At Sonar, Thursday night football is sacred. But while everyone’s been perfecting their fantasy teams, we had our eyes on something else: stadium naming rights. Sure, it’s an odd thing to focus on, but what really caught our attention was who was doing the sponsoring.
If you’re a Commanders fan, you’ve probably grown used to FedExField. But starting this season, you’ll be cheering on your team at Northwest Stadium. And no, management hasn’t embraced cardinal directions. Instead, the new sponsor is Northwest Federal Credit Union (FCU). For those in the financial world, this is surprising. Stadium naming rights are usually reserved for the heavy hitters—think Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and other giants.
So how does a smaller institution like Northwest FCU get its name on a stadium? It’s a prime example of how community-driven financial institutions can compete with larger counterparts. Think relationships. Think personal touch. Think community support.
But here’s the thing: as much as smaller FIs excel at building relationships, they often fall short when it comes to efficiency. A credit survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that while small banks outperform larger ones in areas like repayment terms and interest rates, they struggle with complex applications and slow decision-making processes.
At Sonar, we believe the first step to solving a problem is acknowledging it. In our recent meetings with finance professionals, we’ve seen this issue firsthand. In some cases, lenders were still relying on Excel spreadsheets to manage their loan processes. And that didn’t sit well with us. We’re champions of smaller financial institutions, and we don’t want outdated tech to be the reason they fade into history.
That’s why we’re building lending software that puts relationships first. We’re a tech company, sure—but at our core, we believe in human-centered solutions. Because technology should empower relationship banking, not replace it.