Every inheritance carries a story; of sacrifice, years of hard work, trust, and the hope that what’s been built over a lifetime benefits those who come after.
Now, with the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history, as much as $124 trillion USD in assets are set to be transferred to members of Generation X, millennials, and Gen Z. Access to financial institutions that prioritize wellbeing and simplify traditionally complicated bureaucracies has never been more pressing.
What others see as a looming challenge, Ribbon sees as an opportunity: helping banks and credit unions bridge the emotional and technological divide between parents and their heirs as the baby boomer generation fades.
In leading the San Francisco-based startup, founders Saeid Kian and Allan Oloo shared Ribbon’s most significant accomplishments, transformative mission, and vision for the future, while in conversation with StartupBeat.
What have been the most significant milestones the company has achieved?
“We’ve gone live with a number of credit unions across the country, including First City Credit Union, which has over 63,000 members.
Besides that, we have also grown our services to process hundreds of inheritance claims a month across the U.S. This is a massive milestone for us because it’s one step closer to our goal as a company: making inheritance easier for everyone.
We’re also continuing to broaden our core offerings and have recently introduced new features like automatic account openings […] built partnerships with companies such as PortX, a leading integration platform for credit unions, banks, fintechs and major banking systems, to unlock core integration and streamline workflows.”
What is the impact of Ribbon’s 25% increase in inheritance retention for credit unions?
“What we’re seeing now is that if credit unions were losing $5 million to deceased accounts as a consequence of unsatisfied inheritors walking away, we’re able to bring that number down to $4 million.
We do that by bringing a thoughtful experience to inheritors rooted in empathy and ease of use, while also enabling inheritance via new memberships rather than new accounts. That means the churn rate for credit unions is also dropping, reflecting the stronger retention.”
How has feedback from credit unions and their members shaped the evolution of Ribbon’s SaaS platform?
“The feedback we’ve been receiving from credit unions has fundamentally defined the product that we’re offering. We curate every feature to answer specific pain points that credit unions and their customers are encountering when it comes to inheritance, and estate handling.
We’ve also completely based our workflows around deposit operations, integrating single-view dashboards where teams can access relevant information and key metrics in one place.
For instance, credit unions expressed a need for complete views of deceased accounts, so we made sure to include a tab within the platform that shows all that relevant information. Besides that, they also requested embedded workflows around fiduciary informants, like triggering specific next steps depending on uploaded documentation.
Importantly, our AI tools are tailored to verify documents uploaded by inheritors so that the process, from A to Z, can be done entirely digitally. Automating those aspects takes the weight off the operational side, allowing credit unions and other financial institutions to focus on the value-driving factors that are key to building a meaningful relationship with inheritors.”
How is Ribbon positioning itself to address the “great wealth transfer”?
“Ribbon meets inheritors where they are at, making sure to address their specific needs in the process. We have also designed mobile-friendly and responsive solutions as part of our aim to slash timelines, reduce operational burdens and headaches, and ensure that inheritors finalize the process without the added stress of coming in and out of offices.
Having gone through it, we know how complicated and challenging the whole process can get, all while you’re navigating immense grief; things slip through the cracks, especially with all the back and forth and endless phone calls and emails in existing processes. Our solutions are designed to send updates and friendly reminders so inheritors and credit unions’ teams can easily stay on top of things.
The core of what we do is making inheritors feel seen and heard. We don’t just want a more efficient process, but also a more empathetic one. That’s why we’ve included features to send inheritors emails asking if they’re doing okay, condolences directly to their doorstep- so that they know that someone cares. At the end of the day, even when we’re dealing with an entire process digitally, we want to know there’s a person behind the screen helping us.
By improving the overall experience for inheritors from younger age groups, we’re helping credit unions slash their churn rates. The great wealth transfer is set to be the largest amount of money passed between generations, and it’s absolutely critical that credit unions, banks, and other financial institutions ensure that those younger inheritors get the best experience possible.”
What are some of the most surprising challenges you’ve encountered in helping credit unions retain inherited deposits?
“Core connection is hard, so is preparing and establishing automated systems. Automation isn’t just about using technology to speed things up; you have to really know the user journey inside-out, and be able to anticipate all their needs as much as possible.
In our case, because Ribbon’s premise is based on providing an empathetic and easier experience for inheritors, it’s one of our top priorities to anticipate every aspect of the process. From the outset, timelines for setting up and integrating our technology were about five months. Now, through a lot of refinement, listening to stakeholders’ feedback, and keeping a pulse on market needs, we’ve slashed that to about four to six weeks.”
What does Ribbon’s recent partnership with PortX enable?
“We’re now able to automate inheritance via a membership. Automated workflows related to deceased accounts and automatically opening new accounts are also feasible, helping credit unions better retain inheritance-related deposits, as the process is a lot simpler.”
How do you foster community and partnership within the credit union ecosystem?
“The key is to do things that don’t scale. We’re not looking to automate things that require high touch and personal engagement, like one-on-one conversations and tailoring support to meet our clients’ specific needs.
Showing up to events, building meaningful and lasting relationships, and the process of a partnership rooted in trust are things we take very seriously. Scaling these only mutes the human tough, and that is totally misaligned with who we are and what we do as a company.”
What’s next for Ribbon?
“We have some massive announcements coming soon. We want to grow a lot more as a company. To drive that growth, we expect to build more features, more products, onboard more team members, and go big in the industry.”
