In recent years it has invested in digital banking capabilities (mobile app, digital wallets, Spanish-language support) and expanded its commercial lending reach by co-founding a CUSO with peer credit unions. Its embedded finance posture is primarily that of a traditional credit union offering its own in-house banking, lending, and insurance products rather than a platform reselling third-party fintech services.