Credit unions and regional banks are tapping digital service provider Mahalo Banking to improve their online services. 

This week, $528 million Firelands Federal Credit Union selected Mahalo to upgrade digital banking services, following the $381 million North Coast Credit Union’s June announcement that it also would use the technology. 

Troy, Mich.-based Mahalo’s client base is growing as more community and regional banks plan to improve digital services to compete with national banks, Chief Executive Jim Stickley told Bank Automation News. 

“A good digital banking platform allows FIs to compete nationally and not just in their backyard,” Stickley said. “Our custom-built platform allows credit unions to serve clients that make up majority of their customer base.” 

Mahalo is targeting FIs in the range of $100 million to $100 billion, Stickley said, adding that ease of implementation and quick onboarding is attractive to smaller FIs. 

“It usually takes up to a year to fully roll out digital banking capabilities for our clients, depending on their size and existing tech stack,” Stickley said.  

Mahalo has onboarded 23 regional banks and credit unions so far in 2025, according to the BAN Transactions Database. 

Visit the Bank Automation News interactive Transactions Dashboard. 

FinAi digital banking platform 

Mahalo is also working on AI-driven solutions to help FIs improve services and boost client retention, Stickley said. 

It is developing an AI-driven chatbot slated to launch by yearend to provide a conversational banking experience to customers, he said. 

The Younger bank customers “don’t want to click four times in order to find things on their own. They just want to type it out,” Stickley said. Mahalo wants customers to interact easily with their banking provider, similar to how they interact with their friends, he added. 

Conversational banking has emerged in recent years, and additional advancements in AI are set to further transform consumer interactions with their FIs, Aurelie L’Hostis, principal analyst at think-tank Forrester, told BAN. 

“AI-powered virtual assistants will observe, gather information, learn and communicate with consumers,” L’Hostis said. “This will allow organizations to gain deeper insights into consumer intent and emotions, enabling them to generate multimodal responses that incorporate appropriate tone, emotion and visual elements.” 

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