Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago Website Earns 2026 WebAward

How do you turn a complex financial institution's website into an experience that's easier to navigate, more engaging for members, and better at communicating its broader impact?

That was the challenge behind Spinutech's work with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago — and the resulting website has now earned a 2026 WebAward for Financial Services Standard of Excellence.

The recognition from the Web Marketing Association honors an extensive website transformation encompassing strategy, UX, design, content, technology, search, and security.

From Information Repository to Member Experience

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago serves financial institutions throughout Illinois and Wisconsin, making its website an important resource for members seeking products, rates, resources, news, and other critical information.

But the previous experience had become difficult to navigate. Information was not always readily accessible, user journeys frequently reached dead ends, and the site did not fully reflect the organization's brand or communicate the broader impact of its work.

Spinutech partnered with FHLBank Chicago to rethink that experience.

The strategy centered on creating a website capable of continuing to serve existing members' functional needs while doing more to educate prospective members, engage additional audiences, and tell the organization's story.

That meant moving beyond a homepage primarily focused on rates and member information toward an experience that leads with impact while keeping essential resources accessible.

The redesigned experience includes:

• More intentional user journeys designed around the needs of multiple audience personas.
• Expanded navigation and interlinking helping visitors move beyond individual pages and more easily explore relevant products, resources, and information.
• A greater emphasis on impact storytelling highlighting how FHLBank Chicago supports its members and communities.
• A dedicated member resources experience bringing important information together more intuitively.
• A modernized visual design incorporating more of the organization's brand, color palette, photography, and people-focused storytelling.
• Improved site search making complex information easier to discover.
• A modernized technology stack and integration approach creating a stronger technical foundation for the experience.

The result is more than a refreshed interface. It is a digital hub designed to strengthen member engagement while helping FHLBank Chicago more clearly communicate who it is, what it does, and the impact it creates.

"Financial institutions often have an enormous amount of valuable information to communicate, but complexity can't become the user's problem,” said Kevin Hourigan, President of Spinutech.

“Our work with FHLBank Chicago was about taking that complexity and turning it into a more intuitive digital experience — one that serves members while also giving the organization a stronger platform for telling its story and demonstrating its impact."

Designing Around Complex Financial Audiences

Unlike a traditional lead-generation website, FHLBank Chicago's digital experience has to serve several distinct audiences with different objectives.

That required Spinutech's team to think beyond a single conversion path.

Content and navigation were reorganized around those different needs, while reusable modules and stronger interlinking help guide users deeper into the experience. The visual system was also expanded to better reflect FHLBank Chicago's existing brand guidelines, incorporating more color and prominent people-focused photography.

The technical foundation received similar attention, including an upgraded technology stack, improved search capabilities, integrations with external systems, and enhanced security practices.

"Some of the most rewarding website projects are the ones where there's a lot of complexity beneath the surface,” said Maggie Moss, Vice President of Web Services for Spinutech. “FHLBank Chicago serves multiple audiences with very different information needs, so our job was to make that complexity feel simple to the user.

“This award recognizes a tremendous amount of strategy, design, content, and development work from both teams."

A Track Record of Excellence in Financial Services

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago website is one of three Spinutech websites honored in the 2026 WebAwards and one of two receiving the Financial Services Standard of Excellence.

It also builds on Spinutech's extensive experience supporting Federal Home Loan Banks and other financial services organizations with complex digital ecosystems.

Whether the challenge is simplifying navigation, modernizing technology, strengthening security, improving content discovery, or creating a better way to communicate with members, the objective remains the same: Turn complexity into a digital experience that works harder for both the organization and the people it serves.

Looking to modernize your financial services website? Let's talk.