The CU2.0 Podcast: Recent Episodes
Robert McGarvey
This podcast explores contemporary, critical thinking and issues impacting the nation's credit unions. What do they need to be doing to not just survive but prosper?
Send us Fan Mail
Call this a case of two scenarios. Here’s the background: a member calls and requests to skip a payment on a loan balance. The loan term will simply extend by a month, interest continues to be collected, and there’s a fee - usually between $15 and $60 - for setting up the skipped payment.
In scenario 1 the customer service rep fields the call, talks with the member, checks to see if the member’s request complies with the institution's guidelines, and also checks to see if there are issues that disqualify this member from skipping a payment. If all’s a go, the rep takes the request to a manager, and the request then circulates up the ladder until it lands on the CEO’s desk for final approval. That’s for, say, a $200 loan skip.
In scenario 2, an agentic AI bot talks with the member, swiftly computes the eligibility, and if it’s a go, the request is approved.
Which scenario do you like?
Know that in many credit unions scenario 1 prevails and don’t even attempt to calculate the cost of approving that skip a pay request because, often, it costs more than the amount skipped. Many institutions lose money every time they approve a skip a pay request.
Of course enabling skip a pay is a genuine credit union action. This is helping the members who really need it.
Very few banks offer skip a pay because of the costs and the hassle.
But more credit unions now are offering and one reason why - in addition to the affordability issues confronting many households - is that Maine based fintech Constant AI has rolled out an agent that already is at work in dozens of credit unions including $8.5 billion Michigan State University Federal Credit Union. And institutions as small as $100 million in assets also deploy it.
On the show is Constant AI CEO and founder Catherine York Powers, a native Mainer who, when Powers finally could, moved her company to her home state and that is why Constant AI is based there.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
The headline on the CUInsight story grabbed my attention: AI for credit unions: Making “people-first” work even better.
The author, Bonnie Ortiz, has also been a CU 2.0 Podcast guest before so I wanted to get her back on.
Ortiz is the founder of 02 Consulting Group and, earlier in her career, she was the long serving COO at The Partnership Credit Union.
She’s a level headed expert on matters credit union and, in today’s AI froth, a voice that’s rooted in credit union realities is refreshing.
In her CUInsight piece, she lays out three steps for implementing and getting results from AI initiatives in credit unions. Her counsel is practical, realistic and, let’s be honest, too many credit unions think they are getting started in AI but many are at best dabbling and can point to scant actual results.
Ortiz talks in detail in the show about the three steps. Take notes. You are going to want to heed her counsel.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
What do we do next?
That’s a question heard in most credit union executive suites and boardrooms and what it is focused on is AI.
Artificial intelligence suddenly has become the tech that matters among credit unions but there’s just one problem: few actually have concrete ideas about how and where to use AI.
Enter Kirk Drake, CEO of the digital consultancy CU 2.0, author of the 2020 book FINANCIAL which put an early spotlight on AI and credit unions. He now has joined with Tansley Stearns, CEO of Orsa Credit Union, a $1.47 billion institution, to create a CUSO with a singular focus of helping credit unions adopt AI tools and put them to meaningful, good uses.
The CUSO already is working with 10+ credit unions, says Drake, who expects the total to hit 20 by year-end. Sizes range from around $500 million in assets to $7 billion.
A key is that the CUSO already has developed a range of AI tools that are available for members to use - and it also provides coaching on how best to put the tools to use.
Here’s the reality: the advent of AI may turn into an extinction event for many credit unions. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Indeed AI has the potential to help credit unions of all sizes to match the efficiencies of even the biggest banks. It’s potentially a great equalizer. The key is getting credit unions up and running with AI and Drake’s team has accepted this mission.
In the show he tells in some detail what credit unions can expect - and how to prosper with AI in hand.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
The Student Choice CUSO, built around student loans, is expanding and now has introduced a program that will enable credit unions to issue small dollar, emergency loans to members with no credit check.
These are not payday loans. Interest rates are capped at 18% per NCUA policies.
How can this be? On the show is Scott Patterson, ceo of Student Choice, and the episode starts with a view into the current state of student loans and the big changes that are transforming the market.
But Patterson came on the show to talk up the new Employer Choice program that will enable credit unions to make small dollar loans to employees of SEGs and to do so with little risk.
What kind of voodoo is this? Patterson explains and it’s definitely not voodoo.The key is that the lending is tied into the employee’s payroll system. Yes, there is no credit check but “instead [there are] employment-based underwriting factors, including job tenure, income stability, and employer characteristics.”
Patterson elaborates on this in the show.
The first credit union up with Employer Choice is Affinity Plus Credit Union in Minnesota which, Patterson indicated,has started by offering the program to its own employees.
Other credit unions, says Patterson, want to start by offering the program to SEGs who will set this up as an employee benefit. So, says Patterson, this has the potential to become a new member acquisition tool.
Remember this: estimates are that half of American families do not have $1000 on hand for emergencies. A friction-free emergency loan program just might be the life raft many families need and, says Patterson, credit unions can play a big part in helping out those families in need - and doing so at small risk and also low interest rates.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Meet Storyfi - the NACUSO New CUSO of the Year for 2026.
When I saw the press release I had to get Nick Olexa, CEO of Storyfi, a Michigan based CUSO owned by six Michigan credit unions.
What Storyfi is doing is important - it’s harnessing video to help credit unions tell their stories and it’s working within credit union budgets.
That matters because, nowadays, video is the globe’s communication tool of choice. Whether it’s a 7 second video on Facebook or a 3 hour video on Netflix, video genuinely is how the world tells and communicates its stories and, frankly, credit unions had been lagging at this.
An upshot is that, in the main, credit union marketing has been blah.
Storyfi’s purpose is to reverse that reality. To really get credit union stories told well.
Understand: every credit union has a story. So does every CUSO. Most of the stories revolve around solving problems and, often, working through adversities. So these are good, compelling, human stories. And in video they shine.
Since its 2023 founding, Storyfi has worked with around 140 organizations to tell their stories.
On the show, Olexa tells Storyfi’s origin story, the kinds of videos it creates for customers, and why all this really matters in thinking of the credit union future.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Is the country finally ready for a safe banking act that in effect legalizes cannabis businesses at the federal level?
In recent years multiple bills doing essentially that were passed by the House of Representatives only to be buried in a Senate committee that never reported it out for a floor vote.
There’s a new House bill in play and this time may be the charm, says Terry Mendez, CEO of Safe Harbor and a past podcast guest. Safe Harbor has provided the tools credit unions to offer cannabis banking services since it opened in 2015.
According to Safe Harbor, the current bill would:
- Bar federal banking regulators from prohibiting or discouraging banks from serving state-legal cannabis businesses
- Bar regulators from terminating or limiting a bank's deposit insurance because it serves a cannabis client
- Create a safe harbor from criminal prosecution, liability, and asset forfeiture for banks and their officers/employees serving legitimate state-sanctioned cannabis businesses, while preserving banks' right to decline that business
- Extend protection to ancillary businesses serving cannabis operators, including lawyers, landlords, and vendors
By the way, the American Banking Association has come out in support of the act. In a letter to Senate leaders ABA said the bill would “provide important legal and regulatory clarity” and “address a significant challenge facing American businesses, our communities, and the banks that serve them.”
On the show Mendez elaborates on why he believes the bill has a good chance of becoming law.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Title this show everything you need to know about fraud today but have been afraid to ask.
Start with this: Fraud is big and getting bigger.
That is the worrisome message delivered by Rene Perez, a fraud expert with Jack Henry, and seconded by Stephanie Ziegler, director of financial investigations at SELCO, a $2.8 billion credit union headquartered in Oregon.
Perez is on the show to discuss Jack Henry’s new Financial Crimes Defender tool and Ziegler and SELCO are early adopters and she tells why.
Much of the show is devoted to discussing trends in financial institution fraud - and the criminals just keep getting slicker and more sophisticated.
Credit unions can - and are - successfully fighting back but a key realization is accepting that the fraud tactics keep changing.
Nowadays, for instance, a huge problem, said Perez, is that criminal organizations are seeking to implant crooked employees in financial institutions and fintechs. Perez and Ziegler discuss their organizations’ defenses against this.
Another mushrooming trend: account takeovers are epidemic.
The bottomline reality: fraud is an immense problem for all credit unions - and what you don’t know can indeed hurt you.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Can a banker successfully transition into a senior role in a credit union?
Can a credit union deploy a financial wellness initiative that also works as a competitive edge in marketing?
Kevin Miller, CEO of $5.7 billion Travis Credit Union in Northern California, is on the show today and he is guilty of that banking background but he has logged 4+ years as Travis CEO.
And he also strongly believes that not only are financial wellness initiatives a key part of a credit union’s doing good in its communities, they also are a competitive edge against both mega banks and community banks.
As for Miller’s past work experience, he logged 4+ years at regional bank TCF as EVP of retail banking, 2 years at Santander, 4 years at BMO, and 6 years at Bank of America. A stint at a fintech rounded out his background.
In the show he explains why he jumped into a credit union and why hiring bankers is good business for a credit union.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Two threads run through this show: the human impacts of AI and the credit union of the future.
Ultimately the threads are connected. If a credit union is its people, what is it when AI does an increasing amount of the work in a credit union?
On the show to explore these ideas is Nenuca Syquia, CEO of BoxD, “Better Organizations by Design,” a Silicon Valley consultancy.
Herself a longtime credit union member, Nenuca is convinced there are important roles for credit unions to play in our lives in the future - and part of getting there is asking and exploring tough questions such as what happens to our people as agentic AI takes over more and more tasks?
What happens indeed?
Be prepared to mull on very big ideas as you listen.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
When will instant payments come to smaller credit unions?
Perhaps the better question is: Will instant payments ever come to smaller credit unions?
On the show are Bob West, CEO of CUSO CU*South, which serves some 360 credit unions (in 42 states, not just the south), and Keith Riddle of Payfinia, which has launched an instant payment platform that integrated with CUSouth’s technology - meaning it’s straightforward for a CUSouth customer to integrate into Payfinia’s tools.
Now get this: most CU*South credit unions are smaller institutions. Lots are under $350 million in assets.
What might have seen a dream - available only to the likes of Chase and Navy Fed - now is available to small institutions.
Does it matter?
Will members use this instant payments technology?
Instant payments are a reality - that’s a fact in today’s immediacy economy. Credit unions need to climb aboard this train.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
How does a lawyer - by education and employment history - become a top executive at fintechs?
Good question. But here’s another one: how can a fintech help credit unions win members for savings accounts paying in the vicinity of 4% APR?
On the show is Alastair Wood, CEO of Raisin, a fintech that helps credit unions market innovative products - high yield savings included - to attract new members.
Understand, Raisin does essentially all the lifting involved in marketing and opening new accounts for new members. Memberization included.
Raisin, by the way, is relatively new to the US market. But it has a long history in Europe.
This episode starts with Wood explaining why, just maybe, a trained lawyer is an ideal leader for a fintech, especially one operating in a highly regulated environment.
Wood, by the way, traces his hands on involvement in fintechs and credit unions back to a multi year stint at Silvur, whose CEO, Rhian Horgan is a past CU 3.0 Podcast guest.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Can a credit union be a credit union without human employees?
Are credit unions, in the age of AI, at risk of losing the humanity that distinguishes them?
In this provocative episode, keynote speaker Joshua Evans, who bills himself as an expert on the workplace of the future, talks about how AI is transforming credit unions, how parts of this are to the good, but, he insists, credit unions need to maintain their humanity.
That’s a lot to think about but it’s thinking that needs doing today as - plainly - AI is transforming many workplaces, credit unions included.
How often did you use AI yesterday?
When a member contacts your credit union is he/she greeted by a human - or an AI bot?
Incidentally, Google Gemini tells me that a credit union needs humans on its board. That’s non negotiable. An LLM or AI bot cannot be named to a board seat.
And Gemini raises a philosophical topic: “The credit union movement is built on the ‘People Helping People’ philosophy. A 100% automated entity would likely struggle to maintain its tax-exempt status or its identity as a ‘cooperative’ if there is no human community to cooperate.”
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Careful or courageous?
Which are you?
James Grenon, vice president of administration at Summit Credit Union, a mid-sized institution in North Carolina, raised exactly that question in a recent CUInight story entitled: “Careful or courageous: The leadership choice that shapes culture.”
Regular listeners know I have a bugaboo about what I see as the unhealthy risk aversion of many CU executives and boards so you can guess I am all in on Grenon’s topic.
Grenon sets the stage with a heavy snowfall in North Carolina. His young daughters hadn’t even seen so much snow, they initially were frightened and wanted to stay inside.
Grenon picked up the story: “they bundled up anyway. Carefully at first. Testing their footing. Adjusting their pace. Before long, there were snowball fights in the yard, sled runs down the hill, and laughter echoing through the neighborhood with other friends.
“They respected the conditions. But they did not let the conditions decide for them.
That is the balance leadership requires. Acknowledge risk. Prepare for it. But do not let caution become confinement.”
In our conversation we explore the cautious-courageous dynamic at credit unions involving everything from a core conversion - a recent project at Summit - to the roll out of AI initiatives.
Meantime, fintechs embrace risk. They grow in part by taking risks. Nobody is saying credit unions should be as ready to plunge into risk - but should they take more risks?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Come join Peter Rice, CEO of $2.3 billion Hanscom Federal Credit Union, on a walk. A Long walk. 70+ miles. On the Camino de Santiago in Spain and Portugal.
Rice did that walk three times for his book Break or Become: How Hard Roads Make Good Leaders.
What’s the book about? In an hour long podcast Rice explains and, listen up, it’s about the death of a spouse, raising two young boys as a single dad, entering a second marriage, and lastly a Camino with two co-workers.
Stuff goes wrong. Stuff goes right.
In the walks Rice explores big topics: what’s a leader’s role, what’s a father’s role, what differentiates credit unions, what’s the future of credit unions, and why would a groom wear kilts to a wedding in Lisbon, Portugal?
Rice by now has added one more Camino to his achievements and, as for your host, I have done two and must admit Rice’s enthusiasm for the path has triggered in me a desire to add one more.
But know this is not so much a book about walking the Camino as it is about leadership -- but it just may be the most unusual leadership book on the shelf.
There’s a link in the show notes to the book, buy it.
Rice has been on the show before In 2021 he talked about helping members manage stress. In 2025 he had been named CEO at Hanscom Federal Credit Union and he returned to the show to talk about credit union federal tax exemption, even the history of his native Ireland. Links to those shows are in the show notes.
When he told me he had published a book, I had to get him on.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Can bill pay be revived at credit unions?
You may remember, perhaps a generation ago, when bill pay was revered by financial institutions because it was viewed as creating stickier members who, having inputted a dozen or two bill pay recipients, were reluctant to change FIs because of the work involved.
Bill pay lost a lot of its stick when various fintechs rolled out widgets that collected billpay data so it could be transferred to another institution.
The death blow came when many vendors - including most credit card companies - created auto pay tools where a user can choose to pay the minimum or the balance due or amounts in between automatically. That’s what I use to pay all my recurring bills and the closest I’ve come to using oldfashioned bill pay is when I’ve paid contractors with Zelle a couple times.
Cary Strange is on the show to tell how PayOnward plans to change that current practice and, hold on, know that PayOnward is a portfolio company of Black Dragon Capital which talks about PayOnward this way: “PayOnward is a cloud-native universal payments platform that empowers Community Based Financial Institutions to offer a full suite of AI driven digital payment solutions for both business and consumers through an easy to use and efficient integrated solution.”
Now know that Black Dragon Capital is a private equity firm founded by Louis Hernandez, Jr. a dozen years ago. He’s a longtime credit union tech innovator - think the DNA core system. Hernandez is not a guest on this episode but he is much referenced in it.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
The NCUA looks to be getting a new board chair: John Crews, a longtime Washington DC hand and currently Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Treasury Department. Prior jobs include Policy Director of the Senate Banking Committee and Policy Advisor to House majority leader Steve Scalise. He’s a guy who knows his way around inside the Beltway.
There’s an urgency to his nomination because present NCUA board chair Kyle Hauptman has been named to the board of the Public Company Accounting Oversight board. Hauptman also is the only member of the NCUA’s current board. There are two other seats but their occupants presently are involved in litigation and no longer serve.
Will Crews cross the finish line in the Senate and assume the top job at NCUA?
On the show is Washington DC lobbyist Elizabeth Ergubian, herself a former staffer at NCUA where she served as Director of External Affairs & Communications and Policy Advisor to the Chair.
Before that she was Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer & Senior Counsel at CUNA.
She knows the Beltway doings, she knows credit unions, and here she tells what to expect in Crew’s confirmation hearing - and when to expect it.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
How could I not talk with the CUEvangelist who sees his calling as “Spreading the Good News About CUs!”
My interest in the CUEvangelist was triggered by a provocative piece titled “Black history is credit union history” that was posted at CUInsight and then I saw the author, Mark Brantley, dubbed himself the CUEvangelist.
Brantley has the chops to warrant that moniker. He’s Asst. Director of Operations at Arizona State University but - notably - he is the former vice-chairman of the AACUC, former board member of CUNA, and former Chairman of the Municipal Credit Union.
Along that path he has formed strong opinions about what a credit union’s mission should be and he talks about what he believes.
All in, this is an upbeat podcast about credit unions and members who need them.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Wouldn’t you like to make more - and more profitable - auto loans? Just about every credit union would say a loud yes and that is why this episode is a must listen. On the show is Zach Eychaner, the VP of Digital Experience at ELGA Credit Union, a $1.5 billion institution based in Michigan. Also on the show is Mitch Rutledge, CEO of Vertice AI, a Georgia based company that says it provides actionable and measurable account holder intelligence to help credit unions offer their members the right products, solutions and services at the right time.
How to do exactly that? Rutledge tells how on the show and Eychaner gives the verdict about whether it’s working at ELGA.
Every credit union wants to know how to make more targeted loan offers and, explains Rutledge, the answers are in the data - the institution’s data that it already has if it learns to mine it properly.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Amanda Wick is a name to know when talking about things crypto. A onetime US government prosecutor, Wick specialized in crypto currencies and money laundering. Later she went on to found the Association for Women In Cryptocurrency and now she is a principal in Incite where she provides expert advice on crypto related matters.
Wick’s current focus: stablecoin.
In the show Wick talks about the risks posed by stablecoins to credit unions and also the potential benefits.
Should credit unions get involved in stablecoin? Wick’s answer is yes but with eyes wide open.
Note: this is not a show exclusively for gearheads. Language throughout is non technical.
Along the way, Wick talks about her book The Catalysts: The Accelerating Forces Forging the New World Financial Order. Read the title again. She is talking about what she sees as the inevitability of a new global financial order that indeed changes just about everything.
In the show she refers several times to Napster which provided peer-to-peer file sharing and that may sound innocuous but the reality is that Napster revolutionized how music is distributed and shared. It shut down a quarter-century ago but its impacts only grew until today recorded music is a digital phenomenon. Think how that has impacted record companies, bands, and an entire huge industry.
Similar is happening today in finance, says Wick, and you ain’t seen nothing yet. Bigger changes are ahead. Are you ready?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Asset liability management - ALM as it’s known - can be fun, good for a credit union’s balance sheet and, dare we say it, sexy.
On the show is Daniel Ahn, CEO of Delfi, a company that - and I quote from the website - “combines deep public and private sector experience with cutting-edge AI expertise—bringing best-in-class technology to banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions.”
The website adds: “Transform your bank or credit union financial decision making and race to the top with our revolutionary platform.
Delfi delivers instant analytics, access to a deep inventory of solutions, and is powered by AI so you can pick the right solution for you.”
This an exciting new, powerful look at ALM in credit unions.
Also on the show is Scott Daukas, a principal at One Washington Financial, a CUSO wholly owned by Washington State Employees Credit Union and an investor in a new Delfi CUSO. But One Washington Financial is more than that with Delfi as you will hear in the show. Indeed it approached Delfi with the suggestion that it form a CUSO - and long conversations followed, not the least of which was explaining what a CUSO is!
One Washington Financial also invested in two other companies that have featured in recent CU 2.0 podcasts - Remynt and Starlight. Why is One Washington Financial making these investments? Daukas explains.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Do you want to talk about bad debts and collections and…what’s that, you’d rather discuss athlete’s foot and gyms?
Listen up: on the show today is Gwyneth Borden, founder and CEO of Remynt, a debt collection CUSO - funded by One Washington Financial, the investment arm of Washington State Employees Credit Union and a recent guest on the show along with Starlight, an innovative fintech that also won funding from One Washington Financial.
So, yes, Remynt is doing collections but with a dramatic twist: it also emphasizes its mission is financial wellness and it helps consumers pay off their debts and rebuild credit.
Face it, a lot of Americans are struggling to pay their bills. Pew Research estimates that a quarter to a third of us struggle to pay their bills every month.
Remynt is there to help, while also helping credit unions collect the money they are owed.
If that seems paradoxical - indeed it is! - listen up as Gwyneth Borden explains Remynt’s approach to debt collection today.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
It’s time to talk about something really, truly exciting in credit union land.
How about online/mobile calculators?
Calculators!
Yes, I hear those derive laughs but listen up: on this show you will hear from Tim Pranger at Appli, who has developed calculators that users genuinely like and use. Katie Ullman, vice president of marketing and community at First Source Credit Union in Utica NY, is also on. That’s an institution with around $1 billion in assets. Also on the show is Romanelli, First Source’s digital marketing agency.
What this trio will tell you is that a good calculator can be fun, it can bring in new business to a credit union, and it doesn’t have to be expensive.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
What do you know about Gen Z?
That just may be the critical question confronting credit unions today and that’s because, age 13 to 29, Gen Z is increasingly the focus of fintechs, neo banks and non banks who all want to grab these consumers.
How can credit unions win in this battle?
On the show is Lee Wetherington, senior director of corporate strategy at Jack Henry, and lately he has been thinking in depth about Gen Z because this generation has entered a prime spending age.
Wetherington believes credit unions in fact have pathways to getting Gen Z as members and he offers a concrete strategy for doing so., He acknowledges this will be a tough fight - the competitors are well funded and focused - but he expresses optimism about the ability of credit unions to win.
Along the way, Wetherington also offers insight into how credit unions can win at AI and how recent developments in crypto banking may turn out to be for the benefit of credit unions.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
The CUInsight headline caught my eye: “Why credit unions must step up as financial stabilizers to rebuild consumer confidence.”
The piece was authored by Dave Buerger, CEO of Union Credit and, before that, he was CEO of CuneXus, where he was a co-founder.
At Union Credit the mission is delivering 1-click, perpetual loans to credit union members. 70+ credit unions are Union Credit customers and a key to Union Credit’s business is that it memberizes non members in a very few minutes.
What triggered Buerger’s piece is a consumer confidence survey commissioned by Union Credit that found that consumer confidence is shaky indeed.
Take aways from the survey are: “Only 12.5% feel very confident about their finances. The majority are in the middle with 57% rating themselves a 3 or 4 out of 5…. 54% are feeling cautious, 45% anxious, and 30% overwhelmed.”
No wonder many institutions are experiencing a slowing loan volume.
Buerger believes credit unions can take steps to strengthen consumer confidence,
Buerger wrote in CUInsight: “Consumers are pressing pause, not stop. They’re delaying major financial decisions because they don’t feel safe committing before they understand their options. Yet 36% told us they would still move forward with financing if the offer felt secure and transparent. That gap between hesitation and action is where credit unions have both a responsibility and an opportunity.”
In the show today he elaborates on these thoughts
Buerger is optimistic but realistic as well.
And he firmly believes that Union Credit’s tools can help credit unions improve their loan volumes,
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Agentic AI. Google’s Gemini explains what this means: “Agentic AI represents a shift from AI that simply 'talks' to AI that 'does.' While previous iterations of AI were primarily reactive—answering questions or generating text when prompted—Agentic AI systems are proactive. They can reason, plan, and execute multi-step tasks autonomously to achieve a specific goal."
Agentic AI is the hot topic in AI today and credit unions can have it. Now.
On the show are Abhishek Tiwari, chief product officer at Eltropy, and Kent Lugrand, CEO at InTouch Credit Union, an $800+ million institution headquartered in Texas.
Lugrand is a past CU 2.0 Podcast guest. That show ranks high among the best we’ve filed. Today he is here to explain why he wanted to be an early adopter of this Agentic AI technology and he explains in candid detail.
Abhishek, meantime, is on the show to explain the Eltropy tool and to offer details on the Eltropy Safe AI framework - because safety is key to persuading credit unions to deploy this technology.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
And First Entertainment Credit Union Begat CineFi.
Say what?
First Entertainment is the big show business credit union. Based in Hollywood, it has assets of around $2.1 billion and serves around 90,000 members, many of them who work in Hollywood, doing everything from acting to the skilled crafts (such as set building) that create Hollywood’s magic.
On the show is Stephen Owen, CEO of First Entertainment and he is here to tell what CineFi is, why First Entertainment birthed it, and why it is based in Atlanta, GA, some 2300 miles removed from Hollywood.
CinedFi is a digital only institution, no branches, and right now its offerings consist of checking and savings, although Owen says the plan is to augment that product slate later in 2026.
How to become a CineFi member? The FOM consists of a handful of Georgia counties, centered around Atlanta, and although the aim is to serve the large number of entertainment industry professionals who live in the Atlanta area,CineFi is open to others as well. Owen explains in the show.
Understand, CineFi does not have its own charter. Owen tells how it came into existence - and he adds that there may be CineFis opening elsewhere in the country.
Ours is an age when the creation of new credit unions is rare indeed. You can count on one hand how many were birthed in the US in 2025 and have a finger to spare.
That’s rare indeed.
So the creation of CineFi is an exciting event and it just may give CEOs and boards of other credit unions the impulse to do something similar.
How cool would that be?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
In mid February, Curql, the collective of 160+ credit unions, announced its first blockchain investment into Stablecore, a company that provides digital asset infrastructure for credit unions.
Literally hundreds of billions of dollars now are flowing into stablecoin, a digital currency backed by fiat currency and accordingly it has little volatility.
Big banks are pouncing on stablecoins but the credit union problem is a lack of tools for managing digital currencies. Enter Stablecore which is designed to enable credit unions to manage member portfolios of digital currencies. It’s a solution that’s needed and that’s why Curql chose to put money into Stablecore.
On the show are Nick Evens, President and CEO of Curql, and Alex Treece, CEO and co-founder of Stablecore,
Along the way, Nick offers insights into Curql’s investment strategy and Alex issues an invite to credit unions that might be interested in a pilot that he is putting together.
Sure, you are glad that you sat out Bitcoin but stablecoin is a very different entity. Now’s the time to get to know about it.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Are you still relying on product based rewards for members?
Meet the new tool on the block: relationship building.
A trigger is that interchange rates are under attack and, for many financial institutions, it’s been interchange that funded the rewards programs.
So what’s the new approach? On the show is Beth McCoy, CEO of CORA Loyalty, who provides a roadmap for building member relationships that benefit both the member and the institution.
CORA Loyalty explains what it does this way: “Loyalty leaders are shifting from card-centric to relationship-focused campaigns. The approach rewards customers for activities across the institution: maintaining checking accounts, paying account fees, using credit and debit cards, transacting regularly, and long-term relationships.”
“The goal isn’t card spend, but broader and longer lasting outcomes like growing deposits, encouraging treasury management adoption, and strengthening the full banking relationship.”
Sound good?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Fact: credit unions have lots of data about their members. Everything from home address to their liquidity.
Fact: credit unions, most of them, are woefully inept at mining this data to better serve those members and also to boost member retention and up cashflow into the credit union.
Enter DeepTarget, a Huntsville AL based fintech that serves 285 clients, 85% of which are credit unions and they range in size from around $25 million in assets to several billion dollars in assets.
All come to DeepTarget for its toolkit of proven tools that get results. In 2025 for instance DeepTarget tools helped its customers open 328,000 new accounts, generated $1.98 billion in new loans, and brought in $2.7 billion in new deposits.
The DeepTarget secret is how it effectively mines the data a credit union already has on hand.
That sound you hear is the CU cash register ringing.
Monthly DeepTarget fees are affordable, too, typically four figures a month.
And usually a credit union’s own staff involvement in DeepTarget campaigns is minimal, although accommodations are available for credit unions that want a more hands-on role.
In an era of generative AI all this may seem unglamorous and maybe it is. But it delivers meaningful bottomline results to credit unions.
On the show is Preetha Pulusani, the company founder and CEO.
And if you wonder how all this tech happens in Huntsville, I have one name for you Wernher von Braun. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, look it up.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Just when I thought credit card rewards initiatives were on the chopping block, here comes David Metz and Priizeout with an innovative twist on credit card rewards and it’s one that already is winning credit union applause. Proof is that also on the show is Sarah Vasey, Chief Operating Officer at Michigan-based United Financial Credit Union, an institution with around $350 million in assets.
Sarah herself is a credit card rewards beneficiary and she tells what she really likes about the Prizeout program. Think shoe money.
Prizeout has been on the show multiple times but that’s because it keeps innovating new offerings that credit unions adopt.
Here’s a great episode that also features Darlene Johnson of Suncoast. Link in the show notes,
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Do credit unions have a future? And if so what?
Meet Lamont Black, a Filene Fellow - Credit Union of the Future.
Spoiler alert: Black is optimistic about the future of credit unions.
A finance professor at DePaul University, Black also is a busy writer, speaker, consultant who focuses on innovative technologies including AI and Bitcoin and, nowadays, especially Stablecoin.
In the show Black is articulate in explaining why AI matters to credit unions and he also offers an understandable description of stablecoins and why and how credit unions should hop aboard.
Understand: the estimated volume of transactions around stablecoins in 2025 was $33 trillion. With a t, not a b. $33 trillion!
Big banks have hopped aboard stable coins, so have giant retailers - think Amazon and WalMart.
Buckle up, this show is a fast ride.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Only about one third of your members feel understood by you - that’s the harsh fact that emerges from a member experience survey conducted by the Harris Poll and sponsored by White Clay, a fintech that says it helps banks and credit unions enhance customer relationships and profitability.
On the show today is Mac Thompson, CEO and founder of White Clay, to tell why members feel misunderstood and also to explain why he says credit unions should get busy implementing human-centered digital strategies in 2026.
Human centered digital? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?
Thompson explains why it isn’t self contradictory and why he believes this may be the key that unlocks greater successes for the credit unions that make it happen.
Along the way he agrees that the biggest banks - Chase, B o A and a few others - have a huge lead in implementing AI. But Thompson is also optimistic that there is a path to success for credit unions that nurture their human bonds with members.
This is a show with a lot of big thoughts. But now - with AI rolling out everywhere and seemingly changing everything - now indeed is the time for credit unions to think big.
And Thompson thinks they can.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Today Andrea Argueta is director of financial institution advisory at Glia, a company that focuses on providing credit unions and banks digital customer service tools and nowadays that means AI. So this show’s focus is on the practical suite of tools Glia has working in some 400 credit unions, making Glia very probably the largest provider of AI tools to credit unions.
Importantly, too, Argueta knows credit unions. That’s because before coming to Glia she served as COO at Washington DC based IDB Global Federal Credit Union, an institution that serves the employees of the Inter-American Development Bank and their families and there are members in over 75 countries.
At IDB Global she was a Glia customer and eventually that evolved into her joining the Glia team.
In the show she tells about that journey and she also offers insights into what AI is really doing for credit unions today and the smart way for a credit union to join this party.
In the show mention is made of two prior appearances on the show by Glia executives, Glia CEO Dan Michaeli in 2020 and Jake Tyler a year ago.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Fraud is up, a lot, at credit unions, according to the Alloy 2026 State of Fraud Report, says Sara Seguin, a principal adviser at Alloy. Sara is a past CU 2.0 Podcast guest - link to that show is in the show notes.
She’s on the show now to report that credit unions say they have experienced a 72% increase in fraud events, more than any other segment.
Worse, a lot of fraud now involves synthetic identities - i.e., manufactured people - and a long con that may take months or years before the crooks seek to defraud the credit union.
What can credit unions do to fight back? Alloy has pointers.
Credit unions also have seen a spike in in-branch fraud, says Alloy. That’s surprising but also very worrying. Hear the details in the show.
Fraud is not a fun topic, I know that. But it is a real, every day concern at just about every credit union in the US and knowledge - of what fraudsters are doing and the tools available to fight back - is indeed power for a credit union.
Understand, too, last year’s fraud trends aren’t this year’s. It’s a constant battle where the criminals are always updating their weapons. Credit unions have to do likewise.
How? What? Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
What a ride Steve O’Donnell has had at One Nevada Credit Union, a $1.5 billion institution where he started as a teller some 22 years ago and in August 2025 he was promoted to CEO.
This podcast is about his journey getting into the top job - and also what he sees as some of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for him and One Nevada.
A name you will hear often in this show is “Paul,” that’s Paul Parrish, the prior CEO at One Nevada and a current member of the institution’s board of directors. He also is the one who mentored Steve as he climbed up the ladder at One Nevada.
Over the years I have had a number of talks with Steve and he always is frank and candid.
So listen as he details his climb up from a teller role but know that he knows what it’s like to walk in the shoes of a teller.
At the show’s end, Steve tells why it took him a long time to earn his degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Hear the story and you will know this is a guy you’d like and respect.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Safe Harbor, the Golden CO based cannabis banking pioneer, is alive and growing and that’s the message of today’s guest Terry Mendez, the recently installed CEO.
Mendez took over the seat that had been occupied by Sundie Seefried, onetime ceo of Partner Colorado Credit Union who left that post to helm Safe Harbor. Sundie, by the way, was the guest in CU 2.0 Podcast #139 which posted 4+ years ago, link in the show notes.
A lot had happened in those intervening years and, to my eyes at least, Safe Harbor seemed on the edge of extinction.
But Mendez is on the show to share his optimism about growing the business, how it hit financial troubles in 2023-24, how he says the troubles were abated, and why now is the time for more credit unions to take a fresh look at cannabis banking.
Probably Mendez is right, probably legal cannabis now is with us and, indeed, reliable, legally compliant banking has to be part of that package and Safe Harbor says it is well positioned to provide those services to credit union customers.
The reality is that there are many wrinkles to cannabis banking. That’s where a Safe Harbor - a guide that knows the legal route - comes in.
Want to know more about CUs and cannabis? Listen to episode 364 where Wright-Patt Credit Union talks about its experiences.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
The Credit Union Generation Barrier.
On the show today is Melissa Krut, VP of Success at Sogolytics, a Herndon Virginia based firm that focuses on data driven analytics that answer questions such as how satisfied are a credit union’s employees, how satisfied are members, and more.
Krut is here to discuss Sogolytics data driven approach and also to elaborate on a recent Sogolytics report that documents the disconnect between younger Millennials and Gen Z and credit unions.
That’s a disconnect that couldn’t happen at a worse time for credit unions as their Baby Boomer base erodes in numbers.
Here’s one finding: “Nearly half (49%) of Gen Z say they've heard of credit unions but don't understand how they work. Perceptions of being outdated persist: 17% view credit unions as "for older people," while another 17% believe they are "not modern enough."”
Ouch
There’s lots of data in the report but, Krut stresses, the data also open doors to better communicating to Millennials and Gen Z.
By no means is this a battle lost.
And Sogolytics offers plenty of pointers about what a credit union can do to better appeal to younger potential members.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
Rik Reitmaier is CIO at Tennessee based Ascend Federal Credit Union, with $4.4 billion in assets and 245,000. That puts Ascend in the nation’s top 100 credit unions. And Reitmaier is on the show to talk about the wide range of issues, worries and concerns that are on his mind.
AI of course is high on that list and Reitmaier explains both Ascend’s position on AI today and why he thinks it’s the right course. Hint: many Ascend employees are already using Copilot.
There already are productivity enhancements due to Copilot use - Reitmaier gives the details.
Cyber fraud of course is a big issue for Ascend and here we hear the credit union’s multi-pronged approach to defending itself in an age of ever smarter crooks.
Reitmaier also discussed Ascend’s procedure for adopting new technologies,
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
I fancy myself something of a minor expert on Medicare and often have advised friends who are approaching 65 about their best options. Until a man I know approached me and asked for my advice. He added he was dually qualified for Medicare and Medicaid and he thought he probably qualified for food benefits, too.
Huh? I had no idea what he was talking about and had to admit to him I was useless in this case.
Today I advised him to find a credit union he could join that also is a customer of Starlight, a fintech with a focus on unlocking some $100 billion in government benefits that are potentially available to credit unions.
Starlight was on the show a year ago. It’s on again today because it comes with big news: it’s now a CUSO and has won funding from One Washington Financial, a CUSO that is wholly owned by Washington State Employees Credit Union, the same credit union that birthed Q Cash.
Scott Daukas, a principal at One Washington Financial is on the show to talk about the CUSO and, specifically, why it funded Starlight. He also briefly talks about Silvur, a portfolio company that also has been on the show.
And Starlight CEO Shreenath Regunathan s back to talk about how it is helping automate the often bewildering process of applying for government benefits - a process made all the more bewildering by massive changes that several big programs (such as SNAP, the food stamps program) are undergoing as the year ends.
Starlight is deployed at over a dozen credit unions and it is busy signing up more credit unions because frankly the need is there.
Along the way, there’s a discussion about Prizeout, an innovative ad tech company that also has been a podcast guest. In another episode a Prizeout consumer user sings its praises.
There’s rich content in this episode. Listen up.
Send us Fan Mail
Mark Ritter, CEO of Member Business Financial Services, a Pennsylvania based CUSO, estimates that about 800 US credit unions do member business lending, meaning that perhaps 3700 don’t.
Many, many more could. That is spelled out in HR 1151, the law that lets credit unions serve more than one employer group. Passage of that law is detailed in CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 51 with Marc Schaefer, then the CEO of Truliant CU.
If credit unions can make small business loans, why don’t they - that’s a question Ritter asks and answers in this show.
But it also is very clear that he believes credit unions - and their members and communities - would be better served if more credit unions jumped into member business lending. The need on the part of small businesses is acute, many are turning to non traditional lenders who may charge as much as 40% APR. Credit unions can play an important role in helping their communities' small businesses, says Ritter.
Understand, too, that a CUSO like MBFS - and there are several competitors in the space - may source the loan, it will underwrite it, MBFS will say if it thinks the loan is a definite “yes,” a definite “no,” or - most likely - a maybe. And if it’s a maybe MBFS will relate the pros and cons of issuing the loan.
The credit union provides the loan capital. MBFS does the heavy lifting.
In the show Ritter offers his unfiltered outlook for commercial real estate loans and also predicts a bump in delinquency rates - and yet he is bullish about member business lending in general.
Ritter, by the way, has his own podcast. Tune in for deep dives in member business trending.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
It’s typically the first in depth contact a non member has with a credit union and that non member, increasingly, is seeking to open a new account online.
Good luck with that.
The brutal fact is that digital account opening tools at most credit unions are inadequate - and an upshot is a stampede of would-be members who simply abandon the process.
That’s why today’s show features Philip Paul, CEO of Cotribute, a developer of digital member onboarding tools, and Kathy Richardson VP of Digital Products and Services at CPM Federal Credit Union , a South Carolina institution with assets around $650 million.
Here are results touted by CPM after their implementation of Cotribute tools:
- 32% increase in new accounts opened in just 90 days
- 82% reduction in manual reviews due to automated fraud detection and decisioning
- Significant time savings for staff, who are now freed from tedious remediation and cleanup
Sounds good? It gets better. The Cotribute rollout of its tools at CPM was happening so swiftly, the credit union actually asked them to slow down. I have never before heard that. You’ll find out why on the show.
You’ll also find out that there are many, many ways to catch fraudsters in the digital onboarding process.
And these are indeed the tools that Gen Z wants when launching a new relationship with a financial institution.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us Fan Mail
The conversation with West Community Credit Union’s Josh Rodriguez started in Ashland OR at the CU 2.0/ Room (39) a event in late September and in this podcast it picks up again.
Fodder for the show came in the form of a questionnaire distributed to event attendees and Josh had dutifully filled his in. He agreed to discuss his answers on this show and we take as the jumping off point West Community Credit Union’s podcast “Banking on You.” It’s a good show and ought to inspire other credit unions to try something similar.
We also talk about West Community Credit Union’s implementation of an AI bot - this is ambitious stuff for a $400 million credit union but West is proving it can be done.
Also dazzling are Josh’s plans for more video and more audio content that will be surfacing in West Community.
Along the way we discuss work being done by Anne Legg and Saroop Bharwani - and regular listeners know about this from podcast #378.
There’s also mention of an episode with Lee Silber, editor of The Credit Union Way. There’s a link in the show notes.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Fact: youth banking is the entry ramp into a credit union.
Fact 2: Credit unions, most of them, will admit that youth banking is not exactly their strongest suit.
Enter Cardinal Credit Union, a Mentor OH based institution with assets around $335 million, where CEO Chistine Blake saysthey are winning big in attracting youth to get credit union accounts by doing a lot of innovative thinking and mixing in fun activities.
Blake, by the way, is a past podcast guest. In episode 342 she talks about the institution’s relationship with the Cleveland Browns and its Little Brownies debit card aimed at kids. Since then she has turned to Nuuvia - formerly Incent - where president Marcel King and team have developed a range of youth banking tools and ideas. King, too, is a past guest. He was on episode 360 with Pioneer Federal Credit Union EVP Tracey Miller where they talked about youth banking.
On this episode King and Blake dive deeply into what Cardinal is offering, why kids like what they see, and why all of this matters in helping to insure a credit union’s long term success. In the process King shares compelling data on youth banking at Desert Financial, a big credit union in Phoenix AZ.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Go back to when I started to report on credit unions and there were over 8000 credit unions. Now there are 4370.
In 2020 there were 5099 credit unions. Just in five years the count is down by 700+.
The math going forward is gloomy.
That’s why I smiled when I saw Jason Stverak’s CU Insight piece on Why small credit unions matter and how we can help them thrive.
Jason is chief advocacy officer at DCUC, the Defense Credit Union Council and is a past podcast guest.
Why is he advocating for keeping little credit unions alive?
I had to get him on the show - this episode was recorded on November 12, just hours before the federal government reopened after the longest shutdown in history.
We start by talking about what’s going on in Washington DC now - and quickly move into why DCUC has become an aggressive lobbyist and then we focus on why small credit unions matter and why DCUC cares.
It’s good stuff.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Big data vs. AI.
Is this a war inside the walls of credit unions or can the two flourish in harmony?
On the show are Anne Legg, founder and CEO of Thrive 3.0, where the mantra is leveraging data to better members’ lives, and Saroop Bharwani, co-founder and CEO of Senso, where he has been bringing AI to credit unions for several years.
What you’ll hear in this episode is that indeed big data and AI can - should - co-exist for optimal results in credit unions.
Along the way you will hear about successful AI implementations at a number of credit unions, from One Nevada to Suffolk Credit Union.
You’ll also hear how credit unions as small as $100 million in assets are successfully implementing AI and also big data strategies.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
You have a brand.
Know it or not, like it or not, you do.
And on the show today is Laura Beauparlant, a Canada based keynote speaker and consultant who helps clients know and polish their personal brand.
What’s your brand on social media? In meetings? At conferences? Others sense your brand and that means it’s important for you to buff your brand until it shows you off in your best light.
In the show Laura talks about the how to of shaping your personal brand. And if you need reasons to do it, she also elaborates on why personal brand matters in your daily business life.
In the show we discuss Laura’s book, Brand Chemistry. There’s a link in the show notes.
Incidentally, I met Laura at CU 2.0/Room (39a) Launch event in Ashland Oregon.
This is a different kind of show. But it just might prompt you to change your personal brand!
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
About 45 credit unions are customers of JUDI.AI and they are drawn by the company’s simple promise: Eliminate friction in business lending.
There is money to be made serving small businesses and JUDI.AI has the formula, says Gord Baizley, the company’s CEO.
A key is automating a lot of the process and that’s JUDI.AI’s business.
Here’s why the company exists: “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but 40-50% of small businesses rank access to capital as their top challenge. At JUDI, we’re transforming small business dreams into vibrant communities by increasing access to capital.”
That’s a big promise but, says Baizley, the company has had very little churn among credit unions who sign up. That’s because they believe they are getting value and also that in fact they are finding ways to serve their communities’ small businesses.
Just about every credit union, certainly all bigger than $500 million in assets, dreams about making small business lending a bigger slice of their portfolio.
Baizley insists that dream can be reality. On the show he tells how.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
“Prepare: AI is the new CU crisis super villain.” That’s the title of a recent CUInsight story authored by Casey Boggs, founder of Reputation US, an d of course we had to get him on this podcast.
Understand, I am a strong supporter of AI in general and AI in particular inside credit unions. This is a life and death matter.
Yet there is a possible downside to AI and we already know that the main AI tools have played substantial roles in teen suicides, in creating false “facts,” and in many other ways leading humans astray.
While I may disagree with many of Boggs' conclusions, his core advice - proceed with AI cautiously and thoughtfully - is on the money.
Only fools rush in.
Read Boggs’ CU Insight piece, listen to the podcast, read a recent CUInsight story by me where I explore CU use of AI with CU2.0 founder Kirk Drake, and keep on learning and experimenting and using AI.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Exactly what is Room (39)a?
There’s one at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center but today we are talking about the Room (39)a at CFCU, Community Financial Credit Union in Michigan, where past CU 2.0 Podcast guest Tansley Stearns serves as CEO and she has launched this Room (39)a as a CUSO that will offer subscriptions to its research.
As for what it does, CFCU’s Room (39)a describes itself this way: “a place where possibility and the unexpected collide. We blend the precision of research with human imagination to unlock new ideas, products, strategies and opportunities for companies and brands.”
Could this be exactly what credit unions need today as they battle with mammoth money center banks and fintechs with massive war chests.
On the show is Blake Woods, a CFCU SVP who also serves as chief ideator at Room (39)a.
The episode explores the Room (39)a approach to research, how it decides what topics to pursue, and why it believes the credit union industry very much needs the kinds of research it is doing.
Don’t think this is a propeller head show. Quite the contrary. We dive deeply into gambling, for instance, and also into questions about credit union sports sponsorship deals.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Three years ago Tropical Financial Credit Union, a $1 billion south Florida institution, signed on as a sponsor of the Florida Panthers and magic happened because the Panthers - in the National Hockey League - won the Stanley Cup in 2024 and won again in 2025. That’s the equivalent of winning the World Series in baseball or the Super Bowl in football and, definitely, the Panthers now are the darlings of south Florida because everybody loves a winner.
On the show is Marylen Yiris, vice president of marketing at Tropical Financial and she tells how the credit union partnered with the Panthers and the benefits she believes the credit union has gotten from the arrangement. Note: new member activations are one metric she uses in assessing the value of the relationship.
Understand: Tropical Financial is enthusiastic about sports sponsorship. It now has inked a sponsorship with Fort Lauderdale United FC, a women's soccer team that competes in a new league.
And Yiris indicates that Tropical Financial is open to exploring still more sponsorship deals with sports teams.
Earlier this year the CU 2.0 Podcast hosted Christine Blake, CEO of Cardinal Credit Union in Ohio which has a sponsorship deal with the Cleveland Browns in the NFL.
It’s hard to get noticed in today’s cluttered mediascape - and the credit unions that have sponsorships say they work in elevating brand awareness.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Back on the show today after a hiatus is Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union and now a partner in Parc Street Partners where he focuses on credit union executive retirement plans.
Kordeleski has been on the show many times but he always is welcomed back because he has deep insight into what it’s like to be a credit union CEO and also into how to compensate those CEOs appropriately. Here’s a link to the Kordeleski Archives.
What brings Kordeleski back to the show is that much is changing in the retirement planning for credit union CEOs and senior staff. Changing macro economic conditions have triggered significant changes in the retirement plans. Breathe easily. There remain good, stable plans. Kordeleski tells about them here.
Know that appropriate compensation for senior executives is a must at credit unions that want to succeed. And a good retirement plan is a critical part of that package.
‘
Kordeleski brings us up to date.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Tansley Stearns had been working in a credit union for maybe five years when a big idea grabbed her: she decided she wanted to be a CEO of a credit union.
For a young woman who had grown up on a farm in southern Michigan that was a very big idea.
Three years ago she made it happen, when she was named CEO at Community Financial Credit Union, a Plymouth MI headquartered institution.
How is she liking the job? Is sitting in the CEO seat what it’s cracked up to be?
‘In this show Stearns faces questions from two hosts, Robert McGarvey and also CU 2.0 CEO Kirk Drake.
You’ll hear what she thinks credit unions will look like a quarter century from now, what she believes the impacts of AI will be on the industry, and also what credit unions need to do more of to stay competitive.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Whew, credit unions dodged the threat of loss of their tax exemption - but don’t think all is smooth sailing for credit unions in today’s turbulent Washington DC. Lots is happening that may impact credit unions, large and small.
On the show is repeat guest Elizabeth Eurgubian, a lobbyist - with the Defence Credit Union Council among her clients - who also has served as NCUA Director of the Office of External Affairs and Communications and Policy Advisor to Chairman Harper. Before that she was deputy chief advocacy officer at CUNA and before that she was a vice president and a lobbyist for ICBA.
Her specialty is regulatory matters and that means NCUA, but also CFPB and other agencies.
In this episode she talks about what’s up with NCUA’s one person board, the shrinking of CFPB, the GENIUS Act and the opportunity presented by stablecoins, and NCUA’s Central Liquidity Enhancements Act and why this matters to smaller credit unions in particular, and also NCUA’s recurring paperwork review and how it’s an opportunity for credit unions to seek changes at the agency.
See: there’s a lot happening inside the Beltway.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
You might know it as the dismal science, but a conversation with Bill Handel, Chief Economist of Raddon, a Fiserv company, is anything but dismal. It in fact is an enlightening romp through the complexities and confusions of today’s global economy.
In the show Handel makes a prediction about the future of interest rates - and, no, don’t expect an imminent return of 4% 30 year fixed rate mortgages.
He also talks about how young adults are adjusting their financial habits to navigate today’s economy.
Importantly, too, Handel explains what is going on in the White House’s attempt to reset the global economy - and he indicates that the present economy is something of an artifact of the aftermath of World War II so there are reasons to think a reset is in order.
But how is a credit union CEO supposed to navigate in a global economy that is filled with uncertainties? Handel’s advice is to create plans that feature built in flexibility - because, really, you don’t know where interest rates will be a year from now. Staying flexible will be key to succeeding, he says.
Handel also says that the operating margins of credit unions have to improve. Period. He tells why in the show.
Dismal science? Not in this show. Here, economics becomes an exciting tool for navigating what’s coming at us.
Listen up
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
I am not going to explain to you in any detail what TrustGrid does and that is because in the show Joe Gleinsner, a co-founder of the Austin TX company, does a much better job of explaining than I could.
But here’s the fact: TrustGrid’s tools - which enable secure connections of fintech apps with banking systems - are on the job at a couple thousand US credit unions, says Gleinser.
Why haven’t you heard of it? That’s because TrustGrid does not sell to credit unions, it sells to fintechs and it’s the fintechs that pay for the service.
TrustGrid says it delivers fast, reliable fintech networks at scale - and that is why it is a leading provider in a space that is crucial to the safe, secure, reliable flow of financial data.
Understand: this is NOT a technical show. But listen up and you’ll hear why TrustGrid is important and why so many credit unions and banks use its tools.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Now for a feel good show.
Lee Silber has put together a book, The Credit Union Way, that he says is inspired by the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and right away that tells you this is a feel good book.
How did it come together? On the show Silber tells how he put together the stories - each of which relates a special credit union moment.
In the episode Silber reads a chapter from the book - entitled Frank’s Fund - that was written by Anne Legg who happens to be a past CU 2.0 podcast guest.
Read the book and next time somebody asks you how a credit union differs from a bank, just give the gist of one of the stories and it’s QED.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
AI - is it real or a mirage?
What is certain is that today AI is on the lips on just about everyone in credit union land.
What also is real is a recent MIT finding that 95% of large companies with AI initiatives are getting zilch out of them.
Ouch.
That does not have to be the reality for credit unions.
On the show today is Kirk Drake, CEO of CU 2.0, author of FINANCIAL, a 2020 book that envisions the rise of AI in our lives and in credit unions, and he also is hosting LAUNCH, a September 23-25 event in Oregon which wears this tagline: This isn’t a conference. It’s a launchpad.
In prior years the event was labeled CU 2.0 Live. This year it is held in partnership with Community Financial Credit Union’s ROOM (39)a initiative. Thus the name change.
A huge focus in the event will be launching good stuff in AI.
Drake tells all about the event in this show and the website has a small checklist - Are You in the Right Place? - that helps you decide if this event is for you or that it isn’t.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
In a year about 500 members of First City Credit Union in Pasadena die. It’s a credit union with 57,000 members.
And what happened after the member’s death?
On the show is Saeid Kian, CEO and co-founder of Ribbon, a fintech that has developed a tool kit to help credit unions speed up the process of settling a member’s estate and also - this is huge - helping the credit union retain some of those assets on its books.
Also on the show is Nav Khanna, CEO of the $900 million First City Credit Union and his is the first credit union to go live with Ribbon.
Why did he agree to be the first? What benefits has First City seen?
Know this: at most financial institutions the process of handling a deceased member’s accounts is labor intensive. It annoys the heirs and very likely it also annoys the credit union employees who are tasked with handling the estate.
Saeid knows this first hand because the idea for Ribbon grew out of his own frustrations in settling his father’s estate - a process that took many frustrating weeks. There had to be a better way, he thought, a way that worked better for the heirs and maybe for the credit union too because the heirs no longer would leave the institution with a settlement check in hand and with the intention to never again deal with that institution.
And Nav tells us it’s really working at First City.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
This is a CU 2.0 Podcast first.
Never before, in almost 500 episodes, have we done this.
On the show is Crystal Zarse, a member of Interra Credit Union, a $1.7 billion Indiana based institution, and she is here to tell about her experience using the Prizeout Cashback+ debit card which rewards users with cashback often around 10% of purchase price, sometimes much more.
Focus on that. Here’s a member who has taken time out of her to tell what benefits she gets by using the Cashback+ debit card that Interra issued to her.
Also on the show is Joel Richard, an Interra senior vice president of member experience, and David Metz, CEO of Prizeout.
Metz has been on the show before and what got him a return visit was when his PR person, Andrea Holland, emailed me to offer up a credit union member who would talk about how Cashback+ makes her life better.
A big gong went off in my head. I had never before done this in a show…and yet credit unions trumpet that they are member focused. Credit unions are here to improve the financial lives of everyday people.
I had to do this show and, honestly, Crystal Zarse is everything I could have hoped for in a guest.
Message to other credit unions/fintechs: If you want on the show, grease your path by lining up a member to join the mix.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Call this a week of different kinds of shows.
Today we are doing something we have never done before.
The guest - the only guest - is Lisa Weinstein, VP of Member Relations at Virginia Credit Union and a 33 year veteran of the credit union industry.
There is no Eltropy employee also on the show.
Weinstein is here to talk about Eltropy’s Collections 2.0, an AI powered tool kit designed to combat delinquencies and increase collections.
How is it working at $7 billion VCU? Weinstein tells us.
I am interested in hearing from other CU execs who want to come on the show and tell the good, the bad and the ugly about a tech product their institution has adopted. Email me at rjmcgarvey@gmail.com to get this in motion.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
When will you retire?
What years of your life should be the ones where you work the longest, hardest hours?
On the show today is Derek Coburn, author of Let's Retire Retirement: How to Enjoy Life to the Fullest—Now and Later, a book that very probably will rock your mind because it challenges key beliefs that most of us share about retirement.
For instance: at what age will you retire?
Probably your answer is 65, that’s the number that jumps off most lips. But Coburn says probably you won’t and he adds the zinger that other ages may well work much better for you.
Like what? How about 75? Or 70?
And fact is more Americans are working longer- indeed the fastest growing age cohort in the workplace is Americans aged 75 and older!
Surveys also say that approaching 25% of Americans age 65 and higher are now working.
And Ciburn believes that number will only increase as many American seniors are today healthier, more active than were Americans of the same age a generation ago.
A bonus: retire later in life and you need far less retirement savings. You’ll hear actual numbers in the show - and it will blow your mind.
As for what years you should work longest and hardest? Coburn argues that it’s when your kids are home and for many that means working less in your thirties and forties.
Is that catastrophic for your retirement savings? No, because you will be working later in life you need less retirement savings. QED.
In the show, mention is made of an app. Death Clock AI. Here’s a link to the Washington Post story about it.
In the show Coburn mentions CU 2.0 founder/CEO Kirk Drake and Resistance Wine. I’ve drunk it, it’s good.
Coburn says he wears an Oura ring. Here’s the link
In the show also there’s mention of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a brilliant psychologist who documented the phenomenon he called flow where work is highly focused and we are happiest.
Send us a text
You probably have forgotten about the role of credit unions in the country’s marijuana business - estimated to be north of $40 billion. I know I had. It’s been years since we did a show on this topic.
But on the show today is Kevin Hart, CEO of Green Check Verified, a business that provides tools to financial institutions that serve the country’s many marijuana businesses.
As Hart says in the show, narijuana may not be legal in federal law - it is legal in 39 states for medical use and 24 states for personal use - but there is no federal law prohibiting a bank or credit union from providing financial services to a marijuana business.
That marijuana business too must operate in full compliance with the laws in its states.
How does a credit union successfully navigate this landscape? Also on the show is Megan Bennett, manager MRB compliance at Wright-Patt Credit Union in Ohio. the 38th biggest credit union in the country with assets around $9 billion. MRB of course is Marijuana Related Businesses.
Bennett explains, in detail, how Wright-Patt decided to serve marijuana businesses, how it’s working for the institution, and why this is a win-win-win for the state of Ohio, the marijuana businesses and the credit union.
How many credit unions serve marijuana businesses in the US? Under 200, probably nearer 150. But Wright-Patt just may illustrate how it can be done, legally and well.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
What exactly does a credit union’s chief strategy officer do?
On the show today is Bill Snider, the Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at Clearview Federal Credit Union, a credit union with around $2 billion in assets that serves 10 counties around Pittsburgh.
Longtime listeners will recall that I have expressed skepticism about strategies at many credit unions, also their commitment to innovation.
Snider is here to show that in fact a credit union indeed can have a genuine strategy and be innovative and, importantly, these abilities are essentials for Clearview which - by virtue of its location - has to compete with PNC, a Pittsburgh local bank that also has assets of about $555 billion and is in fact the seventh largest bank in the US. But Pittsburgh is its home and definitely plays on the local angle.
The show is wide ranging - we talk about AI, mobile apps, and also community service and feeding the hungry.
But all of that is in the innovative stew that a chief strategy officer has to deal with today.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Could shared services be the cure that puts a halt to the epidemic of mergers among credit unions?
Could shared services help credit unions increase their efficiencies and dramatically lower their costs so that they can better compete against big banks and fintechs?
On the show today are Vin Anand, CEO of Member Support Services (MSS), and an evangelist for shared support services at credit unions.
To spread this word Anand has brought in Gene Foley, former CEO of Harvard University Employees Credit Union, Kirk Kordeleski, former CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union, and Erin Coleman, SVP of Industry Impact at Callahan & Associates. They are the new MSS Advisory Board with the mission of providing strategic guidance,
Today Foley joins Anand on the show and they are here to explain how shared services can in fact enable credit union independence. That may sound per se self contradictory but it isn’t and on the show you’ll hear how shared services just may be the lifeline a lot of credit unions are looking to grasp.
For more on shared services and credit union independence there’s another show in the library with Anand.
To hear the show with Jim Blaine that Foley discusses, click here.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
What’s in your credit union’s name?
Shakespeare told us a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
But credit union leaders are busy renaming their institutions, often for solid, fundamental reasons.
How to do this right is the topic of this Greatest Hits #28 where Phil Davis from branding company Tungsten tells the how to of smart renaming.
Listen up.
Send us a text
About 55% of outstanding US home mortgages have interest rates below 4% and a byproduct is that those homeowners are deeply reluctant to move because it would usually mean taking out a new mortgage at 6% or more.
Enter Takara which says it has a way to resolve what it calls the mortgage lock in effect.
On the show is Takara CEO Jonathan Arad who says the solution is to use a Danish-style mortgage payoff model to the U.S. market.This gives credit unions a way to offer principal discounts that unlock member mobility while creating new revenue opportunities and balance sheet flexibility.
This is not hocus pocus.
But I’ll let Arad explain it in the show.
It’s for you if you want to light a fire under your mortgage originations.
It also may be for you if you currently have a 30 year fixed rate mortgage with a very low interest rate and that’s stopping you from moving.
Understand this: the 30 year fixed rate mortgage is a US product. It just isn’t common around the globe. But yet mortgages and home purchases flourish globally.
Just maybe it’s time for a change.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Suddenly youth banking is back in the conversation and that’s because this time there is real optimism that it’s a product that’s emerging at the right time. Case in point of the optimism is a recent Finovate article headlined “Why Youth Banking Is Set to Surge In 2025.”
Better news is that this market isn’t solely for the big banks and fintechs. Now on the scene is Incent with its youth digital banking tools and it’s launched a CUSO that right now has one member owner, Idaho based Pioneer Federal Credit Union, a $700 million institution.
Many credit unions already are signed up to be customers of Incent.
On the show to tell about why now is the time for youth banking and the product is Incent are Marcel King, president of Incent, and Tracey Miller, EVP at Pioneer.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Talking about credit/debit card disputes and chargebacks.
Probably you don’t want to. For good reason. One estimate is that there were $62.5 billion in chargebacks in 2023.
And at most credit unions every chargeback or dispute involves a lot of staff time. It’s an expensive matter and it is often profoundly irritating to members - at least some of whom decide to change FIs as a result.
More worrisome is that increasing numbers of Americans file disputes, often just as a way to get an easy $50 or $100 back in their own pocket. Lots of disputed charges are simply fraudulent.
Enter Casap, which automates the dispute process and in the process resolves cases much faster and at dramatically lower costs.
Casap CEO and co-founder Shanthi Shanmugam is on the show to talk about the 21st century way to handle disputes.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Risk.
For years I have said that to a credit union senior executive the foulest four letter word is risk.
It’s a risk averse industry and that’s a paradox because a credit union makes money by taking risks.
Then too we are now in a universe of unprecedented risk: there are wars, threats of a recession, threats of uncontrolled inflation, and of course there now is so much competition - neo banks, non banks and more.
Risk is everywhere.
Enter Ed Vincent CEO of SRA Watchtower, a Virginia headquartered company with a toolkit that is designed to automate risk management for credit unions.
“SRA Watchtower is committed to helping financial institutions unlock the power of data, which we believe is the currency of the future,” said Vincent.
You know you are in a sea of risks. Know that SRA Watchtower knows that and that is why it has tools to help credit unions manage in today’s environment.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Want to know the secret about how to better target a new member acquisition campaign?
Of course you do.
Just about every credit union in the country is scrambling to gain new members - but could the campaigns be more efficient and effective?
In many, many cases the answer is a loud yes.
Enter Vertices Which is blending data and AI to give credit unions tool to enable more precise targeting strategies and tactics.
On the show is Mitch Rutledge, CEO of Vertice AI and himself a past podcast guest, episode 247,
But don’t take just his word.
Also on the show are business development specialist Tiffany Sharpensteen and Bradley Herbert, senior VP of technology, both of Education Credit Union of Amarillo, Texas which has assets around $480 million. Education shares its experience in the pilot program of Vertice ACQUIRE - and, yes, the reviews are glowing.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Are you ready to grapple with the new NCUA requirement that every credit union have an up to date succession plan that covers both senior executives and board members?
The good news: you’re not required to have a written plan until January 1, 2026.
The bad news: if you don’t have a plan by then, or if your plan falls far short of NCUA’s expectations, the credit union can be written up by an examiner.
On the show is Jeff Paille, partner in The Bonadio Group’s Assurance Division, who offers a primer on what every credit union needs to know about this NCUA requirement.
And he also talks about what will happen if you simply tell the examiner you haven’t gotten a plan together.
Incidentally, although the NCUA explicitly flagged mergers triggered by a lack of a succession plan as a prompt for this new requirement, Paille says that a common succession plan at many credit unions is in fact merger.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Some 4.18 million Americans will turn 65 in 2025 and many of them will have to make difficult and crucial decisions about their Medicare coverage.
Credit unions can play a crucial role in this process and in this episode from May 2023 Rock Carter tells exactly how credit unions can get involved.
And if you think Medicare has to be easy, well, get ready to hear the complexities.
Listen up.
Send us a text
25% cashback on an Amazon purchase. 35% back at Kroger.
Now do I have your attention?
And this is cashback on a debit card. You thought debit card cashback vanished a decade ago? It had.
But now it just may be coming back.
On the show are David Metz, CEO of Prizeout, an innovator in adtech, and he is here to talk about a new product, CashBack+ Pay.
Also on the show is Amy Sink, CEO of Interra Credit Union, an Indiana institution with assets around $2 billion, an investor in the Prizeout CUSO.
As for those eye popping cashback purchases, they are real and both were enjoyed by Interra members who had signed up Cashback + Pay, relates Sink.
According to Prizeout, “The first group of credit unions now live with CashBack+ Pay includes Interra Credit Union, Michigan State Federal Credit Union, United Financial Credit Union, Golden 1 Credit Union and People Driven Credit Union.”
Cashback rates vary - sometimes by day, often by a member’s particular demographic. But, says Metz, the usual rate now is averaging 6.8%.
Rewards are instant too.
Metz in the show tells about the mechanics of Cashback + Pay and Sink is the articulate evangelist.
Also on the show in a cameo is Andrea Holland, who handles communications for Prizeout.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Buckle up, there may be turbulence on this ride.
On the show today is Elizabeth Eurgubian , now a lobbyist in Washington DC but who just a few months ago served as NCUA Director of the Office of External Affairs and Communications and Policy Advisor to Chairman Harper. That’s an important position at NCUA - it’s a political appointment.
Before that she was deputy chief advocacy officer at CUNA and before that she was a vice president and a lobbyist for ICBA.
She knows Washington DC and she especially knows the lobbying intricacies involving credit unions and community banks.
This episode was recorded the day before NCUA chairman Kyle Haputman revealed the staff reorganization plan for NCUA which is a slightly deeper staffing cut than Eugubian predicted but that makes her predictions for NCUA operations with a smaller staff even more chilling.
Bottomline: she says everything will take longer at a slimmed down NCUA, an agency she says was thinly staffed before this 20+ percent staffing cut.
Along the way Ergubian gives a short course on how to lobby effectively and offers insights into the likely future of NCUA (will it stay independent?), the credit union federal tax exemption, and credit union examinations in a slimmed down NCUA.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Today’s topic: How to Pass the NCUA Tech Audit (Without Losing Your Mind)
The guest is Mike Robins, COO at Dynamic Edge, a company that’s helped many credit unions - particularly ones with assets between $25 million and $400 million - successfully navigate the NCUA Tech Audit which occurs “periodically,” according to the agency.
Hear what’s involved in the audit, how to pass it and - crucially - how to prepare for it.
Robin’s key point: prepare and you won’t lose your mind.
Interesting, too, is that NCUA provides cheat sheets for the Tech Audit on its website. Robins tells where to find them and how to use them.
He also tells if the auditors are in fact following the cheat sheets.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
On today’s show is Paul Dionne, chief strategy officer at Quantum Governance, L3C.
What’s an L3C? Good question: It’s a low profit limited liability company and, in the case of Quantum Governance, that means it “help[s] nonprofits, credit unions, associations and foundations realize the full potential of their missions.”
The company’s work with credit unions revolves around governance - especially issues involving the board and organizational leadership - and strategic planning.
That’s why a key focus of this discussion is a credit union board’s fiduciary responsibility especially in the case of a merger. When a merger is on the table, a board member’s responsibility is to make decisions that are in the best interest of the membership, said Dionne.
What’s that mean? How can a board member go off course?
In the show Dionne, who worked at Filene before joining Quantum Governance, tells the good, the bad and the ugly.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Is this the twilight of the golden age of credit unions? On the show to discuss exactly that question is Jim Blaine, the now retired longtime CEO of SECU, the second biggest credit union in the country. Blaine may be retired but he still has opinions about credit unions, as evidenced in his blog, SECU - Just Asking!
In this podcast Blaine also digs deep into the question: what exactly is a credit union? We also talk about democracy in credit unions and often the lack thereof.
Recently Blaine has been sparring with his old employer with the flash point being the institution’s new leadership’s desire to move to risk based pricing for loans. Blaine is against that and successfully resisted it in his years as SECU’s CEO.
Blaine, definitely, is opinionated. But he also is - undeniably - a credit union champion. What he says may make you mad - it definitely made various NCUA employees mad. But listen up because Blaine, very clearly, articulates a philosophy about credit unions that he didn’t just spout, he lived in building SECU into a US credit union powerhouse.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
No one has a richer background in credit union journalism than Frank Diekmann. Over the past 35 years he has been co-founder and editor at Credit Union Times, publisher at Credit Union Journal, co-founder at CUToday, and now he is the founder of The CU Daily, a new publication that is the liveliest credit union pub in my opinion.
Nobody has written more published words about credit unions than Diekmann.
Diekmann has opinions.
Longtime listeners probably think I’m opinionated.
I am.
But Direkmann can and does go toe-to-toe with me on a range of topics - credit union mergers, the future of small credit unions, the credit union federal tax exemption, the future of NCUA and lots more. There are even glimpses into the very future of credit unions - if there is one.
This is a lively show and, remember, Diekmann has years of reporting experience that back up the opinions you’ll hear.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
This show started out as an exploration of Jack Henry’s 7th annual Strategy Benchmark Survey where CEOs of credit unions and banks reveal what really matters to them. It’s a data trich survey, there’s a link in the show notes and I say that because the talk with Lee Wetherington – Senior Director of Corporate Strategy at Jack Henry quickly veered into what’s happening in Washington DC and how changes - especially at CFPB - may impact credit unions.
Along the way we discuss how this is an age where data rules, open banking is coming at you ready or not, you probably don’t know your members nearly as well as you think, and small business relationships probably aren’t what you think but they may well be critical to the future of many credit unions.
Does that spicy stew have your taste buds dancing with excitement? It should because this is a show that plunges into the unexpected but it’s stuff you need to know about banking tomorrow.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Peter Duffy’s message is plain: The pace of mergers will get fatter and it will involve credit unions of all sizes, from the small to the mega institutions. First Tech and DCU may seem an outlier but now there is ENT and Wings and the pace will keep up, says Duffy who now has joined SRM.
Will the chaos and uncertainty in Washington DC slow the merger pace? Duffy thinks not, indeed the pace may quicken.
That’s because, says Duffy, economies of scale are now the Holy Grail of financial institutions. Bigger is a competitive advantage, he says.
He does make one surprise prediction: he believes the number of credit unions deals with banks will decrease. Listen to hear why (and it doesn’t have much to do with ICBA’s caterwauling).
Listen up.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
This show is a proof to me that my insistence on doing podcasts without written questions in hand or a script is the right way.
I agreed to this show - a talk with Michael Crowl, ceo of $4 billion Austin Texas based UFCU - because I’d heard he had been developing an interesting strategic plan.
At many credit unions there are strategic plans but often they aren’t interesting and often, too, nobody pays any attention gto them anyway.
Supposedly UFCU and Crowl, who has been at UFCU for 20 years and has been CEO since September 2022, were different.
Indeed they are.
But pretty quickly we veered off the plan and dove into how this guy had risen to the CEO job at a very big credit union. He grew up in government housing. He worked his way through the University of Houston. Then he went into investment banking, earned a good score and then - he went into teaching math at a high school.
A few years later he happened into a job at UFCU and fell in love with what a credit union is and could be for its members.
In the show I even ask the hardest question to throw at a CEO - when did you decide you wanted to be CEO and how did you get there? And Cowl gives a simple but honest answer.
I ask an even harder question: is this your last job?
It’s a great show - and I had no idea it would turn out this way. But that’s the magic of doing this work this way.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Welcome to CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits #26 and on the podcast is
Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, and one of the industry’s most perceptive thinkers. In this show - from November 2022 -- Kordeleski muses on what he calls the five generations of credit union CEOS and he also offers tips on surviving a recession, advice that very well may be timely.
Send us a text
Credit unions, most of them, want more small business loans on their books but few credit unions know how to speedily and profitably process small business loan applications and consequently most are lagging when it comes to booking business.
Meet Alex McLeod, a serial startup entrepreneur who now is tackling thee small business loan market with AI powered software that her company, Parlay Financial, is now selling to credit unions.
Her key message: succeeding in the small business marketplace requires the ability to offer fast verdicts on a loan app - same day preferably. And because many of these loans are small, machines have to carry a lot of the load.
The rest of her message is that the technology to enable all this is at hand. ANd that’s the game changer that just may help many credit unions to finally succeed at small business lending.
Heads up: the show begins with around five minutes where we learn Alex;s journey to now and Parlay Financial. Most of these shows have similar chat at the beginning but usually that winds up on the cutting room floor. Not this time. You’ll know why when you hear this story.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
On the show today is Peter Rice, CEO of Hanscom Federal Credit Union, a $1.9 billion institution headquartered in Boston that took flight in 1951 at Hanscom Air Force Base.
Rice is a repeat guest. His first appearance came in 2021 when he was Chief Banking Officer at Workers Bank. That episode has been reposted as Greatest Hit #25.
On this show Rice’s mind roams across the many issues credit unions are now wrestling with - the possible loss of the federal income tax exemption, possible changes at NCUA in the DOGE restructuring of Washington DC, the retirement of America's Credit Union’s CEO Jim Nussle, Hanscom's acquisition of The People’s Bank (Mayland), pending regulatory approval, and a new WealthTrek facility in Government Center, Boston that is reimagining banking today and tomorrow.
But there’s more. We also talk about Rice’s walks on the Camino de Santiago, where he has three times earned a compostela, a certificate of completion, and he muses about writing a management book about the Camino. By the way your podcast host has earned two Camino compostelas, in separate walks.
And there’s even a detour into the political history of Ireland, where Rice grew up.
This is a show with lots to unpack.
Listen up. And listen again.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Welcome to the cU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits #25. This show dates back to August 2021 and it aired as episode 162. The guest: Peter Rice, now CEO of Hanscom Federal Credit Union, and then he was Chief Banking Officer at Workers Credit Union. He came on the show to talk about a new, dazzling branch concept.
You’ll hear how Rice’s mind works in the show.
And a few days after the posting of this Great Hit a new episode with Rice will post where his mind roams among the hot topics in credit unions today.
If Joyce’s Dubliners is a prequel to Ulysses, this podcast is a prequel to Wednesdays. Listen up.
Send us a text
I’d expected this to be an AI free show but, let’s face it, that just isn’t likely in 2025 but the good news is that in the show Pete Major, vice president of fintech services at CUSO MDT, offers concrete AI use cases at work in MDT and he also, importantly, offers cautions about security and the leading AI tools.
In a rush to stay abreast of the fast moving AI universe are some credit unions losing sight of the need to be very sure of the security of the tools they use? Maybe.
Major provides tips on how to stay secure while still using AI tools..
But there’s a lot more in this show.
We talk for instance about the need of CUs to keep security in mind when using any technology tools. If there are flaws - and there have been some doozies in recent years - it’s the credit union that will be saddled with the bulk of the blame.
On a happier note Major discusses a suite of tools for small business members at credit unions - and, he says, demand for the tools is very hot. Is offering good tools a path to winning more business members? Just maybe.
We close the show pondering what the developments in Washington DC - anything from an end to credit union tax exemption to an end to NCUA - might mean for credit unions and also the rising CU interest in merging.
There’s a lot to unpack in this show.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Quick now, what is NACUSO?
Of course that’s the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations - and CUSOs just may be the credit union secret power.
On the show today is Seth Brickman, former CEO of QCash and now president of Ranqx, a powerful tool that can gather the necessary financial info from a wouldbe borrower, analyze and issue a verdict on a business loan application in a matter of minutes.
A typical credit union would take a couple weeks to get to that verdict - which, by the way, is “no” in two out of three cases.
Brickman is a credit union true believer and he especially believes that credit unions have the pole position in lending to small businesses in their community - if they also have the right tools and process automation.
On the show Brickman tells how Ranqx works - and it is already working at credit unions including MSU Federal Credit Union and also at CUSOs.
Which brings us back to the question that opens the show: Does NACUSO matter?
Brickman has a passionate answer and - spoiler alert - probably you can guess it.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Hopeful.
Determined.
In a conversation with Renee Sattiewhite, the CEO of the African American Credit Union Coalition, she came across as both hopeful and determined. And she believes there still is work to be done and she definitely is not giving up.
Definitely she knows the landscape in today’s Washington DC is dramatically different but she does not see that as a call for waving the white flag of surrender.
Along the way you’ll hear mentions of some of the great heroes of AACUC such as Bill Porter and Bert Hash Jr. and Bill Bynum. But you’ll also hear the names of many very successful women.
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said you can’t step into the same river twice, change is our constant. So it definitely is today and Renee Sattirewhite is determined to contribute her views on the kinds of changes we need to be making.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
On today’s show, Mac Thompson, ceo and founder of White Clay - a company focused on helping financial institution use data to build better, more profitable member and customer relationships, and he comes bearing a bitter pill for CU execs to swallow.
According to a recent Harris Poll sponsored by White Clay, “Roughly two-thirds of FI users (68%) do not feel truly known by their primary financial institution, with almost a third (31%) feeling like just another account number..”
Surely credit unions, which pride themselves on their member relationships, do better?
Yes but hold your self congratulations. The number for credit unions is 63%, said Thompson in the show.
It gets worse: 41% of members say they would switch FIs if another institution offered more personalized financial guidance.
But Thompson also has good news: institutions can harness data, data they often already have on hand, to enrich their personal relations with members. He discusses this in detail.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
What’s next for WOCCU?
Is there a next?
The trigger for the question is a notification from the U.S. State Department that paused all funding for USAID programs for 90 days. There’s no promise that funding would resume after 90 days.
Caught in this are three major WOCCU projects - in Ukraine, Ecuador and Peru, and sub-Saharan Africa.
That background is why we knew we had to schedule a call with WOCCU to learn what’s happening and what the future is.
On the podcast are Paul Andrews, WOCCU VP of International Advocacy and Erin O’Hern, WOCCU International Advocacy and Regulatory Counsel.
This show is surprisingly upbeat, despite the profound uncertainty about the future of USAID monies.
WOCCU still has plenty of good works to do and that it believes it can continue doing.
You’ll also hear how you can help WOCCU now.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
About 4.7 million homes sold in the US in 2024.
Does that sound like a dead market?
On the show today is James White of Total Expert which provides tools to help credit unions more efficiently close mortgages. What Total Expert offers is a powerful CRM for loan officers that automates much of the process.
Also on the show is Zakary Short, vice president of mortgage production at Utah Community Credit Union, with assets over $3 billion.
Short’s team are satisfied users of the Total Expert tools and he tells why.
The message of this episode is plain: although some institutions have walked away from the mortgage business, others - like UCCU - are prospering because they know homes are still selling and people need mortgages.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
This is the weather report from GAC, last week’s credit union confab in Washington DC. On the show to report on key developments is Sarah Snell Cooke, former editor in chief and publisher of Credit Union Times and now a consultant to credit unions' business partners.
The big question at GAC was: is this really the end of the credit union federal tax exemption?
Also on the agenda was what’s the impact of staff reduction - a la DOGE - on NCUA? Can the regulator adequately perform with significantly reduced staff?
Which leads to the big question: will NCUA be merged into another agency?
As for that last point: Cooke’s firmly held opinion is that if NCUA is merged into another agency this will spell the end of credit unions as we know them. That’s a gloomy prognosis but Cooke explains on the show why she believes it.
On the show too she predicts that that demolition of NCUA won’t happen.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Can a $350 million credit union play in the big leagues? Don’t tell Christine Blake, CEO of $350 million Cardinal Credit Union in Ohio, that she can’t. Because she is.
A few years ago Cardinal signed on as the official credit union of the Cleveland Browns, one of the historic football teams dating back to 1946. Yes, the Browns have had a few rough years recently but this is a team with real history.
And an enthusiastic fan base in Cleveland, said Blake.
On the show she tells how she made the agreement with the Browns and what it means for the credit union.
She also tells about Cardinal’s Lil Brownies card which helps children learn about finances.
But she’s on the show with big news about an innovative Professional Sports Team Credit Union Executive Summit where credit unions with relationships with pro sports teams will come together for three days of meetings in San Francisco, March 19-21 Among the presenters along with Cardinal are ENT - the official credit union of the Denver Broncos - and Northwest Financial Federal Credit Union which has a relationship with the Washington Commanders.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Cliff Rosenthal literally wrote the book on CDFIs, community development financial institutions. Hear his story in this podcast that dates back to 2019, episode 37 in the vaults.
Rosenthal was on the show last year - episode 311 - talking about a new book he co-authored with Michael McCray entitled Community Capital. It’s part Rosenthal autobiography, part the sgtory of the death - the murder? - of an African AMerican credit union. Hard hitting stuff.
But the story starts here, in episode 37 and it now is our Greatest Hit #24
Listen up
Send us a text
Here’s the money question for you to ponder: : should you close that branch on Third Street and open a new branch in a neighboring town? Keep in mind that the ballpark cost of opening a new branch is $2.5 million. As for costs in a branch closure there always are some and there also may be remember losses. How to do the math?
Meet Steven Reider, president of Bancography - that’s the company that won best in show at Finovate fall 2024 for its Bancography Plan software tool that helps a credit union alanalyze branch closings and openings and also possible mergers.
Decisions that had been made based upon gut instinct now can be supported with analytical data.
How hard is Bancography Plan to use? It’s so easy, said Reider, even a CEO can use it.
As I tell Reider in the early moments of the show I’d never heard of such a tool before combing upon a Bancography press release. But I knew when I read it I had to get this guy on the show.
Oh…the costs are surprisingly affordable.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Call this your must listen podcastg before GAC.
Because in this show you will be hearing explicit advice about your CAC 2025 to do.
Here's what is at stake: the credit union tax exmption on the future of NCUA.
Will credit unions lose their federal tax exemption? Will NCUA be shuffled into a couple desks in the basement of the Treasury Department?
Issues of monumental importance to the credit union movement are actively under discussion in Washington DC and longtime credit union lobbyist John McKechnie is on the showto report on the latest rumblings on Capitol Hill.
The big takeaway from this show: these issues very much are on the table in today's Washington DC
On the date of this recording - February 18 - McKechnie expressed optimism about credit unions retaining their tax exemption.
But he also stressed that what will be needed to win this fight is a concerted action by many, many credit union people to get the message across that to keep doing the valuable work credit unions do they need to keep that tax free status.
That means put on your shoes and get busy walking the Hill.
And be ready to walk it not just during GAC but in the weeks and months afterwards because, stresses McKechnie, relationships with members and staffers on the Hill are forged via repeat contacts.
Listen up
Send us a text
If I told you I have a podcast where a credit union executive tells you about high rates on CDs, free checking, and super cheap new car loans, how quickly would you turn the dial and give a listen to Joe Rogan?
Right, you know the answer.
So I will tell you what I really have is a fascinating podcast with Josh Rodriguez at West Community Credit Union in Missouri, an institution approaching a half billion in assets.
That’s because Rodriguez is doing things I’ve never heard about at credit unions.
But keep in mind on LinkedIn he identifies himself as Innovator/CU Professional/Storyteller.
I met Rodriguez at the CU 2.0 Live event in Arizona in June and when he told me he is a storyteller I knew I had to get him on this show. I had never before encountered a credit union executive who said he/she is a storyteller.
And you know…stories are the most powerful form of communication.
In this show, Rodriguez talks about why stories are so potent, he also talks about a creative content package he has developed to help West Community’s employees better know the execs in the c-suite…and maybe also do some thinking about their own career development.
And then he drops the bomb that West Community has planned a series of podcasts where members will tell their stories about their relationship with the credit union. You have to hear how Rodriguez describes this project - and hear, too, the passionate excitement in his voice as he opens his playbook.
Here's the website for these shows http://bankingonyoupodcast.com/
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Keith Leggett is a name that used to provoke cursing by usually mild mannered credit union executives - and so here he is again in a CU 2.0 Golden Oldies podcast.
Leggett has retired from the American Bankers Association, where he was chief economist, and he also has put -30- on his Credit Union Watch blog but this show from the archives is well worth a listen in 2025 because it focuses on credit union - bank mergers and also on credit union tax exemption. Two issues that are even bigger headlines now.
In the show we discuss Maine Harvest, an innovative credit union idea that alas merged with Five County Credit Union in 2022.
Listen up.
Send us a text
Could this really be the end?
For going on 20 years I have heard screams - usually emanating from one trade group - that the credit union tax exemption was in peril. I thought that was a terrific membership renewal hook but didn’t seen any likelihood of passage.
This year is different. This year the threat is real. On the show is Jason Stverak,, chief advocacy officer at DCUC, the Defense Credit Union Council, whose membership includes the nation’s biggest credit unions but also smaller ones too. All primarily serve military, active duty and retirees.
DCUC has not been the association with a long history of yelling about tax exemption.
But Stverak says that indeed the threat is real.
He also explains what the impacts on DCUC credit unions would be were the tax exemption to go away. And the impacts would be sizable and harmful, both to credit union members and the communities in which DCUC members operate.
In a recent show, onetime Bethpage CEO Kirk Kodeeski warned that if credit unions lost the ax exemption their business model would be shattered.
On this show we hear exactly what that would mean for defense related credit unions.
It’s ugly.
By the way, how much money do you think would be saved were the tax exemption to go away?
Three billion dollars.
That is chump change in today’s Washington DC.
Hear how DCUC is fighting back in this show.
By the way, four years ago DCUC CEO Tony Hernandez (US Air Force retired) was on the show. Hear his episode here.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Here’s the question: Is the First Tech - DCU merger of behemoths a sign of mergers to come or it is an outlier, a one-off deal that arose because of unique circumstances and histories??
Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage, itself a member of the behemoth club, and now a SERP expert with PARC Street Partners, and he comes with strong opinions abut credit union mergers.
But there’s more on the show including Kordeleski’s musing about the longevity of the credit union tax exemption - and how important it is to the credit union business model.
Kordeleski also ponders the probable future of NCUA in an era of slashing federal spending and federal employee body counts.
Just about all the credit union hot buttons get pressed in this show..
And Kordeleski also addresses this question: if you are the CEO of a $10 billion credit union that just now merges with a $5 billion credit union should you ping the board the next day and ask for a 50% pay hike.
Place your bets now:
Is this RIP for NCUA?
Is it say goodnight to the tax exemption?
Are mergers the best way for a credit union to grow?
Or is interna; growth the shrewder option?
And should that CEO ask for the 50% pay boost?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Live from Munich Germany on today’s podcast is Dr. Marlene Wolfgruber, AI Strategy Lead at global automation company ABBYY and, between her advanced education at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, a school Google’s AI tool Gemini says is one of Germany’s best and a leading university in global rankings., and her work for ABBY, a global technology company specializing in intelligent document processing (IDP), process mining, and linguistic software., she brings two decades of AI knowledge to the show.
She brings a captivating message to the show: . What’s especially caught our eye is this: “Financial institutions will leverage AI-powered hyper-personalization to deliver finely tuned financial products and advisory services, dynamically adjusting to individual customer needs, preferences, and financial behaviors in real time. “
As I read that it is saying that while today meaningful personal banking services are reserved for the highest economic strata, AI will usher in a new day with all of us will be able to get genuinely personalized advice and suggestions that will come not via a human but a machine.
And the AI advice just may be very, very good.
Along the way Wolfgruber tells how close we are to that day of real personalization and what has to happen to get there.
She also offers fascinating insights into the journey that has brought AI to where it is today - and also why suddenly ;y large language models such as ChatGPT are on every lip, certainly every lip in credit union c-suites.
Oh, and while Dr. Wolfgruber has the credentials that certify her as a propellerhead, she talks in a way that I can understand and that means you can too.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
If I say a temp worker, probably you think of a fill in receptionist and that’s true as far as it goes. But talk with O2 Consulting Group and it’s a plunge into a whole new world - especially impacting smaller credit unions, ones under perhaps $500 million in assets. Where exactly does that CU find the talent to, say, implement an AI program? Just maybe a fractional e CTO - shared by two or more CUs - or a temporary exec is exactly the cure.
Enter Bonnie Ortiz, CEO of O2 and longtime COO at the Partnership Credit Union, She’s worked inside at credit unions - she knows the terrain - but now she also has assembled a team of seasoned credit union talents who are available for fractional and temporary roles at credit unions, to help solve anything from tech issues to compliance matters.
It’s a fact: credit union operations have become increasingly complex. The day of the shoebox credit union is long gone. Real talent is needed but that talent may be too costly for a smaller CU. The O2 solution is a potential lifesaver.
Also on the show is David Martinez, CIO at $500 million Arlington Federal Credit Union, a credit union that has used O2 talent many times. Martinez is a happy customer.
He’s also a past guest on this show. There a link in the show notes and the topic is about how mid sized CUs can survive, indeed thrive.
Keep listening to this episode and Ortiz offers keen insights into the nuts and bolts of a credit union merger. She’s looking at the issue with a COO’s eyes: how exactly will this merger work? The concerns she raises are keen. . Any CU considering a merger - and who isn’t? - needs to give this a close attention.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Here’s the bad news: AI today is more of a promise than a working reality at most credit unions, says Al;ex JImenzez, a consultant with Backbase, which focus on helping FIs achieve more and better consumer engagement.
But then Jimenez has plenty of very good news for credit unions - and, he insists, their size gives them exceptional advantages when competing with far less nimble mega banks. Do not think smallness is a liability. It just may be a winning advantage.
Along the way Jimenez talks about genuine use cases where AI is in fact bringing real results to credit unions.
And he insists that the AI tool kit in credit unions is going to get much bigger and better, sooner rather than later. It’s a space to keep watching because very real results are coming.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
When Bert Hash, Jr. took over as CEO of MECU in 1996 it was a $400 million institution with one branch that served municipal employees of Baltimore. In this podcast he tells about the institution he took charge of. It had exactly zero ATMs. It did not dispense cash to members - if a member wanted a withdrawal, they were issued a check and most went across the street to a bank to cash it.
Hash, who came to MECU after a long career with banks, knew there had to be changes. Within his first six months he put cash in the branch, installed the first ATM, brought in computers and prepared the institution for the battles ahead of it.
When he retired in 2014, MECU had assets of $1.3 billion, a membership of 106,000, and it had grown from one branch to 11.
I knew I had to talk with him even before I heard that story and that was because retired SECU North Carolina CEO Jim Blaine and Renee Sattiewhite of AACUC enthusiastically seconded the motion.
When I initially asked Bert, he momentary hesitated - did he belong in the company this podcast features? Of course I knew he did. But he is a decent, modest man and you will hear that personality throughout this podcast.
In one section he tells of taking a call from an irate member who believed MECU had made a mistake with his account. Bert agreed with him but still the man went on and after 30 minutes, the man was still threatening to move his account to a bank. Bert told him he was sure he would find at least one thing different at a bank. What, asked the man. "You won't have a half hour conversation with the bank CEO trying to convince you to stay," said Bert.
His is a credit union life and it is made all the special because, as an African American, he faced challenges in his career path and in his leadership of MECU. He tells his story in this podcast which is an especially personal document.
At the end, you will hear a podcast paste on where a recording of a call Bert made to me is. That's because as he reflected overnight about what he had said when asked if he witnessed racism in financial services, he decided he had more to say. His perspective is thoughtful, nuanced, realistic. (Sound quality is different. But the recording is audible.)
He offers a brief summary of the 100+ year of African American credit unions, tells why he think them important in reaching out to the underserved, and offers a stirring perspective on the real credit union mission.
Along the way, you will hear mention of many past CU2.0 podcasts - Jim Blaine, Bucky Sebastian, Gary Oakland, Renee Sattiewhite, Bill Bynum, Cathie Mahon, and Marc Schaefer.
This podcast is recorded in Phoenix - thus the first remarks from Bert.
Send us a text
Beware the shiny tech objects.
On the show today is Tennessee Credit Union League's CRO David Griffiths who says a huge problem many of the league’s credit unions wrestle with is fragmented technology adoption - how do the many tech pieces work together? Or more bluntly: can they work together at all?
Old cores are a real problem for many Tennessee credit unions. So is the cost of middleware.
Griffiths tells about solutions that are working in his state, with both big credit unions and also the many credit unions with assets under $500 million in his state.
He specifically discusses solutions the league is spearheading - it’s good stuff that helps demonstrate there remains a place for credit union leagues, at least the ones that cann talk tech.
Also on the show is Saahil Kamath, head of AI at Eltropy - which has been busy adding to its tool kit for credit unions and insurinng the tools work together. Note that he had indicated he was under the weather and probably would only listen. But he winds up talking at some length and he offers thoughtful insights into what is really working as credit unions seek to get their tech tools talking with each other ,
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Thank you for joining our podcast with Doug Brown of Candescent.
That’s no mistake. I have talked with Doug many times but always before he has worn an NCR hat where he was president of digital banking. Here’s one show, another , and one more. . Looking in my archive I find interview notes with him dating back a dozen years when he was at FIS.
But now, to quote the bard James Brown, poppa’s got a brand new bag.
Not exactly. What has happened is that NCR Voyix has bunded its digital portfolio and sold it for $2.4 billion (plus possible additional considerations) to Veritas Capital, a private equity firm,
Know this: Candescent comes on the market with a hefty dowry, to wit: “he largest independent platform of its kind in the United States and will continue to serve more than 1,300 financial institutions and over 29 million registered users.,” to quote the announcement release.
This is the first significant interview Brown has given since the acquisition but, as he says in the show, they’ve been busy at Candescent developing everything from a marketing plan to aa payroll system.
Also know: I am personally an end user of Candescent tools, namely the DI momobile bike banking platform at Affinity Federal Credit Union in New Jersey. You too might be a Candescent end user - the market presence is immense.
In the show Btown outlines Candescent’s plans and why they believe they have the winning formula.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Steve Winninger is the man to talk with about credit union boards and governance.
A longtime credit union CEO - 20 years at Lake Trust - now a $1.6 billion institution based in Michigan - plus he also served as CEO at IBM Lexington and since retiring from Lake Trust he has put in stints as CEO at four credit unions (only one of which merged out of existence).
But Steve is a rare CEO. He loves talking about the role of the board and - done right - a board should be crucial in a credit union's prosperity.
But many CEOs grumble about board meddling. In other credit unions - mainly larger ones - it's the board that grumbles that they are ignored.
Sigh.
Hear Winninger's views on that dichotomy in this podcast.
In this podcast Winninger spells out the four steps a good board must take. Must. No exceptions.
We also talk about whether boards are ready and able to help in the immensely difficult decisions that loom as credit unions wrestle with the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Yet another show about AI but this conversation with Chris Cox, COO at Apiture, a North Carolina based digital banking company, covers the gamut from small, practical AI powered steps a credit union can take now to truly big ideas that just might revolutionize how we bank. Such as?
Cox tosses out this idea: what if a digital banking app could become like Chat GPT. that is, the user logs in, sees a bar for asking a question, and the resulting session is highly tailored to this consumer’s concern today? How cool would that be?
Another Cox idea: using AI to suggest next steps to members, maybe everything from “Isn’t your rent overdue?” to “Your car is now seven years old. Time to trade it in?”
Along the way Cox says that a hurdle many credit unions face in implementing AI is that a lot of their data is in formats that AI finds difficult to digest. He offers tips on cleaning up that data to make it a valuable depository of information about members and prospective members.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Call this show all you never wanted to know about the fraudemic that credit unions today are fighting - but you have to know about it because knowledge is a key to beating the armies ff criminals who are besieging FIs across America.
Who are they? What weapons do they have? On the show is Rene Perez, a financial crime expert who works with Jack Henry, who tells us what the fraudsters are doing.
But he also is very upbeat that the tide is turning against the criminals as more FIs share more information about fraud and Perez is optimistic that there will be more sharing and more wins for credit unions in their daily battles with cyber criminals.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Can credit unions help eradicate racism in America?
Renee Sattiewhite says so in this 2020 podcast that is our greatest hit #20.
But ask her if there is racism in US financial institutions and the answer is yes.
Renee Sattiewhite is CEO of the African American Credit Union Coalition and in this show she expresses optimism that the US can rid itself of its racist demons.
The time for change is here, she believes.
Sattiewhite is keenly interested in job opportunities in credit unions for people of color and she has numbers: there were in 2020 15 African American CEOs of credit unions, including 6 at billion dollar institutions.
Could there be more? "I look at this and see a glass half full," said Sattiewhite, who added that credit union can do more, better in hiring minority professionals, promoting them, and - this is key - recruiting minority board members.
Sattiewhite also offers a shout out to Jim Blaine, a past podcast guest for his support of AACUC.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Literally a couple days before I recorded this podcast with Siva Narendra, CEO and founder of Tyfone and now Payfinia, a story moved over the wire with this headline: Payfinia Launches CUSO with Star One Credit Union.
The story added that Star One - a Silicon Valley behemoth - had invested $4.5 million in the CUSO. That money, by the way, moved in a series of $500,000 instant payments into Payfinia’s coffers.
At its end Payfinia has built in layers of controls to guard against fraud but to allow real time transfers.
That Star One commitment tells you Payfinia is for real, and Narendra is on the show to tell about Payfinia, which he says is the opportunity for community financial institutions - that means credit unions too - to own an instant payments system that has shown its losses to fraud are dramatically lower than with instant ACH and at the same time overhead costs are dramatically lower.
Instant payments are real and increasing numbers of consumers and businesses - perhaps small businesses especially - want instant payments. The time is now.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
AI - it’s the word on every lip in credit union land as most institutions scramble to find ways to usefully harness AI.
And then there is Glia, the company known for contact center tools that are at work in many credit unions and now Glia has debuted a suite of AI powered contact management tools that are ready to use now.
If you’ve been wondering when AI would get real for credit unions, know it already is real at many Glia customers.
Glia unveiled its AI collection at its Interact 2024 user conference in October and on the show today is Jake Tyler, founder of Finn AI which Glia bought a few years ago and Tyler joined Glia in that transaction.
Glia’s approach to AI is shaped by the company’s focus on contact centers in FIs. In the show Tyler explains how that focus impacts Glia’s AI development and in that vein he stressed that Glia is committed to delivering “responsible AI.”
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Latino Community Credit Union was founded in 2000 in Durham NC when the community was rocked by a wave of robberies - even murders - of Latino workers who were paid in cash and were believed to walk around with their pockets stuffed with cash because they were unbanked.
Enter John Herrera - whom you know from CU 2.0 Podcast 142 - and a handful more helpers and visionaries who founded the credit union which at the time of this recording four years had about $600 million in assets.
Among the early volunteers was Luis Pastor who was in the US from his native Spain because his wife was pursuing graduate school and he had time on his hands. But soon he was offered the job of CEO and he took the offer.
Pastor tells of borrowers who have been deported who are still paying their loans - that seems unthinkable but it is a reality in Durham because this is a credit union that engages in helping people who have been ignored by traditional financial institutions. Extend a helping hand to them and these are people who remember that and value the relationship.
Pastor has a word of advice: "If credit unions are trying to steal members from Bank of America we are going to lose this battle."
Focus instead on the people who really need the services you offer and aren't getting them elsewhere,
Update: Pastor now is retired.
Listen up.
Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees' Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine's thinking in this CUInsight blog.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Send us a text
Open banking - two words that just may change your life and this change is coming at you, ready or not.
In late October the CFPB finalized a rule that made open banking a must have for the nation’s biggest financial institutions by April 1 2026 - and by April 1 2030 the bigger credit unions will have to comply too.
Don’t ask me to explain the choice of April 1. It’s a rather infelicitous choice but open banking is nonetheless a good thing, for FIs and their customers/members.
Here’s what CFPB has to say about it: “Too many Americans are stuck in financial products with lousy rates and service,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Today’s action will give people more power to get better rates and service on bank accounts, credit cards, and more.”
The Bureau goes on: “Today’s rule ensures consumers will be able to access and share data associated with bank accounts, credit cards, mobile wallets, payment apps, and other financial products. It aims to address market concentration that limits consumer choice over financial products and services. Consumers will be able to access, or authorize a third party to access, data such as transaction information, account balance information, information needed to initiate payments, upcoming bill information, and basic account verification information. Financial providers must make this information available without charging fees.”
Right now, radio silence about open banking prevails in credit union land - AI has sucked up almost all of the industry’s tech energy - but that will change as calendar pages flip us closer to the deadline for compliance.
Yes, it’s true that the vast majority of credit unions will never have to comply. FIs with assets under $850 million are exempt.
But choosing to ignore open banking may be signing an institution’s death certificate as members and prospective members grasp how open banking is in their best interest.
But here’s the deal: on the show today is Lisa Arthur who tells why embracing open banking is in the best interests of just about every credit union. She also tells how open banking already is well established in many countries - the US is a laggard - and what’s involved in climbing aboard this train.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
The United States is awash in medical debt. How much is there? Hard to say but Kaiser Family Foundation has an estimate of $220 billion and, yes, that’s billion with a b.
Enter CFPB, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which believes there is a lot of double billing, inflated charges and downright illegal medical debt collection tactics.
CFPB is looking at banning reporting of medical debt to credit bureaus which the agency says unjustly lowers the credit scores of some 15 million Americans.
Which is why we brought Jeff Grobaski back on the show. CEO of Fort Collins CO based Epic River, a lending as a service provider that helps medical practitioners and hospitals place their unpaid debts at credit unions which pay no fees for the paper and, even better, the credit union assumes little risk.
Nada.
Grobaski was on the show a year ago but the question now is how do the CFPB proposals impact what Epic River is doing?
The other question is why are hospitals and doctors happily turning that paper over to Epic River. Grobaski explains in the show. It really is a win-win-win, for the patient with debts, for the medical provider with bad paper on his books, and for the credit union that can turn that loan into performing paper and in the process acquire a new member.
This sounds too good to be true? Listen to Grobaski - he gives the nuts and bolts in the show.
Grobaski, incidentally, is a finalist **in this year’s credit union luminaries sweepstakes. As the pub said, “Under Grobaski's leadership, Epic River has been able to connect credit unions with local health care providers to improve patients' ability to pay through low- or no-interest loans. Epic River's program accelerates patient payment, minimizes collection expenses and enhances cash flow for participating health care providers.”
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
What magic pill can help keep hundreds, indeed thousands of credit unions from vanishing over the next decade?
Vim Anand, CEO of Member Support Services, says his CUSO can create operational efficiency and cost savings through economies of scale and standardization. The focus is on backoffice technologies and, says Anand, MSS’s tools deliver 20+ % cost savings.
But don’t take his word for all of this. Also on the show is John Bissell, CEO of $1.6 billion Greylock Federal Credit Union in Pittsfield MA. Bissell is a new MSS member-owner and he explains that the credit union took this step because he sees this as a way to stay independent and local and both of those are crucial to Bissell who believes they are a big part of the credit union special sauce.
Greylock, by the way, is the biggest credit union in MSS - the two other member owners are >$400 million apiece - and MSS is actively seeking new member owners because Anand’s goal is $8 to $10 billion in total assets.
And the payoff, says Anand, will be helping more credit unions stay independent.
As for why Bissell is set on keeping Greylock independent understand that he grew up in a Greylock family. His dad logged 30 years at GE which was the SEG that powered the birth of the credit union.
Listen to the show to hear Bissell’s story of how an Amherst College grad with an English degree migrated to Seattle but after 10 years he felt the call to return to western Mass, as locals call the region.
Do you want more credit unions to stay independent? Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
What’s the credit union mission?
Really?
At Inclusiv CEO Cathie Mahon believes that mission is serving the underserved.
That won her a place as a very early guest on the podcast.
Indeed hers was episode 15.
She’s still working on making that mission reality at Inclusiv.
And this still is a show that explores topics that really matter.
Listen up.
Send us a text
Bet you don’t know what the word “hapax” means.
Listen to this podcast with Kevin Green, COO of Hapax, an Ai based tool that is built around the files and date inside your credit union. As Hapax explains, “Our Enterprise Model learns your institution's unique practices, policies, and challenges to facilitate knowledge-sharing among your team. It provides a repository of specific data that team members can reference, spurring professional growth, streamlining training, and delivering results tailored to your institution so you can successfully navigate the industry’s rapidly changing landscape.”
Best of all, Hapax essentially pays for itself through reduced employee time spent sifting through credit union policies and procedures.
The big name AI tools - think Chat GPT - are broad gauge while Hapax is very precisely focused and - critically - it’s built around the credit union’s own data.
Importantly, too, each Hapax deployment is in effect a private data lake. Data is not shared with other institutions.
Sound good?
It will sound even better when you listen to the end of the show and find out who the CEO/founder is.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Just about every credit union wants - indeed needs - new members and that’s exactly what Union Credit focuses on by providing embedded finance tools to deliver a steady stream of new members to participating credit unions.
And get this: credit unions sign month to month deals with Union Credit. So it has to perform to keep credit unions. And a credit union can tell Union Credit how many new, approved and funded loans it wants to get this month.
On the show today is CRO and co-founder Barry Kirby and you know him because he was SVP at CuneNexus which in 2020 was bought by CUNA Mutual. The basic CuneXus idea was to provide tools that let a credit union show members loans and credit cards they already were pre-approved for.
Union Credit, which has TruStage, formerly CUNA Mutual, as a key investor is taking the kernel of that idea and helping credit unions extend pre approved loans to current non members who - and this is key - can easily be memberized. How does Union Credit work that magic? Kirby gives the details in this show.
How many credit unions have in effect created an obstacle course for prospective new members to complete before they are accepted as a member and that also means before they are offered a loan? And how many of those prospects drop out before they complete the obstacle course?
Union Credit offers a better, easier path, both for the prospective member and the credit union.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
The title I put on the podcast with Pete Crear was “A distinguished credit union life.”
Indeed it is. He was the first to win the lifetime achievement award from the African American Credit Union Coalition - and when they gave him the award in 2003 they decided to name it after him.
It’s an honor to have had him on the show and so it also is to proclaim this our Great Hits #17
This is episode 136 from February 2021
Listen up.
Send us a text
The bad news is that after spending maybe a few hundred dollars to acquire a new member there’s a 50-50 chance that within a year that member will go dormant, assuming he/she actually ever showed any activity in the credit union at all.
That warning comes from Har Rai Khalsa, CEO of Miami based Swaystack and, earlier in his career, he co-founded MK Decision, a digital account opening platform acquired in 2021 by Alkami.
What happened along Khalsa’s journey is that he realized that good as digital account opening is - indeed it’s a must for a 21st century credit union - there also needs to be a systematic digital cultivation of that new member where the aim is to get him/her to fund their new account, set up bill pay, and in other ways integrate the account into their lives.
All that latter is what Swaystack has been created to accomplish and it has gamified the process, taking several leads from Chime which, says Khalsa, is simply extremely good at prompting a new account holder to put that account to use.
The key message here: opening an account is the beginning of the relationship not its culmination.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
On one side is an army of highly skilled criminals, all now equipped with the latest AI tools. On the other side are credit unions and other financial institutions and, face reality, credit unions have to up their game, now, to stay competitive in an AI war.
On the show is Ravi Sandepudi, CEO of Effectiv, a San Francisco based fraud prevention company with deep skills in AI. Ravi for instance worked at Google when much of the pioneering work in AI was getting done in those labs.
Here is how sophisticated - and patient - today’s fraudsters are. They will open an account built around a synthetic identity - the person never existed - and often they will seek to do the account opening at a credit union because many credit unions have more flexible ID requirements than do banks.
The kicker is that account will be perfectly legal and normal for a couple years - until it’s time to awaken it.
Ravi also talks about the need for continuous monitoring of an account. Authentication is no longer a one and done proposition.
These are exciting times for AI fraud detection and prevention and this show gives you a front row seat at the arena.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
What’s involved in implementing a digital member onboarding solution?
Probably that's a question you’ve pondered because digital onboarding is a new must have in credit union land.
But how do you get there?
On the show today is Todd Gunderson, CEO of Credit Union 1, a $1.75 billion Illinois-based institution. Gunderson walks us through the steps the institution took in implementing digital onboarding, the potholes along the way and the workarounds. The payoff has been more and better onboarding of new members who increasingly demand a digital process that is easy to use. Gunderson has delivered on that.
Also on the show is Philip Paul, CEO of Cotribute, the California based fintech that worked with Gunderson and CU1 to implement digital onboarding. Cotribute says of itself that it’s “the preferred digital customer acquisition solution for fast onboarding, increased conversions, and expanding wallet share.”
Listen to the show - and hear Gunderson’s high praise - and you’ll believe that claim.
Incidentally, because of his relentless candor, Gunderson now ranks as the most frank credit union CEO that’s been on the show. When he goes through the implementation process it's a warts and all story. He also tosses out candid observations about common CU failings.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Ex nihil nihil fit. Out of nothing nothing comes.
That's a building block of Western thought - and then there is Prizeout, an innovative ad tech firm that maybe proves that nihil proposition is wrong.
You've heard Prizeout before. Perhaps 18 months ago, CEO David Metz was on the show with Darlene Johnson of Suncoast Credit Union.
Metz is back, this time with TJ Wyman, chief digital officer at Coastal Credit Union. Wyman is here to tell why his credit union just climbed aboard and Metz is here to tell about Prizeout's explosive growth and also to detail how the offering has morphed into a cashback tool
Metz and Wyman highlight the program’s unique value proposition of providing rewards to debit card users, who often do not have access to traditional credit card rewards programs. They also emphasize the program’s potential to help credit unions better compete with larger banks by offering an attractive cash benefit to their members.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. ProntoHave you heard about Deep Dive? It's Google's foray into AI driven podcasting and. as an experiment, we fed this podcast into it. What Deep Dive does is create its own podcast - the voices are machines - and here's a link to a 9 minute AI discussion of this show.
Send us a text
This show was recorded on October 1.
The first guest you hear is Greg Mitchell, CEO of First Tech Federal Credit Union, and you know what had happened on September 30.
Just the day before this show First Tech and DCU had announced a merger of giants.
And yet here was Mitchell on a podcast with Splash Financial CEO Steven Muszynski.
Right there that tells you a lot about both Mitchell and Splash Financial.
You might wonder why I didn’t ask Mitchell about the merger. Simple: he had agreed to do this show a month ago and that was predicated on him talking about First Tech and how it benefits from its partnership with Splash Financial.
He had not agreed to lift the kimono about this huge credit union merger.
About two thirds into the show I told him to beat it, not because I didn’t value his commentary but because I knew he had a lot of balls in the air that day and I didn’t want to take up more of his time than necessary.
But keep listening because Muszynski muses on why the company is in Cleveland - Cleveland! - and what his exit strategy is. His insights on building a successful fintech startup are gold for any who want to do similar.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Buckle up, the ride just got a lot bumpier.
The news exploded in credit union land on September 30: First Tech, the 12th largest credit union in the country with assets over $16 billion, is merging with Digital Credit Union, the 18th largest with assets over $12 billion. The resulting crosscountry credit union will have assets of $28.7 billion, making it the nation’s seventh biggest credit union serving nearly 2 million members in 50 states.
Of course that’s pending NCUA approval but there’s no indication that would be withheld.
Is this a one off marriage - or is it the start of a new trend where ever bigger mergers help giant credit unions better compete with the money center banks and the huge fintechs where scale matters, great technology is table stakes, and the gloves are off in the fight.
On the show to shed light on what just happened and what the next moves will be is Peter Duffy, a past podcast guest and an adviser to many large credit unions.
Let’s cut to the chase. Duffy in the show says there’s nothing surprising about the First Tech and DCU merger and he predicts we will see more couplings of giant credit unions, probably soon.
What’s fueling this? Duffy offers his perspectives.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Talking about money. Talking about pay. At credit unions.
Now do I have your attention?
On the Money Talks show today is regular guest Kirk Kordeleski who has brought along J P O’Connor, a credit union compensation analyst, who has joined PARC Street because key to architecting the right SERP retirement package for a c-suiter is pegging t to the right salary.
Not all credit unions are paying c-suiters appropriately, not when market rates are the bedrock, and, no, there are few if any cases of credit union execs who are significantly overpaid but there are plenty of cases where they are underpaid.
Says who? Says J P O’Connor who has the data - the market research - to back up his views on salaries.
What makes a compensation market appropriate? In the show O’Connor gives details about exactly this.
Are you underpaid? Overpaid? Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
News flash: Every credit union does not have to use NCUA’s National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.
Repeat: does not.
Alas, federally chartered credit unions have no choice but to use NCUA's insurance product. But state chartered institutions do have a choice.
Meet Theresa Mason, CEO of American Share Insurance which provides primary share insurance to around 100 state chartered credit unions in 10 states and it also provides excess share insurance to cover accounts up to $5 million and that’s a product NCUA doesn’t offer.
American Share Insurance’s Excess Share insurance subsidiary also is the insurer for the Military Banking Facilities aka Community Bank that now are operated by Navy Federal. NCUA said it couldn’t insure this because the National Credit Union Act prohibits coverage of non credit union assets.
The MBF operates 60 MBFs and 272 ATMs at DoD facilities overseas. In the show Mason relates how her company scrambled to put together the needed coverage - it’s a good story of innovation on the fly.
Mason**, in the show, talks about plans to expand American Share Insurance’s footprint into more states.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Can a credit union serve more than one employer group? You know what today's answer is of course. But to know the history you need to talk with Marc Schafer, the now retired CEO of Truliant, a Winston Salem credit union.
In the mid 1990s Truliant was sued by a bankers group that claimed it was illegal for a credit union to serve more than one SEG. The bankers won.
The story did not end there.
Credit unions mounted a huge legislative push and the result was passage into law of HR 1151 which made it lawful to serve multiple SEGs.
Schafer had a front row seat throughout the battles.
Listen up.
Send us a text
The Fed just cut its interest rate by half a point and Happy Money CEO Matt Potere is on the show to tell what a credit union needs to do to optimize its performance in an environment of lower interest rates - and those cuts will impact everything from home mortgages to car loans to the personal loans that are Happy Money’s mainstay.
The show starts on a different topic however. The question is why did you join Happy Money - Potere is just three weeks on the job when this show was recorded.
His answer is rich, detailed.
And at bottom he simply is very confident that more credit unions will want to become Happy Money customers because Happy Money delivers a new member, with good credit, who typically wants to refinance credit card debt at a better rate and Happy Money’s credit unions can deliver on that promise.
Happy Money credit union partners include First Tech, Alliant, Teachers Federal Credit Union and more. But Happy Money definitely wants more credit unions.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
The press release headline grabbed my attention: “SELCO Community Credit Union Awards $200,000 Grant to SquareOne Villages for the Development of the Rosa Village Co-Op in Eugene.”
SELCO has been on the show before, with Olivia Sorensen,Senior Community Development Specialist for SELCO, talking about SELCO Steps Up, where the credit union thoughtfully seeks to do good in its communities while addressing societal challenges.
In this latest case, SELCO - a $2.7 billion credit union based in Oregon - reached out to SquareOne Villages, which builds affordable housing and got involved with its Rosa Village project which will include 52 units. The units will house the presently unhoused as well as those who struggle to pay market rate rents.
Ingenious on the part of SELCO is that its $200,000 grant was funded to the tune of $150,000 by a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines which had a 3X match program.
On the show are Sorensen who explains why SELCO is behind this as well as Amanda Dellinger, SquareOne’s Community Relations Director.
Mentioned on the show is a recent US Supreme Court decision involving the homeless and housing. There’s a link in the show notes.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
James Robert Lay is back with a new book, Banking on Change, and a message that will rock credit union executives out of complacency: “The Age of Artificial Intelligence spares no one from its transformative power.”
This podcast is a fast paced, 40 minute romp through the changes that are transforming banking as we’ve known it into something that looks entirely different.
Consider the words: checking account. Or even more obscure: sharedraft account. What this is, really, is a spending account, says Lay in the show, and that’s because we use it to spend our money.
What we don’t do, at least we do a lot less of it, is write checks.
Many consumers now live check-free lives.
Ponder the magnitude of just that change.
To survive through the changes in banking executives need a different, new mindset. In the show, Lay talks about that mindset and about how to get there.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
Tom Shen is a fintech success story. He was EVP at Digital Insight when Intuit bought it for truckloads of cash. He went on to found Malauzai, a truly innovative mobile banking app. Finastra bought it in 2018.
Nowadays Shen is on the board of a number of early stage fintechs, he’s an investor, and he genuinely understands what it takes for a fintech to succeed in the unique world of credit unions. He tells how here.
Listen up.
Send us a text
The show starts by asking Eric Foster, CEO of Woop Insurance, why the heck he named the company Woop, and it gets livelier from there.
Hard to believe a podcast about insurance could be anything other than humdrum.
Believe.
Insurance is going through massive changes as many insurers are dramatically raising rates and/or pulling out of entire markets. Consumers accordingly are scrambling to stay insured at affordable rates.
That’s where Woop comes in. It feasts on analytics and its aim is to help consumers make better, smarter choices about the insurance coverage they carry.
Foster on LinkedIn describes himself as an “Unapologetic Insurance Nerd.”
But this podcast - while offering specifics about why credit unions would want to work with Woop - is surprisingly nerd free.
It’s informative but smart and lively.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
What’s the second biggest branch network in US financial services?
Guess Wells Fargo and you’re wrong. It has 5600 branches which makes it the nation’s leader.
But the CO-OP Shared Branching network for credit unions has 5444 branches which puts it in second place.
Chase is third with 4700.
Who knew?
I have thought very little about shared branching in the years I have covered credit unions and I have never done a podcast about it.
So when an email showed up in my box offering Patricia Daley, director of marketing at Ocean Financial Federal Credit Union, as an expert guest to discuss shared branching I had to take her up on this.
Shared branching is a significant credit union advantage but it is not well known. Certainly not by members.
CO-OP says about half of US credit union members have access to shared branching.
Why isn’t a brighter light shined on it?
In this discussion we also take a brief detour into another topic I’ve never explored before - Catholic credit unions because that’s what Ocean Financial is.
**Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
This podcast started at the CU 2.0 Live event in Arizona a few months ago because that’s where a lightbulb went off in David Eldred’s head. Chief experience officer at billion dollar Solarity Credit Union in Washington State, Eldred went to the conference already aware of AI but at the conference he began to see that really, truly he could put AI to work at Solarity in very useful ways.
He also learned how, in a matter of short minutes, he could create a very useful custom ChatGPT tool and back at Solarity he got busy doing exactly that.
In the show Eldred gives the specifics of what he’s doing at Solarity with AI and, admittedly, he is taking small steps. But they are useful steps, time saving steps and they are preparing the way for big leaps in the near future.
That’s what makes this such an important episode. You don’t need a big budget to get results with AI. What’s needed is a willingness to experiment and a readiness to embrace the new.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a text
There’s $140 billion in unclaimed federal benefits and assistance for households in need.
That’s a mountain of money.
Why is it unclaimed? Sometimes it’s because folks just don’t know it exists. Often it’s because the process of applying for it can be daunting - especially for the people who need it most.
Enter Starlight, a New York based startup helmed by Catherine Xu and Shreenath Regunathan, both tech geeks.
Starlight’s aim is to catalog the available monies, make a database that’s easy to search and create tools to make it easy to apply for monies.
What’s in it for credit unions? Think about it. Help a member find monies that will let that member live better and move up the economic ladder and at least two things happen: the member will have strengthened loyalty to the credit union that assisted and that member also may qualify for more credit union products, maybe a car loan or a credit card.
How cool is that?
Four credit unions already are signed up, more are in the queue and TruStage (nee CUNA Mutual) is an investor.
This conversation started back at the CU 2.0 live event in Phoenix that co founder Cat Hu attended and it had to become a podcast because it blends geekiness with doing social good.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
Call this podcast what you think you know about SERPs but that’s not fact.
Two truths are plain: senior credit union executives want to secure their retirement much as their for profit sector peers do AND there just is a lot of confusion about SERPs - supplemental retirement plans.
A big reason for this show is that in it Kirk Kordelesi, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of the nation’s largest, and now a partner with PARC Street, shines a bright light on how split dollar, whole life SERPs work and how they differ from IUL plans, Index Universal Life.
A bottomline difference is that a split dollar SERP will produce a stable return whereas there is structural variability built into the results an IUL will produce.
Find out more about that in this webinar with expert Bobby Samuelson **and PARC Street Partners.
Dive deeper into what Kordeleski has said about executive retirement plans in credit unions in the two dozen plus podcasts we’ve recorded**. Consider this must listening for credit union c-suiters, board members, and also executive recruiters.
Listen up
Send us a Text Message.
On any list of my personal favorite CU 2.0 podcasts is episode 149 - it dropped May 2021 - with Samira Rajan, CEO of the Brooklyn Cooperative, a small, scrappy credit union.
How did a Bryan Mawr graduate - who also has a master’s from Harvard's Kennedy School - wind up in Bushwick at a tiny credit union?
She started there in 2001 as a volunteer and these many years later she’s the CEO.
Hers is a brilliant credit union story.
Listen up.
Send us a Text Message.
Fraud - there’s your five letter word for today and inside many credit unions it’s counted as a curse.
Fraud also is in the midst of an AI driven revolution. Fraudsters - just as you are - are harnessing AI tools to get smarter, faster, better.
On the show today is Sara Seguin, principal adviser, fraud and identity risk at Alloy, a provider to more than 500 banks, fintechs and credit unions.
In the show we discuss what’s new in fraud and fraud defenses -- and the headline is that 52% of FIs told Alloy that fraud attempts on consumer accounts were up. There’s also sharp growth in fraud regarding business accounts where, often, losses are larger.
**Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
Jennifer Oliver wants to tell you about Rize where the tagline is Beyond Banking. That’s an Irwindale CA based billion dollar institution - formerly SCE Credit Union - but Oliver says that even when she interviewed for the job she already was thinking about a name change.
SCE, by the way, stands for Southern California Edison, a big electric utility. In the show Oliver explains why she thought the name had to change.
But, importantly, this is more than a name change. Oliver, Rize's CEO, also has put the institution on a rebranding journey where the mission becomes ending poverty.
A big idea? You bet. Here’s how Rize explains its mission and name change: “To better serve our members, we recognized the need for growth, which was challenging with our previous name. Many people don't know what a credit union is or mistakenly believe they must work for a specific company to join ours. We sought a name that eliminates that confusion and aligns with our mission, vision and values. We believe our new name will enhance our ability to serve current members, expand our reach, and allow us to make an even greater impact for our members and our communities."
She’s undertaking a big mission? You bet but on her way to this job Oliver put in a stint as executive vice president of Municipal Credit Union after NCUA conserved it. That happened after its CEO was arrested and later convicted for multi million dollar embezzlement and he was sentenced to a jail sentence. This was a big ugly blot on the reputation of all credit unions - and Oliver accepted the challenge to help remove the stain and keep Municipal functioning. The conservatorship team succeeded. Municipal is out of conservatorship and it still serves New York’s city employees.
So if you think Oliver is taking on a huge problem, remember she’s a veteran of the Municipal salvation.
Sprinkled through the show are many good ideas she has for helping credit unions prosper. Here’s just one: she’s created a pathway to enable foster kids to open accounts without the signature of an adult. So the money the kid earns and may receive from the state is his or hers. Getting this together needed thinking way outside of boxes - but she did it.
And talk about our backpages she was a guest on this show in 2019, episode 2. There’s a link in the show notes.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
There are some CEOs you just like. Kent Lugrand, CEO of InTouch Credit Union, is one such and, with him, he has a personal story about his winding path to becoming CEO of a large credit union that will just get you.
One of the pleasures of doing this podcast is that I get to throw a spotlight on unique credit union people who help make the industry different.
This is one.
The interview was recorded about two years ago.
Listen up
Send us a Text Message.
Martin Walker is the man to know if you are a fintech looking for credit union related venture funding and he also is the man to know if you are a credit union looking to invest in fintechs.
On LinkedIn Walker’s tag line is Investing in Fintechs that Enable Credit Unions.
That pretty much says it.
Walker and I started talking at the June CU 2.0 Live event in Fountain Hills AZ and that conversation led to this show.
In the show Walker tells fintechs what they need to know and do to snare an investment from Curcl - hint: a credit union nexus is a sine qua non - and he also tells credit unions a new fund investment round has opened and is looking for a few more investors.
These efforts are critical. To continue to thrive credit unions need to keep upping their technology game. Period.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
Probably you think a book titled Community Capital has to be a snoozefest.
And then there’s the new book with that title written by Clifford Rosenthal and Michael McCray and it’s a book that will rock you and your beliefs about NCUA, African American focused credit unions and more.
The book splits into two parts. There’s Rosenthal’s part where he looks at the struggles of smaller community based crest unions - he served as CEO of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (now Inclusiv) for almost 30 years. He also put in a stint at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also has been a guest on the podcast, episode 37 back in 2019.
And know that although Rosenthal documents the struggles of small community development credit unions, recent developments at the federal level have left him sounding downright optimistic.
Then there’s Michael McCray’s part of the book, which documents what he sees as NCUA’s systematic destruction of the Kappa Alpha Psi Credit Union, the country’s first virtual credit union. Kappa Alpha Psi is an historic African American fraternity and the credit union did not go down without a fight.Note: there are a few minor audio problems early in the podcast - crackling sounds that technology didn't filter out. But the words are always audible and the content is compelling.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
Call this the credit union oral history sequence - Blaine, Bucky Sebastian, now Gary Oakland who took over BECU, with around $700 million in assets, in the mid 1980s and when he left in 2012 it had become a $10 billion+ credit union, one of the nation's very biggest.
How'd he do it? Listen up.
Send us a Text Message.
Four years ago Kirk Drake wrote a book that explored how artificial intelligence - AI - would transform financial services.
Now he’s released a free addendum that tells what he got right in the book, what he got wrong, how he is using AI tools to effect big gains in his personal productivity and where he sees AI making big differences in credit union operations.
It’s meaty stuff and also keenly practical.
That’s why he is on the show today with Chris Otey, co-founder of CU 2.0 and CRO.
Put the two of them in the same show and you are guaranteed a good, candid and fun discussion.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
Artificial intelligence: is it real or a mirage?
Lots of credit union executives are pondering exactly that question and on the show today are Steve O’Donnell, EVP at One Nevada Credit Union, and Saroop Bahrwani, founder of Senso and CUCopilot, a generative AI toolkit.
They came to the show fresh from a three day joint engagement where Saroop and his team went to the One Nevada offices and branches and dug deep into what AI is doing and could be doing to make credit union work flows more efficient.
This is not all blue sky theory. A lot of this show is discussing everyday practicalities and how AI can speed them up.
For instance: wouldn’t you like to feed into a computer a batch of your auto loans that went bad and ask the computer to identify what they had in common? One Nevada is doing something much like that already. O’Donnell tells what they’ve learned.
O’Donnell also muses on the likely impacts of AI on credit union jobs.
Saroop also shares his view of AI tomorrow at credit unions.
This is an upbeat show.
Flip through back pages by listening to Saroop's past appearances on the show - here and here and here**.
Listen up.**
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
A state regulator in Illinois. General counsel at NCUA. A co-founder of Callahan Associates. Longtime CEO at GTE Financial. Head of the National Credit Union Foundation. Guess who.
Meet Wendell Sebastian, call him Bucky.
Send us a Text Message.
What happens when an executive who is seeking a SERP plan to sweeten his/her retirement years is turned down for life insurance - which is the bedrock that supports many SERP plans?
And people do get turned down for life insurance due to health issues. Anything from cancer to obesity.
On the show today is Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of the nation’s largest, and now a partner with PARC Street, where the focus is on matching executives and credit unions with appropriate SERP packages.
He explains a work-around that still allows the executive to get that SERP.
Know that now probably 95% of larger credit unions offer SERPs, at least to the CEO, often to a handful of c-suiters. What’s the story at the other 5%? Kordeleski tells in this show.
He also talks about mergers, recent CEO terminations (more keep happening), and the continuing war for talent that means more and more credit unions need to look at adopting SERP packages.
Listen up.
Send us a Text Message.
Subtitle this show: All You Want to Know about CUSOs but Didn’t Know to Ask.
On the show is Michael Heller, an associate with Messick Lauer & Smith, a leading firm in CUSO law.
Heller and I had started talking at the CU 2.0 Live event in Fountain Hills AZ and it was only natural to capture the conversation on tape for distribution as a podcast.
**Here, Heller talks about how CUSOs have evolved to serve new, different needs at credit unions and he also discusses several possible new regulatory initiatives floated by NCUA.
Along the way we discuss the emergence of new fintech focused CUSOs.**
A take away is that CUSOs are of vital importance to credit unions as they strive to stay competitive with big banks. For the record there are around 1100 CUSOs, with about $4.6 billion in invested capital. That’s per NCUA.
NCUA also requires that a CUSO “primarily” serve credit unions and their members and Heller talks about what that term means.
He also talks about what NCUA says are “permissible activities” for a CUSO which NCUA itemizes at some length. A check cashing service probably qualities, a tattoo parlor doesn’t.
Listen up!
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
You know about Paul Fiore. He’s the man behind Digital Insight, the first big digital banking tool that was acquired by Quicken for $1.35 billion in 2007.
Fiore is back dreaming big and his present focus is a company called WealthNext (nee Digital One), a CUSO that aims to bring powerful wealth management technology tools to credit unions.
Wealth tech already is big business - just about every big bank already is in it and so are bushels of fintechs. Credit unions are late to this game. But not too late.
Fiore is optimistic that with the right fintech tools, credit unions can gain a major stake in wealth management - and in this show he tells why he believes that and also talks about how credit unions can get involved in the CUSO and how fintechs that want to be considered can reach out.
In the show Fiore mentions CryptoFi, a crypto currency company (now named InvestiFi) that brought crypto to Tulsa credit union WeStreet. A year ago we did a podcast on exactly this. There’s a link in the show notes.
Fiore also mentions the CU2.0 CU 2.0 Live event that took place in Fountain Hills, AZ in early June. Our conversation in fact started there and grew into this podcast episode.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
High velocity origination platform. That’s a key focus of Amount, a fintech that has a partnership with Velera nee PSCU.
The plain reality is that many credit unions make it too hard to do business with them. 21st century fintechs focus on making that first date very easy to set up.
Ask yourself how many possible new members fall out before completing the many steps many credit unions require.
Thus the focus on ease of credit card origination, a first partnership between the two. There’s a link in the show notes to an official blub about this but the focus is making this fast and easy.
A second partnership involves Amount’s loan origination solution - there’s a link in the show notes to that blurb too.
On the show today is Nicholas Chang, vice president and Head of New Ventures at Amount.
He’s on the show fresh from a listening tour of credit unions where he heard what their pain points are and what they want from tech vendors.
Chang also is very optimistic about the credit union future and how Amount’s tools can smooth the path forward.
You’ll notice that throughout the show reference is made to PSCU. That’s because it was recorded a few days before PSCU announced its new name. We usually operate with a one to two month lead time and so it happened in this case.
Besides, Velera has yet to grow on me. I may be saying PSCU for a few more years anyway.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
This golden oldie turns the clock way back - to June 2019 when Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of SECU, then and now still one of the nation’s biggest credit unions, sat for an hour long session where Blaine muses about credit union past, peasant and future. Listen up.
Send us a Text Message.
Small business lending. Name a desire shared by most credit unions and those three words capture it. Most definitely want to do more small business lending but most also are falling short of their own expectations.
On the show today is Sherif Hassan, an expert in how to better use data to make more and more profitable loans.
Sherif is a veteran on this show. He appeared on episode 113, almost four years ago, and his topic then was “The Opportunity in Small Business Lending.”
It’s not coincidence that this episode wears the same title - but this is a very different, very upbeat show. Sherif is convinced credit unions are well positioned to score very big in this market. He tells why and how.
Along the way Sherif tells about Benford’s Law, a mathematical formula that automates fraud detection in loan apps. There’s a link in the show notes to a paper he wrote about it.
There’s also a link to a paper he wrote on highly cost effective data procurement. In one case a small business lender saved $325.000 a year simply by buying data to use in reviewing loan apps more effectively. Many, many other lenders could do likewise, says Sherif.
If you want an upbeat, optimistic show about doing better at small business lending, this is the episode for you.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
Here’s the fact: more senior executives are coming into credit unions and are insisting on competitive retirement plans, typically a SERP (Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan).
On the show today is Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of the nation’s largest, and now a partner with PARC Street, where the focus is on matching executives and credit unions with appropriate SERP packages.
Know this: credit unions cannot attract and retain top executive talent without offering competitive retirement plans. And today Kordeleski talks about how the SERP marketplace is faring in today’s unusual times for credit unions.
But as always with a talk with Kordeleski many topics get explored. Tough topics are discussed. For instance: against what institutions should you benchmark your credit union? Probably the answer isn’t the ones you think. Hint: think New York Yakees.
We also discuss why - probably for the first time ever in credit unions - there’s been a number of CEO terminations because the institution isn’t holding its own against peers.
And there’s the matter of AI, how it will trigger significant numbers of credit union employee redundancies, and how credit unions need to handle this.
We start with me raising a point I recently discussed with Martin Walker of CURQL, a venture fund focused on fintechs and credit unions. It’s a fact: VC funds see many of their investments fizzle out. So I asked Walker why it is that credit unions obsess over trying to prevent small losses when such losses are immaterial to the health of the credit union. That conversation happened at a recent CU 2.0 event in Fountain Hills AZ; there’s no recording. But in this show Kordeleski tackles this issue - and it definitely is a credit union issue.
Listen up.
Send us a Text Message.
Should we merge? With whom? Those questions are heard in just about every credit union’s c-suite and boardroom.
The answers aren’t easy.
Enter Sam Brownell’s CuCollaborate which boldly states its purpose this way: “We are here to help credit unions adapt, grow, and succeed long term — and we offer the innovation, insight, and know-how to help them do it.”
In its toolkit are powerful analytical models such as AnalyzeCU which lets a credit union quantify its impact and performance.
And a big part of CuCollaborate’s present business stream is consulting with credit unions on merger possibilities and the merger process itself. This podcast has explored credit union mergers multiple times, but never quite like this. Brownell has a particular take on how to look at mergers - it’s interesting stuff that he explains at length.
In the process he references Kant’s categorical imperative, which ranks as one of the very most important ideas about right conduct ever articulated.
As the talk about mergers comes to a close, Brownell happens to say he’s in the process of turning the company into a CUSO. He talks at length about why.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
Ignite and preserve. Right there is the motto of rkGoBig, a CUSO with a singular focus: helping smaller credit unions survive and indeed prosper.
That seems a Sysephean task?
Peter Barnard. CEO of CUSO rkGoBig, firmly believes that cooperation among credit unions is a fast way to help more small credit unions survive.
To that end, rkGoBig offers a basket of services include a compliance toolkit - a real help when dealing with the regulator - credit cards, a shared core, card processing, shared back office processing and, well, you get the picture: rkGoBig has the tools a 21st century credit union needs to operate efficiently and effectively.
The biggest credit union presently served by rkGoBig is just shy of $400 million in assets.
Listen up to this inspiring story of helping the small survive.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Send us a Text Message.
Real time payments. Coming at you right now. Are you ready?
On the show is James Colassano, an SVP at The Clearing House, an institution owned by some of the world’s largest banks (including Chase, BMO, CapitalOne, B of A, Santander and more). And The Clearing House very much wants credit unions to get involved with its RTP network because its goal is ubiquity.
Already hundreds of credit unions, including Navy Federal, are on board.
The 2024 fact is that consumers - and businesses - want money to move instantly.
Institutions that don’t possess that capability will fall behind.
It’s easy to get involved with RTP, by the way. Most core systems in use at credit unions already have the capability built in. Flick a switch, complete some paperwork, and an institution is active. The starting point in this journey: talk with your core provider. They likely will know your next steps.
In this show Colassano talks about use cases for RTP and also about how to claw back a payment that was made in mistake.
He also explains how RTP and FedNow are different but fundamentally on the same mission.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
It was over two years ago that Chase Neinken was on the podcast talking up Chimney, a fintech focused on delivering cool, fun calculators to credit unions.
Neinken is back and here’s the reason: in fall 2023 Chimney won “best in show” at Finovate and that’s because it debuted Chimney Home, a new tool for credit unions that shows a credit union member today’s value of their home and also lets an institution deliver personalized offers to members.
Admit it, you know how addictive the tools for telling you your home’s value are. When was the last time you checked Zillow? I’ll confess: in my case it was yesterday.
What homeowner doesn’t do this often?
The Chimney kicker of course is enabling the FI that hosts Chimney Home to deliver targeted offers to the member, not the generic stuff sent to everybody, but offers that reflect how much equity this member actually has.
How cool is that?
Neinken tells all about it on the show and he also updates us on Chimney’s suite of calculators and wouldn’t you rather your members use calculators on your site, not BankRate?
In the show Neinken refers to a Chimney study of how its calculators actually perform. Here’s a link to that report.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
Scrolling through LinkedIn, I happened upon this post on Seth Brickman’s page: “I am excited to announce that I am now the President, Ranqx and can’t wait to help credit unions help small businesses and change communities for the better.”
Stop presses. Brickman, longtime listeners to this podcast well know, had been CEO of QCash, an innovative service birthed at WSECU and which had been sold to Alloya, a bit over a year ago.
What was up with Brickman? On LinkedIn he also posted a Ranqx press release that quotes him saying this: “Small businesses make up almost half the workforce, half of the US commercial revenue and over 60% of net new jobs. The ability to help small businesses get access to the capital they need in a fully digital way with each credit union’s own underwriting criteria in under 5 min (as opposed to 1-2 weeks) will be a game changer for communities nationwide and bring businesses back into the credit union. Any time we can drive deposits and impact communities at the same time, we are doing good things for the industry.”
We had to book him on the show.
Here’s the core Ranqx selling proposition: its technology can let a credit union process a loan app from a small business in perhaps five minutes as opposed to the two weeks it might take a human employee to do the same work.
Oh, consider that maybe 70% of small business loan apps are declined by credit unions. And each of those applications consumed two weeks or more of human labor.
Bring on the machines!
Brickman knows that most credit unions are struggling to bring in small business members. And he believes the Ranqx tools - white labeled - will enable credit unions to more successfully attract small business members.
In the show he also notes that Ranqx is already a CUSO, it has credit union investors but is looking for more. He also says he soon will be looking to hire sales people - email him here.
Give the guy a break, too. We talked on his fourth day at Ranqx.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
You're a credit union c-suiter and you dream about what good you could do if only you had more capital.
Don't just but lottery tickets!
Explore a sale-leaseback of the credit union's headquarters and branches.
This is explored in depth in episode 241 where Ed Lopes and Steve Eimert of CU Real Estate Solutions tell the nitty gritty.
Oh, and my own personal credit union, Affinity in New Jersey, sold its HQ for $50 million-plus. I applaud that decision.
Listen up.
Send us a Text Message.
Call this an encore performance with powerful, new information. Back on the show is Rhian Horgan, founder and CEO of Silvur, which she bills as retirement all in one place.
As we age suddenly most of us have to deal with complex and, to us, wholly new topics such as Social Security and Medicare, both involving devilishly complex decisions - and a helping hand extended by a credit union would be greatly appreciated by many aging Americans.
Who better to offer this help than a trusted credit union?
What Silvur provides its credit union clients is deep knowledge about the complexities of retirement plus an extensive tool kit that can be made active at a credit union rapidly, no core access required.
On its website Silvur says this about itself: “Silvur partners with financial institutions to offer Americans holistic, personalized education as they navigate retirement. With the data and insights Silvur shares you can unlock $3,000 in annual recurring revenue per member and customer today. We power deeper strategic engagement to capture the retirement wallet. Don't let today's $70 trillion retirement opportunity become a $30 trillion wealth transfer risk.”
Face facts: we are deep into a massive retirement wave among Baby Boomers (the oldest now are 78, the youngest are 60). Where many credit unions see big worries, Horgan sees a terrific opportunity for credit unions to meet genuine needs of members.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Send us a Text Message.
Let the Greatest Hits roll on. This is the CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits #7 - everything you want to know about USDA loans. That’s the US Department of Agriculture and it makes loan money available through credit unions to fund everything from farm equipment to renewable energy.
I had no idea this program existed and that credit unions are involved.
Probably you didn’t either.
Listen up to this Greatest Hit.
Send us a Text Message.
Regular listeners know that a pet peeve of mine is how poorly most credit unions market.
And then I discovered Bo McDonald, founder and CEO of Your Marketing Co. where the focus is on marketing for small credit unions.
That’s right: small as in under $400 million in assets.
In most cases, McDonald’s company acts as a kind of inhouse marketing department because the institutions he serves often have few if any internal marketing staff.
McDonald knows too that great marketing can’t compensate for poor processes - and he will tell credit unions where they need to improve their technology and their business processes.
**Bottomline: this is an optimistic but also realistic look at what small credit unions can do to not just survive but to prosper.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The credit union share of auto loans fell sharply in 2023, down almost 5% from 2022 numbers tracked by Experian.
Does this augur a grim future for credit unions when it comes to financing cars? Or was it a blip on the screen?
On the show is Will Ely, a solutions architect at Earnix, where he consults with clients seeking more effective auto lending strategies.
According to Ely, data is king of this mountain. In particular he points to pricing analytics as the key to unlocking more and better loans.
We also discuss why some credit unions have pulled away from indirect auto lending and, surprise, why super prime borrowers aren't always the best for a credit union.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to the CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits show.
There are over 300 shows in the library and yet a reality in the podcast business is that few of us ever even look at more than maybe the half dozen most recent shows. That’s why we are going to resurface some of the best and most popular shows as Greatest Hits.
This is show #6 Matthew Butler on Charitable Donation Accounts and, no, I hadn’t heard of it either until I talked with Butler.
I like it when people bring me something I hadn’t heard of it so I put him on the show.
Now I’m resurfacing it as Greatest Hit #7.
Here’s why: a CDA allows a credit union to make investments in otherwise impermissible vehicles where the kicker is that 51% of returns have to be distributed as charitable donations (that presently means a 501 C 3). But the credit union can retain the remaining 49% for its own uses.
Why isn’t your credit union doing this? Probably because you had never heard of it either.
And now you have.
Listen up.
The answers you need are in the data. Of course you know that. But do you know - really know - how to mine the data you have, and you have a lot, and drill down to the information you need today?
On the show is Anurag Mukherjee, the Head of the Analytics practice for Credit Unions & Community Banks at EXL, a large global analytics and digital solutions consulting firm headquartered in New York.
What sold me on doing this show was when I poked around the EXL website and landed on a case study where EXL worked with DCU, the big Massachusetts based credit union, to transform how the institution managed and used its data. Here’s the concluding sentence of the case study: “Within six months, the IT team migrated 30 months of data consisting of over 5.8 billion documents into Amazon Redshift for analysis. The data is refreshed each night, enabling the business teams to access up-to-date information on which to base decisions. In addition, each sales executive has a self-service dashboard delivering them the insights they need to better support their clients.”
For many years I have looked upon DCU as a genuine tech leader among credit unions and if DCU was turning to EXL for help in organizing its data I had to know more about the company.
In this show we hear about the work EXL did for DCU but also about what all credit unions need to do to prosper in an ever more competitive environment. We also hear about a chronic credit union problem - data from many different tech vendors often is siloed and unavailable to use in other systems from other vendors.
Throughout this is an upbeat, optimistic show where the credit union future is depicted as bright - if the institutions digitize and keep digitizing to let them compete against everything from Chase to Chime.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Imagine this: you and your spouse go to Appleby’s for a Valentine’s Day dinner. You pay the check with your credit union debit card and, shazam, you get 10% cashback.
An impossible story?
Not according to Joel Richard, chief experience officer at Interra Credit Union in Indiana.
That cashback came to him because he was using a card linked to Cashback+ which delivers cashback to members who use their debit card at participating merchants and the merchant list is an all star collection including WalMart, BestBuy, Target, Amazon and as you will hear in the show the Cashback+ system is very open to including offers from a credit union’s business members.
If you are thinking this is deja vu again you’re right. A few months ago we did a short newsflash episode with David Metz, CEO of Prizeout the company behind Cashback+.
What’s different about this show is that Interra’s Richard is here singing Cashback+’s praises.
Also on the show is Matt Denham, a Prizeout co-founder, who tells how the product has morphed and is now at an increasing number of credit unions.
Face this fact: credit card rewards are probably going to shrink as Mastercard and Visa fees do. Cashout+ rides entirely different rails. This is about customer acquisition strategies deployed by sophisticated merchants.
Probably, too, many of your members are fretting about balancing their household budget. Cashback can be a very sweet plus for many American households.
And if you wonder who Andrea is, click here.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Can you pick out the bad apple?
There are lots of retirement vehicles aimed at credit union c-suite executives but the fact is they aren’t created equal. Some simply are better than others.
Back on the show today is Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union and now a leading expert on credit union SERPs (supplemental executive retirement plan), and he offers tips on what to look for in a steady SERP…and keep in mind it has to hold up usually for several decades after an executive retires.
Along the way Kordeleski tells what credit union board members need to know and do to properly review and select SERPs for their executives.
And we also talk about how credit unions can compete against - and beat! - money center banks. Sure, they have the scale but credit unions have an edge they can use to win this David v Goliath battle. Kordeleski relates how he did it at Bethpage.
Your mother dies or maybe it’s your spouse and you’re a named beneficiary in the will so surely it’s a matter of presenting a few papers and some ID at the relative’s credit union and then you’ll walk out with a check.
Dream on.
When Saeid Kian’s father died from pancreatic cancer - meaning there had been time to get his financial papers in order - Saeid assumed it would be straightforward to gain access to his dad’s accounts. He assumed incorrectly.
Months went by as he dealt with lumbering, inefficient systems at multiple financial institutions.
These were months of frustration, aggravation and worse.
Flashforward to now and Saeid is co-founder of Ribbon, a San Francisco fintech that aims to help credit unions produce a better experience for heirs seeking to collect inherited assets.
Understood what’s in it for the FI to make this service smoother: Literally billions of dollars are pouring out of traditional FIs today as a generational wealth transfer of unprecedented magnitude unfolds and the heirs, in the majority of cases, are taking their inheritances to other institutions.
Part of the reason they are is that many are fuming with the clumsy, lengthy process that most credit unions have in handling estate transfers.
Ribbon makes it better, faster. It just may stop the money leak and help credit unions hold onto some of this cash.
This is a good show about a service I hadn’t heard of - you haven’t either. And when you hear it you just may want to tie up with Ribbon pronto.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to the CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits show.
There are over 300 shows in the library and yet a reality in the podcast business is that few of us ever even look at more than maybe the half dozen most recent shows. That’s why we are going to resurface some of the best and most popular shows as Greatest Hits.
This is show #5 - San Francisco Fire Credit Union exec Josephine Chew tells about how the institution created its we want to be your side bank campaign and she also exudes humor, creativity and wisdom about how to market a credit union.
She knows the other side of the street too. She came to credit unions after an eight year stint at Wells Fargo and along the way she put in time at Charles Schwab, Visa and other bigs. She knows their strengths but she also knows a credit union’s.
Listen up.
It’s a war out there for deposits. You know it. But what you might not know is how to actually get more deposits, especially from new members.
Psst. Here’s the secret: digital account opening.
That’s what Apiture’s Jennifer Dimenna is here to tell us -but first there is this mind numbing statistic: about half of all credit unions do not have the capability to offer digital account opening.
And yet this is 2024.
How many potential new members simply log out when they realize they’d have to come into a branch to open an account - and they take their digital mindset and their dollars down the road to an institution that lets them interact digitally.
Digital account opening is becoming a must have and Apiture wants to get more credit unions up and ready online.
Dimenna also tells the necessity of embedded finance tools that will allow a credit union to bring in new members everywhere from a community college bursar’s office to a veterinary office.
Make it easier for consumers to put their money in your vaults and suddenly you’ll be winning the deposit wars.
For your background reading here’s a recent Apiture white paper on how to grow your core deposits.
**Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
SELCO, at $2.7 billion in assets, is a big Oregon credit union. It has had an active community relations - and giving - portfolio. And then an idea took hold: SELCO decided to organize its activities and out of this has grown SELCO Steps Up where the credit union reimagines, expands, and organized its community relations portfolio.
Every credit union should be looking at doing something similar. This is the path towards getting the most for the community out of the credit union’s talent and treasures.
“Through SELCO Steps Up, we are looking for ways to identify the changing needs of the communities we serve, and find new and innovative methods that will leave a lasting impact,” said Olivia Sorensen, Senior Community Development Specialist for SELCO. “SELCO has nearly a century of history when it comes to helping our communities. With that experience, we know that it is not enough to simply write a check. Our goal is to uplift and empower while addressing key societal challenges with a focus on issues that we can do the most good, namely financial education, removing barriers to education, and supporting students and educators.”
On the show today is Sorensen who takes us through how the idea of SELCO Steps Up took hold, how it progressed through management ranks, and how it has been embraced by the communities SELCO serves and by the credit union’s employees.
Take notes. Similar approaches just may suit your credit union.
While we are talking about this, also listen to podcast #287, Givio on charitable giving and credit unions, and a CU 2.0 Newsflash where Joe Bergeron of the Association of Vermont Credit Unions tells why and how that state’s credit unions are helping local farmers recover from significant weather related damages through the Dig Deep Vermont campaign.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
It was two years ago when we kicked off the first Kirk Kordeleski Money Talks podcast where the onetime Bethpage Federal Credit Union CEO talked about the rising importance and adoption of SERP retirement plans for c-suite credit union execs but also about the massive changes that are transforming the credit union industry.
There’s a monthly show, an hour of prime listening for those working in the credit union industry and also those who want to sell into it.
That means there are approaching two dozen shows in the archives.
But here is number one.
It’s definitely still worth a listen.
This is a show about Happy Money.
Of course you have to smile at that.
You’ll smile more knowing it’s the name of a company that is in the business of helping consumers with personal loans that in turn are issued by participating credit unions and of course the consumer is memberized along the way.
So it’s also a member acquisition tool.
The key Happy Money loan is the Payoff Loan - $5000 to $40,000 - that helps a consumer pay off credit cards. Rates are as low as 12.45%.
Credit unions that work with Happy Money include Michigan State Federal Credit Union, Technology Credit Union, and Alliant Credit Union.
Happy Money investors include a subsidiary of TruStage, formerly known as CUNA Mutual.
On the show to tell all about Happy Money is CEO Joe Heck, a longtime CUNA Mutual employee who rose to vice president, business transformation.
Earlier in his career he was a manager at CASE Credit Union in Michigan.
Heck is an authentic credit union guy - if we used video you’d see him in a hoodie! - and he believes in the credit union mission and the credit union difference. He also sincerely believes Happy Money has a significant role to play in helping credit unions live up to their mission.
Listen up.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to the CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits show.
There are over 300 shows in the library and yet a reality in the podcast business is that few of us ever even look at more than maybe the half dozen most recent shows. That’s why we are going to resurface some of the best and most popular shows as Greatest Hits.
This is show #3 - a reissue of CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 239 David Metz CEO of Prizeout and Darlene Johnson, EVP of Suncoast Credit Union, on Value Upping Gift Cards
It’s a show with everything. A new twist on putting money in members pockets: ad tech. An eloquent credit union leader from one of the country’s biggest credit unions. And a CUSO makes an appearance.
Potential guests often ask me what prep they should do. I always point them to the library. Listen to a few shows before we do yours. That’s the best homework possible. And this episode is a great example of a pairing that works between a CU exec and a tech partner.
Listen up.
Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, said it and his endorsement in a Credit Union Times article was so glowing that I knew I had to talk with Austin Wentzlaff, CEO of startup Nook. said Kordeleski: “I firmly believe that Nook is at the forefront of something truly exceptional for the credit union industry. Drawing from my experience as a former credit union CEO, I can attest that every credit union grapples with similar challenges related to member loyalty and engagement – precisely the issues that Nook was established to address.”
Just what is Nook? It’s a content serving platform that helps credit unions build closer relationships - and maybe sell more pertinent products to - select consumer groups.
Once upon a time credit unions had intimate ties with members and genuinely knew a lot about them. When every member - and board member - worked at XYZ factory or newspaper or school it was rather easy to know them.
Nowadays, as more credit unions have community charters and the SEG based institutions often have dozens of very different SEGs it’s gotten harder to know thy members.
The degree of difficulty has escalated further as financial services have transitioned from in person transactions to remote, digital interactions.
Nook’s aim is to use digital tools to build the same kind of strong ties credit unions used to have.
Nook’s current clients include Dort Financial Credit Union ($1.6 billion, Grand Blanc, Mich.) and TopLine Financial Credit Union ($792 million, Maple Grove, Minn.)
And it’s looking for more.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The Callahan report on credit union financial performance in 2023 exploded like a bomb. Credit Union Times shrieked: “Credit Union Earnings Fell to Record Low in 2023, Callahan Data Shows.”
The publication added a kick with its subhead: “But CU results are even worse when the most recent three months are extracted for earnings and originations.”
Had the sky in fact fallen?
Then I saw a post on LinkedIn by Kirk Kordeleski, the onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union, where he sought to add context to what Callahan had reported and what it in fact means for credit unions.
I immediately contacted him and said we have to do a podcast.
In this show, Kordeleski emphatically says the sky hasn’t fallen for credit unions, nor is it about to fall. In fact he remains very optimistic about the future for the credit unions who in fact comprehend the competitive landscape.
This is not to say all is rosy for all.
The podcast begins with thoughts about the many recent c-suite terminations and the moral of that story is that now, probably for the first time ever, many credit union boards are using competitive performance data to grade their institution’s performance - and they are firing CEOs who don’t measure up.
That’s a tectonic shift for credit union leadership. Kordeleski tells how this came about.
But know this: as I said Kordeleski is very optimistic about the future. In the show he tells what a credit union CEO needs to be doing to succeed in today’s changing universe.
Listen up.
Maybe 15 to 20 percent of your members have a neurodiverse condition - anything from dyslexia to color blindness - and, surprise, that means they will face big challenges everytime they log into a mobile banking app because that technology just isn’t designed with such conditions in mind.
Enter Mahalo with its Thoughtful Banking mobile app which features a neurodiversity module. Mahalo elaborated on what this means: “Among the platform's new features are left and right-hand use modes, font color options for those with Dyslexia or visual impairments, and the ability to disable animations for individuals affected by Epilepsy.”
On the show today to talk about neurodiversity and mobile banking are Denny Howell of Mahalo Banking and Tanya Holland of Park View Federal Credit Union, a $366 million institution in Virginia.
It’s a provocative discussion and it leaves one wondering: why haven’t a lot more credit unions jumped aboard this neurodiversity issue?
But understand this: the show is about a bigger issue which is how a credit union and a technology provider can collaborate to help solve a problem that impacts a lot of members and still wind up friends.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Do we still need to pay attention to a credit union’s core system?
You bet you do.
On the show today is Shanon McLachlan, president of Credit Union Solutions at Jack Henry and - honestly - he draws a picture of core systems that are genuinely exciting, that will grow with a credit union as its tech needs grow.
Regular listeners know that usually when I mention core systems it’s wrapped in what some call sneer quotes.
Mclachlan is determined to prove I’m wrong, that cores can and should be the brains of a thriving credit union.
Is he right?
Listen up for this perspective on a vital 21st century core.
You’re a credit union, therefore you want more business members. Business members bring a lot of revenue into an institution.
Many credit unions in recent years have made a push for more small business members. Many have fallen well short of their goals.
There are many reasons why but there also is a big reality: most credit unions need outside help to achieve those goals. They need to work with outsiders who truly get what building relationships with small businesses is all about.
Enter Crux Analytics. They tell their story on their website: “We started Crux because we believe in the power of small business. We have experienced first-hand the challenges owners face and understand the role they serve in our lives and our economy. We have seen the current systems driving small business banking fall short for both owners and financial institutions. Small businesses need access to relevant, quality banking services to thrive. Financial institutions want to be able to engage more with small businesses, who are loyal, valuable, long-term customers. Crux is bridging the gap.”
On the show today is Jacob Bennett, a Crux Analytics co-founder, who tells why Crux Analytics just may be what your credit union needs to really master how to serve small businesses - and, while doing that, genuinely benefiting your community because, honestly, much of America revolves around healthy small businesses.
Crux is seeking credit unions to join a pilot. Hear how towards the end of the show.
This is a show that will leave you feeling optimistic.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to the CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits Show, episode the second.
This show is with Peter Duffy on credit union - credit union mergers, show #274. Consider it a bookend with the first Great Hits show with Michael Bell on credit union - bank mergers.
The reality is that mergers just are in the 2024 air as more credit unions face up to the reality that they need to bulk up to compete.
Meantime, other credit unions are struggling in today’s tougher banking environment where it’s just harder to prosper as loan defaults multiply, new loans are hard to issue, and some fee income (NSF charges for instance) is under attack. Merger just may be an escape route for a struggling credit union.
In this show Duffy tells what he tells credit union board members at retreats. It’s straight talk.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take
There’s no charge to you or to your member - and yet both will get money out of the deal.
In one case a member bought a $1000 CVS gift card and got an extra $80 in cash back. How cool is that.
Of course you want to hear more.
On the show today is David Metz, CEO of Prizeout and a past guest on the show. (Stay tuned: that episode will soon post as Greatest Hits # 3.)
Today Metz is talking about Cashback+, a white label tool that puts money back in a member’s pocket with a debit card transaction. Note that: this works with debit cards, unlike most cashback which rides on a credit card. And that debit focus works well for credit unions where many members make heavy use of debit cards and that is especially true of younger members.
Where does the cashback come from? Merchants who see the program as a customer acquisition tactic.
And there’s no charge to the credit union or the member.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Hero or villain? It’s your choice. When a member writes a check, or swipes a debit card, but lacks the funds for the transaction a credit union has a choice: it can play the part of the villain and slap a big fee on the member or the credit union could use the patented toolset from DoubleCheck to resolve the situation in ways that can benefit both the member and the credit union.
Face facts: you may not have long to decide what to do. The two dozen biggest credit unions - ones with assets over $10 billion - already are confronting a CFPB that seems to determined to change how they handle overdrafts.
A bigger bomb dropped when NCUA weighed in with its idea to supervise how overdrafts are handled at credit unions with assets of $1 billion or more. That impacts some 500 credit unions.
A revolution is afoot regarding overdrafts. Credit unions simply have to accept that changes are coming.
That’s where DoubleCheck comes in.
On the show today is Joel Schwartz, founder and Co CEO of DoubleCheck. He tells all you need to know about what’s happening in the world of overdrafts and how DoubleCheck can help credit unions who want to manage these changes in ways that will benefit members and the credit unions and satisfy regulators.
Schwartz has been on the show twice before - in February 2022 and earlier in February 2021. He’s a good, lively guest and he knows this overdraft world.
You need to know about it too.
Listen up,
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What’s your mother’s maiden name? Your first car’s make? Your zip code?
Face facts: it’s tedious at best to positively identify members who contact the credit union and, worse, scammers know the protocols and in some cases have masqueraded as credit union employees and gotten the answers from members so they could impersonate them.
Nobody like the way this is now done at most FIs, except maybe a few scammers.
There has to be a better way and there is: IDgo which uses biometrics to identify the member.
On the show today is Rocky Scales, CEO of IDgo, who tells how the tool works and - importantly - says the implementation is very fast and effortless on the part of the credit union.
But don’t take his word for it. Also on the show is Trisha Preston at $2.4 billion Corning Credit Union **headquartered in New York State. She offers an on the ground perspective into how IDgo really works for members and a credit union’s employees.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to the CU 2.0 Podcast Greatest Hits show.
There are over 300 shows in the library and yet a reality in the podcast business is that few of us ever even look at more than maybe the half dozen most recent shows.
That’s why we are going to resurface some of the best and most popular shows as Greatest Hits,
The first Greatest Hit - originally #277 - is with Michael Bell, the attorney who has been key in credit union - bank mergers. You probably are much more familiar with credit union - credit union mergers.
But Bell believes - he explains in the show - that there are excellent reasons for a credit union to look at banks as merger partners. And know that many community banks - possibly most - are keen to get bought.
This show is what you need to know.
And the reason we are posting this show to kick off our Greatest Hits is this headline from a recent American Banker: “Midwest deal marks fifth credit union - bank combination of 2024.” The date on that story: February 7, 2024. That’s a merger a week.
Will the pace continue?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take
Credit unions and their members are givers - that’s just a fact but that fact also is central to the self identity of credit unions and how they see their role in their communities.
Enter Givio, an entirely different kind of fintech. Over the years of this show we’ve poked into all manner of fintechs but Givio is different, it’s something we haven’t seen before and it is exciting because Givio (as the name hints) is a new take on giving.
I became acquainted with Givio when a longtime friend asked me to take a look at Dig Deep Vermont, a grassroots effort to raise $45 million to help farmers across Vermont deal with the massive damages done to agriculture by recent flooding and extreme weather. Vermont is a state where farming matters, to the economy and also to the aesthetics. Vermont farms are just pretty. Most are still family owned and operated.
And now some 350 Vermont farm families are fighting to survive.
Enter Dig Deep Vermont, which is backed by a cross section of important local institutions, from the state’s ski resorts to the Association of Vermont Credit Unions (and there’s a show in the library with Joe Bergeron, CEO of the Association, who tells why Vermont credit unions are involved in Dig Deep. Here’s the link).
How would people who want to help those farmers donate? That’s where Givio enters the story. Literally within a couple days of entering the project Givio had created 15 website buttons that direct donations to 14 Vermont counties along with a state fund. Donations pass through a 501 C 3, meaning they are tax deductible.
**Requests for aid also are vetted before money is turned over.
Find the donate button here and see how smooth this transaction is. Know you'll also be helping Vermont's needy farmers.**
As I learned about this I knew I had to talk with Gary Carr, Givio’s CEO - and I had a question to ask him: Could Givio’s tools help any credit union in the US raise donations to help cope with a disaster in its community?
The answer is yes - and a mechanism can be set up literally in a day or two.
There’s also Givio’s app - available in the leading app stores - which is free and it allows users to direct donations to literally thousands of charities with a few clicks on the screen.
Givio also has a donation tool - now installed at 30+ credit unions and banks, including Visions in New York State, Stanford Federal Credit Union, and American Airlines Federal Credit Union. This version of Givio is behind the institution’s firewall - accessible only by members - and it can be deployed in various ways including a targeted campaign to assist a specific organization or a la carte donations by a member to his/her favorite charities. Costs of installing Givio at a credit union are very, very low.
Remember, credit unions and their members are givers. Givio makes it easy to give and to give wisely.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to tak
Exactly what is the path to becoming a credit union CEO? In this show, Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, tells the route to take to get there - and it’s a must listen for the ambitious.
Kordeleski also talks about the stresses that come with the job and asks if you are really ready for them. Be honest. There’s no shame in stopping the climb at CFO or likewise and the stresses at that level are much lower than in the CEO’s big chair.
Are you aware that - increasingly - headhunters, executive recruiters as they call themselves, are a big part of the search for CEOs at the nation’s largest credit unions? How do you get on their radar? Kordeleski offers tips.
One more topic that’s investigated is the changing character and background of the emerging new generation of CU CEOs. They are better educated, much more comfortable with technology and the digital than were their predecessors. In many cases, too, they are more overtly competitive.
Lastly, do you want to be on a credit union board? Alternatively: what should a CEOs relationship with the board involve? Answers in the show.
Listen up
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here. 11 is here. Episode 12 is here. Episode 13 is here. Episode 14 is here and that’s one you don’t want to miss because it is part 1 of So You Want to Be a Credit Union CEO? Part 2 of Becoming a CEO is here. Kordeleski on making events work for you is here. Kordeleski on the first news about the creation of PARC Street is here - it’s a detailed explanation of the why and how this just might be a benefit to credit union clients. Episode 17 is here. Episode 18 is here
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Three words: social finance software.
By the end of this podcast you will know what the phrase means and why an embrace of social fiance software just might be a brilliant move on the part of many credit unions, a move that could benefit the communities that are served and also the credit unions who grasp that social finance software just might be a path to winning many more young members.
On the show today is Fonta Gilliam, and it is her passionate mission to spread the gospel of social finance software.
She’s the CEO and founder of Wellthi, an app that is built with the credit’s union name, brand and voice.
Wellthi explains itself on the company’s website: “Wellthi is a fintech social enterprise. Our technology helps customers structure their financial goals with family and friends through your mobile banking app. Our company has over half a dozen industry awards and recognitions from organizations like the FDIC, Mastercard, Nerd Wallet, Discover and the Independent Community Bankers of America.”
This is a lively show and, along the way, we also hear a first person account of how to get venture funding.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Meet the next generation of teen banking featuring a hefty dose of parental involvement. That’s the gist of Boucoup by BankingON and you know BankingON. It’s the team behind the technology that powers Bank Dora, the innovative mobile banking app.
About now your hand is probably waving because you want to point out a spelling error.
Put the hand down.
Boucoup looks like a spelling mistake, but, says Alexey Krasnoriadtsev, co-founder and CEO of BankingON, it’s no mistake. He picked the errant spelling because it’s a word that can be trademarked, the misspelling might per se win a little attention just because it is, and I’d add few Americans actually can correctly spell the French word anyway.
But we all can kind of say it. And we know it means plenty.
Right now lots of financial apps are targeting teens, even Chase is in the hunt. But Boucoup is different in key respects from the main fintech products. It’s white label, meaning the credit union name goes on it.
It also gives parents tools to help teach teens about finance.
There are gamification aspects as well.
Also on the show is BankingON’s Aaron Villarreal
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Catastrophic flooding and extreme weather hit Vermont in 2023 and this has caused an estimated $45 million in losses to farmers - and you know Vermont farmers from Ben & Jerry’s to Cabot Cheese. Farms are crucial to Vermont, economically but also in its self identity.
But now some 350 farm families face severe economic hardship as they seek to recover from the flooding and severe weather,
An upshot is the launch of a new campaign, Dig Deep Vermont, which seeks to raise private sector monies to aid farmers in need. It’s an ambitious, multi-pronged effort that brings together multiple sources of help from state government to Ski Vermont and the Association of Vermont Credit Unions.
Just what role can credit unions play in this fundraising? On the show today is Joe Bergeron, CEO of the Association of Vermont Credit Unions, who explains why there’s a need for this effort and also why credit unions have a place in this campaign and what they can do to help.
Credit unions around the country can learn from this. Seemingly disasters are becoming routine - but there are important roles credit unions can play in helping recovery. Learn from what’s happening in Vermont and if the spirit moves you, donate to the relief fund.
You want more young members. That’s because credit unions have an aging problem - the average member age is mid 50s and yet the median age in the US is late 30s.
Worse, as people enter their late 50s most have diminished interest in loans but they have high interest in big returns on their ready cash.
Which brings us back to the young who of course often have an appetite for borrowing.
Enter Barry Kirby of Union Credit. A veteran of CuneXus, which was founded to help credit unions put more products in the hands of members, at Union Credit Kirby now is helping credit unions bring in new members, especially younger members.
How? In the show Kirby talks about three tactics that he says are helping credit unions attract the members they covet.
Of course he’s aware of the ”liquidity crisis” that credit unions obsess about today but that “crisis” will vanish as we move into the next segment of the cycle.
What will remain the same is the credit union failure to entice the young with what they want from an FI.
Listen up to hear the how to.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Your credit union has the data. The insight you need is in there…some place.
Enter Cinchy, which promises to deliver new ways to get more collaborative insights out of data. That will also ease the pains - and costs - of data integration projects that often give credit unions more frustration than satisfaction.
Sounds too good to be true? The skepticism is understandable but on the show today to tell how Cinchy works is Ty Robbins, Field CTO. But it’s the title Robbins used to have that jumpstarted my interest in listening to him.
He came to Cinchy from First Service Credit Union where he had been Chief Data Officer and before that he had been SVP and CIO at People’s Trust Federal Credit Union. Ty Robbins knows credit unions and their data, both the pains and the potentials, on an intimate basis.
Before joining Cinchy he had been a customer at First Service.
He says he made the leap to Cinchy to spread the news about these tools to more credit unions.
Face reality: credit unions are at an existential moment with data. Big banks use data to win. Credit unions need to get the same from their data.
Robbins and Cinchy say they know how.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Cyber threats are just about everywhere nowadays. That is fact and also facts are that credit unions, as a rule, strive for a high level of defense - and yet many still get hacked.
Explaining all this on the show today is Chris Clements, vice president of solutions architecture at CISO Global.
The show starts with Clements revealing he spent his morning hacking into a credit union. It was pretty easy, he says.
Of course he also did it at the request of the credit union which, in the process, found out its defenses are more porous than they wanted them to be. But paying Clements to attempt to hack in is a lot cheaper than paying off a hacker who hacks in to collect a payday holding the credit union’s data hostage.
Along the way, Clements tells what a credit union needs to do to stay safe - and running anti virus and a firewall are just the beginning.
It’s a fast paced show on a topic that frankly doesn’t get the attention it deserves.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What’s the anxiety level inside the credit union board room? If you’re like me you probably have few conversations with credit union board members and that’s why you want to tune into what Kirk Kordeleski, former CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union and now a go-to retirement planning expert for credit union c-suiters, tells us about what’s happening at the board level.
Kordeleski talks with a lot of board members every week, he knows what’s on their minds. For instance: mergers are probably the hot topic. Sure, there’s more talk than action but know that just about every credit union is discussing merger right now.
Also up for discussion: AI. Board members know it’s coming. And they have a lot of thoughts about it, says Kordeleski.
Along the way we discuss the death of the single SEG credit union and how that demise has triggered broad cultural and business changes in the industry.
Another topic: Kordeleski’s focus on creating good, solid retirement plans for c-suiters at small credit unions. This isn’t fantasy. It’s coming soon and it will help many credit unions retain their senior talent.
There’s still more in this idea packed show.
**Listen up
Hear episode one in Money Talks here*.* Episode 2 is here*. Episode 3* is here*. Episode 4* is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here*. Episode 10 is* here*. 11 is* here*.* Episode 12 is here*. Episode 13 is* here*. Episode 14 is* here and that’s one you don’t want to miss because it is part 1 of So You Want to Be a Credit Union CEO? Part 2 of Becoming a CEO is here*. Kordeleski on making* events work for you is here. Kordeleski on the first news about the creation of PARC Street is here - it’s a detailed explanation of the why and how this just might be a benefit to credit union clients. Episode 17 is here**
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Treasury Management. Quick now, what does it mean at a financial institution?
The honest answer at most credit unions is dunno. That’s because few have any meaningful treasury management capabilities.
The big banks do. And they are scooping up businesses and high net worth individuals who want the benefits treasury management delivers.
Which are?
In a sentence treasury management is managing a company’s daily cash flow and maximizing the results.
It’s about money in motion to create a return.
And it’s coming to credit unions, thanks to Tru Treasury, a CUSO formed to bring these tools to credit unions, both large and smaller.
On the show today is Jeff Sharkey, a vice president at Tru Treasury. What he does in the next 40 minutes is demystify treasury management and also put forth a cogent argument about why just about every credit union would benefit from a treasury management program.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Two words tell the focus of AVANA CUSO - commercial lending.
You probably like the sound of that and that’s because just about all credit unions want to do more commercial lending but, as many have discovered, this is a niche that demands focused skills to succeed.
AVANA CUSO has been at this work for decades and it works with hundreds of credit unions who are able to participate in loans, thus reducing risk on any one loan.
On the show is Shivan Perrera, a senior vice president, who tells what AVANA CUSO can do for credit unions. He discusses in detail how AVANA”s process works and -importantly - says that although a few very big credit unions work with AVANA, most are under $1 billion.
He also talks about AVANA’s expansion from a focus on commercial real estate lending to an embrace of a range of commercial loan products.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The word in credit union csuites is AI. Artificial intelligence.
Some cheer its coming, some sink into fear but - here’s the fact - AI is coming.
And Saroop Bharwani is back on the show to provide us with a wrap up of AI’s status in credit unions as we end 2023 and some forecasts about AI at credit unions in 2024.
Saroop’s big message: the AI train is leaving the station. Hop aboard now. Don’t miss it.
In this show Saroop also talks about the startling events at ChatGPT as the year neared its close - the CEO is fired, hold on, he’s reinstated, What was that all about? Saroop gives us best guesses.
He also updates the status of Google’s AI project now called Bard Gemini. It’s powerful and worth a close look.
Face facts: AI is now a must know about for CU execs. That’s why this is a must listen show.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Rebecca Bacon has loan paper to sell. Billions of dollars of paper.
That’s because she works with Upgrade, a San Francisco based fintech that issues credit cards, makes auto loans, writes personal loans and then it sells the paper to some 200 financial institutions, mainly credit unions says Bacon.
Most are big - she names Pen Fed as a buyer - but Upgrade also works for small institutions too.
If you want memberized paper, Upgrade is a provider.
The company says on its website: “Our credit union partners utilize our flexible balance sheet solutions to solve for margin compression, balance sheet diversification, liquidity management, and income replacement.
“We have facilitated $24 billion in loans, including over $9.5 billion in 2022 alone.”
It’s no news to you: many fintechs want to eat your lunch.
Upgrade wants to share its lunch with you.
Implementation of the tech is fast and easy, says Bacon. She explained that most FIs are active inside 30 to 60 days.
And she estimates Upgrade has memberized around one million people.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
There is a lot of communication during the process of approving and funding a mortgage. The member has questions and needs to stay informed.
Enter Total Expert’s James White who tells about the company’s technology that automates a lot of the process - which of course frees up a credit union’s staff to do other work.
But don’t just take his word. Also on the show is Shelby Parkhill. Senior mortgage loan originator at Canvas Credit Union in Denver. She tells how the Total Expert tools work in the trenches at Canvas.
Along the way we also explore the shape of today’s mortgage business and it’s maybe not as grim as you fear. The business also is cyclical. Good times will come again and smart credit unions - Canvas is one such - are readying themselves for the next cycle.
A take away: a lot that is interesting now is happening at some credit union mortgage departments.
Want more of James White? Listen up to a 2022 podcast with him on supercharging member engagement.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
This year there will be over 100 credit union mergers with other credit unions.
But there also will be mergers of credit unions with community banks and now is the time to start learning about what’s involved and what the payoffs are.
One big reason: probably half of the nation’s community banks are available to buy.
Another reason: for many reasons, many credit unions are hanging back, reluctant to take this plunge.
Part of the reason for hesitation is simple lack of information and on the show today is Michael Bell, Co-Chair of the Financial Institutions Practice Group at the law firm Honigman, the man who did the first credit union - bank merger in 2011 and who estimates that he has been involved in probably 90% of all credit union - bank mergers.
Bell knows what works, he knows why many of these deals never reach the finish line, and he also knows the payoffs for the institutions that in fact do close a deal.
The important fact about credit union - bank mergers: ultimately they are about money. That’s not so for many credit union - credit union mergers.
More credit unions with an eye on staying competitive will be eyeing doing deals with banks, predicts Bell.
This is a provocative show.
Listen up.
For more info on mergers, listen to our trio of podcasts with Peter Duffy - #274, a quick news flash in 2022, and episode 119**.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The nation is drowning in medical debt. According to KFF (nee the Kaiser Family Foundation) some 100 million of us have medical debt - 41% of adults. About one in five do not expect to ever be able to pay their debt off, according to KFF.
Enter Epic River, a Fort Collins CO based lending as a service provider, which came up with a startling idea. What if it took all of, say, a hospital’s unpaid bills and handed them off to a financial institution to professionally service that mountain of debt, asked Jeff Grobaski, CEO of Epic River.
What FI would take the debt? That’s where this idea is truly inspired. In this show, Dan Edgerton, Chief Lending Officer of Clarity CU, explains that the credit union assumes zero risk. Nada.
Even though it does no credit check when taking over the debt. That’s right: no FICO check. Nothing.
He admits that the CU board wondered if this was too good to be true.
But it is true and that is because when a debt is determined to be unlikely ever to be repaid, the paper is returned to the originating hospital which assumes the loss.
But the kicker is that so far Clarity has a default rate of only about 7%. That means 93% of the paper is in fact being serviced by the debtors.
Grobaski adds that many of the participants in the program have decent credit scores, often in the vicinity of 700.
That makes sense. A person with a sub 300 FICO score may already have simply given up. At 700, however, the person has much to lose and probably wants to do the right thing.
To really understand this innovative program, listen to the whole podcast. It’s stuff you almost certainly have never heard before.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Is your credit union on social media?
Actually let me ask the real question: are you getting results?
Such as? New members. New loans. Activities that boost your bottomline.
The reality is that yesteryear’s advertising/marketing media - local TV news, local radio, local newspapers and the standard youth sports sponsorships - are artifacts of a past marketing model. Today the word is social media.
And in this show, Claire Winslow, founder of Best Practice Media, tells how social media can bring powerful, important results to a credit union and often at surprisingly inexpensive budgets.
The beauty of social media, Winslow explains, is that results are quickly trackable. You know how many interacted with a Facebook or Google ad. There’s no guesswork, the numbers are specific and concrete.
Another huge plus: content and direction can be changed very quickly to suit changing times.
In the podcast Winslow tells what you need to know about social media and how to get started using them for results.
She also makes an offer of an unpublished credit union case study - just email her and reference the CU 2.0 podcast.
Get ready to take a big step into 21st century marketing.
**Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The transition from OM To PARC Street Partners continues smoothly, says Kirk Kordeleski who explained that the group inside OM that had been focused on creating SERPs for senior credit union executives have all moved to PARC Street. Kordeleski’s message: there have been no disruptions in service.
Not everybody in credit unions has gotten the message however so Kordeleski is actively spreading that message.
Along the way, in this show he talks about crafting retirement plans for credit union executives in today’s environment of much higher interest rates. It can be done, PARC Street is doing it and in this show Kordeleski tells how.
He also predicts that the demand for good retirement plans for senior staff will only increase. Credit unions are competing for people with big banks and fintechs and credit unions need competitive weaponry to attract and keep talent.
Kordesleski also muses that the merger trend will continue.
It’s a full show. Listen up.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here. 11 is here. Episode 12 is here. Episode 13 is here. Episode 14 is here and that’s one you don’t want to miss because it is part 1 of So You Want to Be a Credit Union CEO? Part 2 of Becoming a CEO is here. Kordeleski on making events work for you is here. Kordeleski on the first news about the creation of PARC Street is here - it’s a detailed explanation of the why and how this just might be a benefit to credit union clients.
In this episode Kordeleski mentions Doug English who has creative ideas about growing a credit union executive’s retirement income. Here is a link to our podcast with him.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski kkordeleski@ParcStreetPartners.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
Sacred cows make the best burgers. It was some 25 years ago when I first heard speaker and consultant Robert Kriegel throw out that phrase and he even titled a book with it. It’s a good read and still in print. Every CU c suiter should read it.
That’s because we have entered an era where what worked yesterday…doesn’t. Survival is the issue.
In today’s podcast Peter Duffy, a credit union expert and a managing director at Piper Sandler, tosses out that sacred cow phrase as a piece of key advice he offers credit union board members at board retreats he now regularly speaks at.
In the credit union context what the phrase means is look hard at what you are doing and ask - are we doing this well, is it essential to who we are? Face facts: a lot of what many credit unions do is done because “members expect credit unions to” - even if the credit union isn’t especially good at it and despite the reality that nowadays there are lots of places to get a mortgage or car loan or a credit loan or a CD or…keep going down the list and ask, is this one of our sacred cows?
This podcast gives a taste of what’s discussed a the board retreats and the range is wide - should we stop issuing our own credit cards, should we outsource mortgages, and - maybe the crucial question of the moment - with whom should we merge?
That last is on the list because, says Duffy, suddenly lots of credit unions are chewing the merger question.
There’s a lot to digest in this show.
Listen up.
Duffy has been on the show before - in 2022 talking merger mania and in 2020**.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The headline on the CUTimes article by David Jones tells you why you want to listen to this podcast: Invest in PESO to Build a World-Class Credit Union Marketing Strategy.
Jones is an EVP at the William Mills Agency in Atlanta and their trade is public relations which, increasingly, follows a PESO model.
What’s that?
PESO is a formula crafted by Gini Dietrich and it refers to Paid Media (such as advertising), Earned Media (write ups in publications, etc.), Shared Media (think social) and Owned Media (sponsored content for instance). Once upon a time most PR revolved entirely around earned media but as that channel has atrophied, eyes have been focused on alternative avenues - such as Paid, Shared and Owned.
In this show Jones elaborates on the PESO model and we delve into how it just might help credit unions (and definitely fintechs!) get more visibility.
At what cost, Jones talks money in the show.
Here’s the reality: most credit unions do PR badly if at all. Many fintechs are no better. Find out what you are missing in this show.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Picture this: a member comes into your office and says he wants a million dollar loan and he has collateral.
What kind of collateral?
The head of a tyrannosaurus rex, a huge dinosaur and, yes, there is a market for t rex bones
What do you do?
The temptation is to say get the hell outta here.
But just maybe the smarter, very 21 century solution is to call UPTIQ where the mantra is THE LENDING PLATFORM FOR HOLISTIC ADVISORS.
On its website, there’s this elaboration: “Whether its money to buy a new home, start a new business or fund working capital, UPTIQ's turnkey technology enables financial advisors to connect their clients to a network of lenders who can fund any liquidity objective.”
Yes, UPTIQ also will handle mainstream lending and borrowing needs.
But it does not shy away from the exotic, said Taylor Adkins, chief product and marketing officer.
To simplify what UPTIQ has done is stick together software that helps match up financial advisors who have clients with borrowing needs with lenders who have cash on hand to lend. If it’s an exotic loan, fine. If it’s a more conventional loan, that may be fine too.
There definitely is a place for credit unions in this equation, said Adkins. What, you don’t have any financial advisors on staff anymore? That may not matter with UPTIQ - in the show Adkins explains.
Definitely, credit unions have tightened up lending practices but just about every credit union wants to make loans - and a talk with UPTIQ very well might help get some additional loans funded.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Call this show beyond credit scores.
The reality is that in 2023 credit scores are as common as nitrogen on our planet. There is nothing special about offering access to credit scores to members because, well, they can get them anywhere.
Personally I can think of a half dozen different accounts of mine that provide free access to credit scores.
Probably I have more that I have simply ignored.
So why am I talking about credit scores? Because Backbase, which bills itself as the engagement banking platform and it provides online and mobile banking to many US credit unions, and SavvyMoney, have teamed up to offer the SavvyMoney credit score to members at credit unions on the Backbase platform.
And what SavvyMoney offers is way beyond a credit score. That’s the starting point, but SavvyMoney also offers action steps for consumers (“here’s how to lift your 680 credit score to 750”) as well as suggesting possible loans to members. The tools also may help steer members into appropriate investments such as CDs,
This is a credit score with lots of financial wellness pointers and action steps built in.
On the show are Brian McNutt, Backbase’s vice president of product management for the U.S. mid-market, and Chris Fraenza, SavvyMoney’s chief revenue officer.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
This is the trade-up home buyer’s dilemma: in most cases, until his/her existing home actually sells, he cannot truly close on a new home.
Home sellers are increasingly wary of the standard contingency clause that gives a buyer an out if his/.her present home doesn’t sell.
Those sellers like all cash buyers.
What’s a trade up home buyer to do?
Enter Calque, the trade-in mortgage company.
Calque, on its website, tells how its process works: “Fill out a 5-minute questionnaire on our website, and we will send you a purchase price guarantee (PPG) within 3-5 business days. The PPG assures you that if your house doesn’t sell on the open market within a specified timeframe (usually 120 days in most markets), Calque will buy it for a mutually agreed upon, fair price. Once you accept the PPG, a lending partner will pre-approve you for your new home loan.”
Here’s the end game: “Sell your original house on the open market for maximum value. If you aren’t able to sell and close on it within the specified time frame (usually 120 days in most markets), Calque will buy it for the PPG. Either way, you move forward with a conventional loan on your new home.”
Where do credit unions come in? Jeremy Foster, a Calque senior executive, explains that credit unions, which already have the trust of their members, can readily explain the admittedly innovative Calque process to their members.
Set up in the Calque system is fast and simple, no core interface required. A credit union would be up and running with Calque in two weeks to two months, says Foster.
Now about now you are probably wondering what kind of weird name is Calque. The good news is that is exactly what I ask Foster in the beginning of the show.
Know that a calque is also called a loan translation - here’s a link that explains what this linguistics mumbo jumbo means.
Claque is a brilliant play on words - but it also may be just the device for removing a big slice of friction and anxiety from the trade up home buying process of members.
**Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com**
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Just when you thought Sam Bankman-Fried had signaled the end of crypto, there just may be cause for optimism about the future of crypto and blockchain.
Think about this: it was just maybe a dozen years ago and optimism was wide and deep about both crypto currencies and blockchain. What has happened to decimate that optimism? Lots of theft and money - in the billions of dollars - that had gone missing.
Conclusion: the underlying system needs a foundational fix.
Meet Nicolas Biagosh of Q Protocol where the slogan is “the future of governance has arrived.”
It’s simple, isn’t it? The problem with crypto has been faulty governance.
That’s where Q Protocol comes in. Here is what it says about itself: “ Q provides a governance backbone for the Web3 world, allowing you to build intergalactic organizations that go beyond code-is-law.
Technically, the Q Protocol comprises an EVM-compatible proof-of-stake blockchain and a set of smart contracts.
But this simple technical description does not do the protocol justice: Beyond the code, Q is based on a novel concept of how we can transact in the decentralized world, combining the benefits of a public, open and decentralized ledger with the transparency of enforceable private contracts.”
In the podcast Biagosh offers a largely non technical explanation of what Q Protocol is all about and why this just may make a difference for you.
Will Q Protocol be the backbone of a new kind of cross border banking?
Listen up.
Meet your new Best Friend: Rocket Mortgage.
Is that boos and curses I am hearing?
Understand: I know many in the credit union universe view Rocket Mortgage as the enemy. That opinion even has been voiced on past episodes of this podcast.
Understandably, too, Rocket Mortgage - the leading US mortgage originator - has enemies. Leaders usually do.
But in this show, you will hear Sam Schey, Executive Vice President, Partnerships
Rocket Mortgage, tell exactly how Rocket Mortgage may in fact be a genuine friend to credit unions.
The Credit Union Times story tells the story: “Rocket Mortgage to Woo Small Credit Unions.”
In the show Schey indicated that the target market probably is small and mid sized credit unions. Large credit unions with large mortgage departments probably aren’t prime Rocket Mortgage targets.
But smaller institutions - especially ones that have shrunk their mortgage activities - just may be ideal for letting Rocket Mortgage handle their mortgage process and, in return, Rocket Mortgage will pay the credit union as it writes mortgages for members.
The credit union also has the option to retain the paper.
Listen to Schey - there are many different ways to configure the Rocket Mortgage options at a credit union.
Early in the show listeners who don’t follow Big 10 football may be puzzled by the banter about the Michigan State Spartans. Schey is an alum of MSU. The backstory is the day the podcast was recorded MSU fired its football coach Mel Tucker. There’s a link in the show notes to an ESPN story that tells this sordid story.
This short interlude is left in the show because Schey - under attack - handled himself superbly.
Another link in the show notes is to a biographic squib on Dan Gilbert, a co-founder of Rocket Mortgage and probably its leading light. To call him an interesting guy is an understatement.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Listeners to this podcast know that Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, is a busy guy. That became vivid one recent day when I signed into LinkedIn and saw a Kordeleski post where he announced he had become a partner in a new company formed to create SERPs for credit union executives: PARC Street Partners, where PARC stands for Pay Attract Retain Compensate.
Kordeleski of course had been involved in SERPs at OM Financial, but he - and other OM employees - have now moved over to PARC Street. In the show Kordeleski tells why and why this just may be very good news for credit unions and their executives.
He also stressed that service for SERPs that had been set up via OM has now shifted to PARC Street. There will be no service disruption, he stressed.
Minutes later Kordeleski posted that he had been named an advisor to Black Dragon Capital - a fund formed by Luis Hernandez, well known in the credit union world for the DNA core, which for its time was a genuinely revolutionary core. Black Dragon focuses on funding fintechs that serve credit unions.
In the podcast Kordeleski talks about what he hopes to do at Black Dragon.
Word of advice: Follow Kordeleski on LinkedIn.
Listen up.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here. 11 is here. Episode 12 is here. Episode 13 is here. Episode 14 is here and that’s one you don’t want to miss because it is part 1 of So You Want to Be a Credit Union CEO? Part 2 of Becoming a CEO is here. Kordeleski on making events work for you is here.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski kkordeleski@ParcStreetPartners.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
That whistle you hear - the AI train is leaving the station and forward thinking credit unions are hopping aboard.
Here’s the reality: the big banks are all in with AI. So are the big fintechs.
Where does that leave you?
Behind is where you are likely to be unless you begin to grapple with AI and its potential to transform financial services and your institution.
The analogy is to the Web. Forward thinking financial institutions hopped into it in the mid 1990s. Laggards hung back, often into the 21st century.
A big difference now is everything moves faster.
AI needs your focus now. Immediately. Today.
The good news is that CU 2.0 is holding a two day AI intensive workshop on October 26 and 27 in Ashland OR. There’s a link in the show notes.
Attendance will be extremely limited. There will be plenty of opportunity for getting questions answered.
In this podcast there’s a preview of what attendees will learn, as told by Kirk Drake, the CU 2.0 founder and author of an AI Book, and also Saroop Bahrwani, founder of Senso.ai and an expert on AI and how credit unions can put it to good use. Both will be among the main presenters at the Ashville event.
Like what you hear here? Sign up for more by attending the event. A year from now you don’t want to be saying, I should have gone.
Just go.
Whither credit union lending - or put more bluntly, when will today’s liquidity issues and their constraint on lending lessen?
That’s a huge topic - liquidity is a key concern at just about every credit union - and that’s why we brought together three experts with different takes on lending and liquidity.
There's Mac Thompson, founder and president of White Clay and a data analytics expert. He’s also a former CU 2.0 podcast guest.
There’s Barry Kirby, a co-founder of Union Credit which aims to help credit unions grow their memberships. He too is a past podcast guest.
The third guest is Gary Lewis, managing director of lending and deposit solutions at Jack Henry and, you guessed it, also a past podcast guest.
This is a lively conversation about lending, liquidity and also related topics such as the threats posed by non banks, the need for better credit union curation of technology options, and a coming to grips with the credit union generational shift from Baby Boomer members to Millennials and Gen Z and what that shift entails.
You may not agree with all you hear on this show - that’d be boring, wouldn’t it? - but you will get ideas about what you need to be doing to keep your credit union in the game and winning.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Have you ever spent two days at an industry meeting and on your flight home you found yourself wondering, why did I go there? Did I get a thing useful out of this?
Join the club. Events regret is widespread.
And then there is Kirk Kordeleski, former CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union which he grew into a colossus and now he's an executive with O.M. Financial, where he helps credit unions create competitive retirement packages for c-suite executives.
The idea for this show came from Kordeleski’s Facebook feed where one week he is in Homolulu, the next Atlanta, the next Michigan, the next Washington DC and the travel whirlwind goes on as Kordeleski travels from industry event to event.
Two questions came to mind: why hasn’t he burned out and how does he get useful results from this travel schedule?
Kordeleski is on the podcast to tell us his how to of traveling sanely and making it all work for him.
In a few words the recipe comes down to this: know the results you want and have a plan to get them. But Kordeleski’s formula is much more detailed than that. He tells his secrets now.
Listen up.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here. 11 is here. Episode 12 is here. Episode 13 is here. Episode 14 is here and that’s one you don’t want to miss because it is part 1 of So You Want to Be a Credit Union CEO? Part 2 of Becoming a CEO is here
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
BNPL. When we talked with Bryce Deeney, CEO of Equipifi, about his BNPL focused startup in December 2021 BNPL probably sounded to most listeners like a new alphabet soup and who really cared about it?
Flashforward and quite possibly you personally have used BNPL. If you haven’t a relative or friend definitely has. Companies like Aftrpay, Klarna and Affirm are major fintech players. And there are mainstream entrants into BNPL such as AMerican Express and Apple.
Here’s the question: where’s a place for credit unions in BNPL?
Know that the big BNPL players are busily making deals with retailers, both online and bricks and mortar. They are disintermediating traditional financial institutions and that means you.
Enter Bryce Deener and Equipifi which have been busily creating tools for credit unions to offer BNPL as a payments option to their members. In this show, Deeney tells why a credit union needs BNPL in its arsenal (you don’t want to lose members do you?), why BNPL is so popular with so many of us (and it’s not just Gen Z by the way), and how BNPL has morphed in just a couple years.
Case in point: the majority of BNPL deals now feature interest payments or other fees. Didn’t know that? Understandably: two years ago the BNPL pitch was pay over 90 days, no fees, no interest. No more. Money no longer is free and the BNPL providers have morphed.,
And take heart because Deeney and his team are working hard to give credit unions a place at this table.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Fednow just may change your credit union’s entire approach to how money moves in and out.
That is fact and the fact is all the realer because Fednow actually launched in July. Sure, real time money movement has been talked about for at least a decade bur that was just talk, now it is real.
Could you ignore it for the time being? That would be to your detriment, warns this podcast’s guest expert on Fednow, Richard Crone, a longtime payments guru.
Crone also tells a fast way to gain significant experience with instant money movement. You may not like this particular piece of advice - over 4000 credit unions currently are not following it. But give a listen to Crone’s argument and you just may be persuaded.
Crone also says that credit unions have a huge built-in advantage over community banks in regard to real time payments. This is a fight waiting to be won. If only you get involved.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What’s in your fintech blueprint?
Wait, you say, what’s a fintech blueprint? Good question and if you didn’t ask it probably you should have because few credit unions have current blueprints or even old, dusty ones.
On that note, how often should you update a fintech blueprint? On the show today is Prakash Natarajan, managing director for payments strategy for SRM and he says every three years.
Ask me and I’d say every two years.
Either way the point is that the fintech landscape is fast morphing - who knew about generative AI 9 months ago - and an institution needs a blueprint that sets out fintech priorities and why they matter.
Otherwise you are at the mercy of the next fintech sales person in your office who waves a shiny object in your face and, yep, it’s cool…but do your members and institution really have to have it? That is why you need a blueprint.
Background reading for this show is the SRM report Why Every Financial Institution Needs a Fintech Blueprint. It’s free, click here
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
How many zombie members are on your credit union’s books? You know who we mean - they sometimes also are called ghost members. They have a few bucks parked in the institution from back when they became members but, nowadays, they are mainly invisible. And worse: the credit union often charges no monthly fee but it may pay a monthly fee for that member’s access to online banking even though the member doesn’t use it.
You want to know Daniel Haisley. He runs innovation at Apiture, a North Carolina based digital banking provider that serves some 300 credit unions and community banks. It serves some mega institutions but Haisley says Apiture’s sweet spot is serving mid sized and smaller institutions.
And Apiture has a tool for helping to activate those zombie members. In the show Haisley tells how it works and what kinds of results it delivers.
He also answers the big question: when a new credit union customer comes to you why are they leaving their existing digital provider.
And before we close he offers Apiture’s take on AI and credit unions today. In three words it’s optimistic but cautious.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Consider this show all you want to know about credit union boards and gender and ethnic composition.
Know this: you probably will be surprised, and disappointed, about one statistic you will hear.
Also know: the source for this show is a 69 page report, Credit Union Boards of Directors: Board Size, Gender, Race and Institutional Performance, 2012-2021. Download the report, it’s free via consulting firm, CuCollaborate.
The report is statistics rich and in this show we talk about the research methodology so you will hear how the report was created.
We also talk about possible future research projects involving boards.
And you know what, credit union boards are remarkably opaque. Most members know very little about their board - indeed they may not even know there is a board and it is, theoretically, elected by the membership.
Speaking for me - not CuCollaborate - I think there is a great opportunity for dramatically enhanced board transparency.
Most credit unions complain about a lack of candidates for board seats - but just maybe there’d be more member interest in that service if more members had an inkling of what the board does and how this matters to member satisfaction. A point to ponder.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What’s in a name?
Shakespeare asked that question but right now lots of credit union leaders are doing likewise. For good reason. The institution’s name may no longer suit the present realities as SEGs fade away, geographic bases shift and sometimes, just maybe, there’s a sense that a more timely name might well have greater appeal for millennials and Gen Z who are the future.
Enter Phil Davis and North Carolina based Tungsten, a branding company that has helped hundreds of businesses change their names including a number of credit unions. Among Tungsten's clients are Additional Financial, a rebrand of the former Central Florida Educators Federal Credit Union, as well as Radiant Credit Union, a rebrand of the former SunState Federal Credit Union.
Also on the list is Skyla, formed after Charlotte Metro Credit Union and Premier FCU joined and opted for a new name.
Davis says he expects more credit unions will knock on his door as they realize something has to change if they want to stay relevant..
Of course it’s not just the name - often the credit union has to also change how it does business and impose a more digital attitude - but now is a time when we are indeed likely to see a growing number of credit unions opting for a makeover.
In the show Davis tells what’s involved, how long it usually takes, how much it costs and what benefits typically result.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Ask Kirk Kordesleski, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union where he pursued an extremely aggressive business strategy designed to double the size of the institution in five years, to mame a key challenge facing credit unions right now and he is blunt: a new generation of leaders has to be prepared and prepped and there is no time for delay.
The Baby Boomer generation of credit union CEOs is fast retiring. The youngest are 58. The oldest are 76.
There is a booming job market for new CEOs. Opportunity is knocking.
Kordeleski is doing his part in empowering candidates. He’s mentoring a growing number of ambitious credit union executives.
In this show he shares some of the big lessons he imparts including big surprises that may come from the credit union board and senior leadership early in a new CEOs reign.
Listen to the very end and Kordeleski reveals an event he’s holding where wannabe CU CEOs will get in-person training and pointers.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here. 11 is here. Episode 12 is here. Episode 13 is here. Episode 14 is here and that’s one you don’t want to miss because it is part 1 of So You Want to Be a Credit Union CEO?
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
Bill Partin, the recently retired CEO at nearly $2 billion Sharonview Federal Credit Union in the Carolinas, went there after a long career at multiple Southern California credit unions where he ended in the c-suite at Partners, the Burbank based institution created to serve Walt Disney Company employees.
At Partners he worked for then CEO John Janclaes and one day Partin asked his boss when he planned to retire. He said in effect not soon.
Partin then told him he wanted to be a CEO and so he would be looking elsewhere.
His boss did the right thing: he supported him completely.
Soon Partin landed the job at Sharonview and, in the show, he tells about his journey there.
But there’s a lot more in this show. For instance: Partin started in credit unions as a part time teller when he was putting himself through a community college. He kept working at credit unions as he proceeded to earn a bachelor’s degree - and he just stayed in the industry because he knew it was where he wanted to be.
Nowadays Partin has authored a book, The Leadership Bet, and he’s also on the speakers circuit talking up that topic.
What is the leadership bet? It’s the three pronged formula he implemented at Sharonview -
*Be disciplined
*Execute your plan
*Take risks
Wait: take risks! Isn’t risk a four letter word in a CU exec’s vocabulary? You bet - well, maybe you don’t bet. But, yes, risk is a tough concept for CU execs to embrace. Partin explains why it’s essential, especially today.
Keep listening until the end because just maybe the meatiest points are served up last as Partin talks about the how to of creating a good credit union board - and why many boards aren’t what they need to be. It’s hot stuff.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
CDA - three letters but, ask Matthew Butler, and he will tell you this is a potential huge win for credit unions and their communities.,
Butler is founder of Elite Capital where a chief product offering is the CDA - that’s a charitable donation account and, no, I hadn’t heard of it either.
Just a handful of credit unions currently use a charitable donation account and Butler is here to tell you that’s a costly mistake.
Here’s why: a CDA allows a credit union to make investments in otherwise impermissible vehicles where the kicker is that 51% of returns have to be distributed as charitable donations (that presently means a 501 C 3). But the credit union can retain the remaining 49% for its own uses.
What’s an impermissible investment? In the show Butler points particularly to investment grade corporate bonds. There are other options too.
Why don’t more credit unions use CDAs? We talk at some length in the show about that very point.
A lot simply haven’t heard of CDAs.
Also on the show is Fernando Arrue, portfolio manager at Elite Capital.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
$200 billion. That is how much money is in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and one credit union voice that has been loud in seeking a share is Inclusiv, the trade group for community development credit unions that now has 470 members.
Just why is Inclusiv involved in this?
Exactly that question is why we invited Inclusiv CEO Cathie Mahon on the show. She’s a past guest - in 2019 she was in episode 15.
In this show she offers an articulate explanation of why environmental issues are in fact central to the concerns of community development credit unions.
In June Mahon testified before the US Senate Climate Change Task Force where she said, “As credit unions invest in climate solutions, they find strong synergies between increasing
access to clean energy and improved financial stability. As community owned and controlled
financial institutions, community development credit unions see both a responsibility and
opportunity to make their communities greener and more resilient. These institutions serve
those located on the frontlines of climate change, specifically communities with the poorest air
quality, highest energy burden and most vulnerability to climate events such as hurricanes,
floods, drought, wildfires, and tornadoes.”
She has that very right. Often it is the poorest communities that deal with the harshest impacts of climate change.
What can credit unions do about this? Lots and lots, as you will hear in the show. Everything from helping with loans to replace old appliances with energy efficient ones to encouraging job training for minority contractors who want to pursue opportunities in, for instance, installing solar arrays on homes and apartment buildings.
Mahon sees many, many ways for credit unions to have positive impacts on their communities.
Also in the show she offers comment on attempts in the US House to slash the federal funding for CDFIs - a genuinely dumb idea.
And she also talks about Inclusiv’s new ties to QCash, the small dollar loan company that has been birthed by the credit union movement to give members a far better alternative to predatory loans.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
So you want to be a credit union CEO?
This is your must listen podcast.
In the show, Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union which he grew to be among the nation’s biggest, tells his path from starting as a part time teller at Bank-Fund Staff Credit Union in Washington DC (created for employees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) to rising to the top at a huge credit union.
Along the way Kordeleski also ponders what it means that many CEOs of his generation in fact started as tellers or similar entry level positions. Nowadays many fast risers in credit unions come in the door as executives and never worked in a call center or as a teller. What does that mean?
Later, Kordeleski talks about the free - yes, free - consulting he now offers to a couple dozen young CU execs who say they want to become a CEO. To qualify a candidate has to hold an SVP level job or a c-suite slot.
In that consulting Kordeleski preaches his doctrine of running a highly aggressive credit union - which is how Bethpage grew.
Listen up.
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2023 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1993 comp plans, even 2013 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here. 11 is here. Episode 12 is here. Episode 13 is here.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
True or false: a credit union with assets well under $200 million offers crypto currencies to members.
Meet Becky Reed, the now former CEO of Lone Star Credit Union - assets now around $165 million - and, yep, Lone Star offers crypto to its members. In the show Reed tells why Lone Star made this decision - mainly because it saw a lot of member assets exiting the credit union to buy crypto elsewhere - and also how easy to was to do this for members.
Take away: no credit union is too small to explore offering crypto.
You probably know of Reed, she’s the chair of NACUSO, the trade group for CUSOs, and in this show you will hear her passionate defense of CUSOs as part of what makes credit unions so special.
In the show Reed also explains why she left Lone Star and what she is doing now, namely helming BRaaS - Becky Reed as a Service - where she helps credit unions explore crypto, blockchain and a range of tech innovations.
This is an upbeat episode. If you worry about small credit unions you’ll find some real cheer here.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
AI - you know it’s the big new thing that has won all the buzz in today’s tech world.
Does it deserve it?
Hear a loud “yes” in this podcast with Saroop Bharwani, CEO of Senso.ai and a co-creator of CU Copilot, a consortium of AI early adopter credit unions that are joining together to learn how to put AI to transformative uses in their institutions.
A half dozen credit unions already engage in CU Copilot and Bahrwani says more are coming and that is a good thing because credit unions are in a position to grab a dramatic lead in AI adoption and that will help the industry stay highly competitive through the years of change that are on the horizon.
Also on the show is Joey Rudisill, CIO at $500 million Central Willamette Credit Union which is already a consortium member. On the show Joey gives an incisive perspective on what AI adoption is like on the ground floor of a credit union.
Here is the link to CuCopilot: http://cucopilot.com/
You want to sign up for the consortium? Here’s a link.
You want to see the videos on AI that are mentioned in the show? Here’s another link.
Know this: you will be hearing more and more about AI and the plain truth is that it is triggering a revolution that will utterly change how a lot of work gets done. You can’t close your eyes to this. At least you can’t if you want to stay relevant.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
AI - it’s the word of the moment.
And many credit unions are rushing to familiarize themselves, even to implement pilots internally.
Stop right there.
Before taking actions, listen to this podcast with Kevin Farley, vice president of experience and engagement at United Heritage Credit Union in Austin TX
Farley popped up on my radar screen with a down to earth, practical article on generative AI at the Financial Brand.
His pitch is that credit unions need to approach AI with a crawl, walk, run patience - and probably no credit unions are yet in a position to do brisk running in AI, if only because the necessary tools just aren’t ready yet.
But there is much useful a credit union can do to get comfortable crawling, then walking with AI. Farley offers suggestions about areas where tangible benefits of AI are plentiful even in the early days of use.
For now most credit unions will satisfy their curiosity playing with the free versions of ChatGPT and Google’s Bard - and do note if a month ago you thought Bard was far inferior Google has made vast improvements in that tool. Do try both.
But also know a credit union does not want to load any sensitive or personal data into either free tool. Don’t even think about it. Farley tells why in the show.
We are waiting for the new, improved paid AI tools that will take all this to the next level.
They’re coming. Get ready.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
There are three mind blowing facts in this podcast.
Number one: credit unions currently have a greater appetite for offering crypto currencies to members than do banks to their customers. The source of that is Kian Sarreshteh, CEO of CryptoFi, a crypto as a service company formed to help traditional FIs to offer digital assets. His proof: CryptoFi has pivoted in the last year to focus on offering its products to credit unions.
Number two: NCUA is much more open to crypto than is FDIC, said Kian. So just when you think NCUA is a Stone Age relic chew on that.
Number three: the first credit union install for CryptoFi isn’t at a credit union in San Jose or Cambridge Mass or Brooklyn. It’s WeStreet, a $950 million institution headquartered in Tulsa OK.
On the show are Kian from CryptoFi and Eric Hilaire, chief digital officer at WeStreet.
Face reality: credit unions have to take steps to stop the outflow of member dollars into more contemporary asset classes, crypto definitely on the list.
Listen upLike what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Real time. Dynamic. Personalized.
Accept this: what worked in combatting fraudsters 10 years ago is about as useful today as a 10 year old PC or cellphone.
Accept this too: it’s war on with fraudsters and smart financial institutions understand that very likely the criminals know a lot about the FI’s weaponry.
How to combat these criminals?
On the show today is Ravi Sandepudi, CEO of Effectiv.ai, a new-style anti fraud platform that has been built by a cyber team with deep histories at Google and PayPal - and know that PayPal is well known for how professional its anti fraud group is and Google is where much today’s AI intellectual platform originated.
Go back a decade or two and much fraud prevention was built around hard wired rules which worked reasonably well but also true is that criminals learned the rules and then dreamed up workarounds.
What’s needed today is an intelligent, evolving fraud toolkit and that is what Effectiv seeks to provide its customers.
Know that credit unions are a particular target for Effectiv and in the show Sandepudi tells his own touching story about being an immigrant in the US who had come to go to school and of course he lacked a Social Security number because he had just arrived and banks, he said, showed him the exit door.
Then he went to a credit union affiliated with his school and a beautiful relationship blossomed. They accepted his student ID and US issued visa as proof of identity and a credit union fan was made.
Nowadays too he also finds that credit unions quickly get why the Effectiv fraud fighting tools are better than the old tools they had been using and, said Sandepudi, adoptions are coming fast.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What if you could increase your retirement income by 40%?
Nope, you don’t have to invest in a new crypto currency and neither do have to skate on the wrong side of tax shenanigans.
What you do have to do is listen to this podcast with Doug English, a North Carolina based financial planner who has specialized in optimizing the after tax income flow from a credit union executive’s typical retirement package which involves tools that frankly are little known outside credit unions such as SERPs and 457Fs.
The power of English’s approach is that withdrawals and payouts are structured around the recipient’s age and tax bracket.
Remember, some of a credit union executive’s retirement income is taxable. Some - via SERP for instance - usually isn’t.
What English does is create a time sequence for payouts that - legally - minimize tax consequences and of course optimize the retiree’s quality of life.
Understand, I went into this show certain that I would be bored to tears - tax talk usually does that to me - but with English this is a straightforward and, dare I say it, easy to grasp solution to tax issues.
This thinking is all the more important as life expectancy for many of us just seems to be continually increasing. But in an age of inflation money on hand may seem to be going the other direction.
English just may have a fix.
Note: English does not sell SERPs or similar retirement products. What he offers is analysis on how to make those plans work better.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Is a Greenlight card in your wallet?
If you have children – particularly school age kids – you want to know about Greenlight because this is a functioning debit card but it is designed for use by kids who are gaining financial skills as their parents guide them in the how to of using plastic.
Understand, too, that increasing numbers of retail venues are cashless – plastic is needed to transact.
Of course there also are online purchases that require plastic.
Greenlight solves those issues and it offers both a direct to consumer service (starting at $4.95 per month) and now it is fast signing up financial institutions who are offering Greenlight to their customers and members.
Already on board is Chase.
But know that Greenlight has already signed up credit unions and wants more because the company gets that the credit union mission syncs with Greenlight’s.
On the show today is Pete Steger, vice president of business development at Greenlight.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Are generous pension plans for credit union executives only for those who work in the biggest institutions, the ones at the billion dollar plus credit unions?
Do only the rich get richer? What about the many executives toiling in the thousands of smaller credit unions?
Much of the discussion in past shows in this Money Talks series with Kirk Kordeleski has in fact been focused on pension options for the senior most executives at the biggest credit unions.
Now for something completely different. In this show Kordeleski muses on his hopes and plans for bringing meaningful pension options to credit union c-suite executives at much smaller institutions.
This is not pie in the sky. These are real, tangible plans that Kordeleski is hashing out.
He’s honest and realistic. It’s not straightforward to plan meaningful retirement options for executives in credit unions smaller than $100 million. They typically do not have the capital. But even in this case Kordeleski has thoughts on what could happen to bring solid retirement plans to executives in these institutions.
He has even more solid ideas about how to fund retirement plans for executives in institutions from $100 million to $500 million in assets.
**And for those working at institutions in the $500 million to $1 billion range there are plenty of options, says Kordeleski.
Want to read Kordeleski's white paper on bringing SERPs to more and smaller credit unions? Click here**
Listen up.
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2023 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1993 comp plans, even 2013 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here. 11 is here. Episode 12 is here.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
You want to make more commercial loans. Join the club. So do more other credit unions.
But that is why this show is a must listen. In it Gary Lewis, managing director of lending and deposit solutions at Jack Henry, and Dennis Janikowski, senior vice president of lending at P1FCU, tell the secret sauce that is helping P1FCU, a northern Idaho institution, enjoy significant growth in its commercial lending.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Did you know that there are many, many loan programs available from the US Department of Agriculture – and many feature government guarantees?
Probably you didn’t know – these programs are something of a secret.
But over 100 credit unions – including Navy Federal – know about the programs and work with Greater Commercial Lending, a company that works with borrowers, USDA and also credit unions to get loans funded.
What kinds of loans? Don’t be misled by the word agriculture. USDA makes all kinds of loans, funding everything from farm equipment to renewable energy. And some loans even can fund projects in urban areas.
On the show is GCL executive vice president Jeremy Gilpin who explains how the program works and how credit unions can get involved.
He also tells that GCL is in the process from beginning to end. It helps fill out the loan app, works with USDA, even helps syndicate many loans.
Now do you want to find out more from GCL?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Medicare – you’d almost think it’s a four letter word, not the three syllable word it is. That’s because it is an immensely complicated issue – Congress did write the federal laws that shape it! – and as Americans approach 65 suddenly they have to make an immensely complicated decision about their health care.
How easy is that? Not.
But consider this an enormous opportunity for credit unions, with their memberships that skew older. Credit unions can step in as trusted advisors and help members make better decisions while also bringing in a few dollars in fees into the credit union.
That’s win win.
But doing this requires skill. The complexities of Medicare demand talents to navigate it.
Enter Rock Carter, president of Medicare CU, a CUSO set up to help credit unions help their members into good Medicare decisions.
You may remember a recent show with Silvur, the winner of CU 2.0’s Fintech Madness battle in Las Vegas. Silvur – which helps credit unions and their members with both Social Security and Medicare – is a related but fundamentally quite different approach.
Credit unions contemplating offering senior members help with Medicare decisions are advised to listen to both podcasts. One approach just may suit your credit union better than the other.
But know this: Members need help making Medicare decisions. Credit unions are well positioned to provide that help.
What are you waiting for?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Your institution has digital tools, lots of them, but here are the two questions that genuinely matter: Do your members know how to use them; and do your employees?
Too often the answer to both questions is nope.
Here’s a possible cure: John Findlay and LemonadeLXP. The LemonadeLXP promise is that it’s easy to use tools will turn your staff into digital mavens and your members will learn to use the tools that very probably your institution already has.
A case in point found in this show: I ask Findlay how LemonadeLXP would help a member whose question is, I want to send money to a relative using Zelle. How do I do that?
Understand: failure to know how to use a tool is a primary reason members don’t use it.
The stakes are even higher with financial tools – because every member worries that a first time Zelle (mis)use will result in the account emptying out into a Minsk account and who knows where that is?
Findlay also talks about actual cases where FI clients dramatically cut call center calls – costs – by deploying LemonadeLXP tools.
Those with sharp memories may recall that Findlay was on the show before – in December 2020. His company has grown, a lot, since then and that is because the need for easy to understand tech teaching tools doesn’t go away. Quite the opposite: the need multiplies.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
We have entered a brave new world of retirement planning – and that very much includes planning in the credit union c-suite.
Maybe the biggest change: there today is no fixed retirement age. A generation ago, for most executives, 65 was the target. That was widely accepted in retirement planning.
Now we have executives who want to retire early. Others want to stay on past 65, perhaps to 70 or longer. Exactly how does this impact executive retirement income packages such as SERPs and 457Fs, the two most common c-suite retirement plans?
On the show to help us understand how retirement plans are flexing to accommodate a new generation’s needs is Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union and now an executive with OM, a firm that specializes in executive retirement planning.
It turns out there already is flexibility built into most plans – and more flexibility is on its way, says Kordeleski.
Along the way Kordeleski muses on credit union mergers and their impact on retirement plans.
Listen up.
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2023 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1993 comp plans, even 2013 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here. 11 is here.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
Of course you want more young members – members under 40 are on every credit union’s wish list.
Enter Sparrow, which calls itself “the world’s most powerful student loan search.”
Here’s what may be the best part: Put Sparrow to work on your website – it’s a white labeled tool and will blend in seamlessly – and students (as well as their parents) will be able to search for private student loans as well as options for refinancing current student loans.
If a loan gets made, the credit union gets what you might think of as a finder’s fee – but does not own the paper or service it. That’s done by the lender that is found using Sparrow’s search tools.
It gets better still: Pen Fed already is a client. So are more credit unions.
Hundreds of colleges include pointers to Sparrow in their student aid materials.
There’s little – maybe no – downside risk to a credit union to explore Sparrow. The how to implement along with details on the financial relationship are outlined in this podcast with Harrison Hochman, a proud Stanford alum (class of 2021).
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The answers you need to optimize member service – and keep your credit union on sound financial footing – are already available.
It’s just that they are hidden in your data.
That’s where Mitch Rutledge, CEO and co-founder of Vertice AI, comes in because his company are data scientists who specialize in finding useful information in the vast data stores just about all credit unions have.
Quiz time: what’s a vertice? Don’t sweat it. Geometry wasn’t a strong suit of mine. Yes, vertice is a term in geometry and what it is a place where two or more curves, lines, etc. meet.
What Rutledge wants to do with a credit union’s data is sift it in search of places where presently unmet member needs align with credit union offerings – it’s just that they have never connected. Vertice AI wants to help with that connecting.
Sure, we know, you’re hearing lots about AI and in past years you heard a lot about big data – but this show is different, it’s practical, hands on, definitely no need for a Carnegie Mellon or MIT degree.
Vertice AI, by the way, already has credit union customers – including one very big and very high prestige institution.
Listen up to find out what credit union already is seeing real value from Vertice AI’s work.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Three CEOs, one podcast.
Today’s guests are Todd Adams, CEO of Alloya Corporate Federal Credit Union, Gary Swindler, CEO of Washington State Employees Credit Union, and Seth Brickman, CEO of QCash.
What’s the occasion? Alloya has bought QCash which had been a CUSO founded by WSECU which also was its only investor.
This is big news. QCash is doing fascinating work that also happens to be at the core of the credit union mission. It is putting money in the hands of members who have experienced a life event – a blown car engine, a medical bill, maybe an emergency vet bill. Lots of events pop up and a huge percentage of Americans just don’t have the cash on hand to cope. Enter QCash which can get money in a member’s hands literally in seconds.
The loan does not hinge on a FICO score. In the show Brickman explain how QCash makes a decision on a loan application – it’s sophisticated, it’s fast, but it also aims to fund as many loans as it can within the limits of financial prudence.
Adams is on the show to explain why Alloya – and you know the corporate credit union reputation as stodgy dinosaurs – entered a bidding war for QCash and moved fast enough to snare the prize. Adams tells also about the ambitious plans for Alloya which already claims around 25% of credit unions as members.
Swindler is here to offer some history of QCash and also to explain why the CUSO was spun out of WSECU.
There are three shows in the archives that explore QCash. A 2022 show with Inclusiv on its deal with QCash.
A 2022 show with Brickman on his plans for QCash.
And a 2019 show with Ben Morales, a prior CEO of QCash.
If you find the introductory first minute or two confusing, know that you will find the explanatory info you need in the 2022 Brickman podcast.
This is a lively show – and pay attention fintech founders because QCash had multiple suitors vying for a wedding.
Listen up.
Ask Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union on Long Island. How SERPs – supplemental executive retirement plans – figure into credit union strategic thinking and he comes back with a blunt answer: Talent retention.
Face this reality: today credit unions are at war but this is a war with multiple enemies – big banks, community banks, other credit unions, non banks, you name it. Many kinds of institutions want to hoover up your members’ money and nowadays it is the better institutions that are winning.
Why are they winning? In most cases it’s simply that they have and retain better talent.
Serps play a key role in that. Yes, they reward executives financially when they retire, but – structured properly – they also help keep those executives at the institution. And that latter bit – retention – is not easy in a world where suddenly lots of institutions want to poach your best talent.
Consider this podcast a must listen for credit union board members, also credit union c-suiters, and, definitely, also credit union execs who aspire to a seat in the c-suite.
SERPs are often misunderstood on multiple levels. In these shows Kordeleski gives the true skinny about SERPs.
Listen up.
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2023 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1993 comp plans, even 2013 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
It’s not news that today’s members - unlike yesteryear’s - want to communicate with their financial institution on their own terms and that means how and when they want to. Even though it is midnight Saturday.
Enter Agent IQ a digital platform that let’s members communicate with their FI via web chat, mobile messaging, video chat, SMS messaging and more. There’s even a co-browsing feature that lets an anxious member invite a credit union expert to look at his/her screen to insure that, say, a form is filled out correctly.
A powerful feature of Agent IQ is that it allows a member to designate a specific credit union employee as their primary contact - just as many members historically have had a preferred teller.
Sound great, you may be thinking, but surely this technology is limited to the behemoth institutions.
Nope.
On the show today is Soren Bested, COO at Agent IQ, and the credit union customer is Pinal County Federal Credit Union - with assets around $280 million. Vice present Tiffany Tipton tells how and why Pinal decided to offer Agent IQ to its members.
It’s a good story that proves the little guys can run with the big guys.
Listen up.
CU 2.0 Quo Vadis?
Where are you going?
It’s about seven years since Kirk Drake founded CU 2.0 which was rooted in the realization that getting smarter about tech was a necessary step in the survival of the credit union industry. So Drake built a company that helps fintechs figure out how to effectively work with credit unions and helps credit unions figure out how to work with fintechs.
A lot of productive good – for credit unions and fintechs alike – has come out of CU 2.0 in its first seven years.
What do the years ahead look like?
In this show Drake talks about how he is designing the future of CU 2.0. He also talks about how his work with CUSO Painted Hills and also Quilo fit into his CU 2.0 efforts.
By any measure Drake is one of the credit union world’s most energetic innovators. He’s also a realist. For credit unions the reality is that now is time to innovate – that means new, better tech – or perish. He is putting his energy into helping credit unions find the path to prosperity.
It’s a good show.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Small is beautiful.
That’s the title of a collection of essays by economist E. F. Schumacher but it might as well be the title of a new Filene research report that explores how small credit unions can thrive.
You’re right, mathematically it seems there’s a drip drip drip of small credit union deaths but listen to Taylor Nelms, senior director of research at Filene, and he claims that there is plenty of research evidence to suggest that many credit unions are certifiably healthy.
In this show Nelms offers the details and he dazzles with surprising factoids. Did you know that the first mobile remote deposit occurred at a small credit union? Did you know there’s a small credit union that accepts an Alaska fishing license as an ID?
I sure didn’t know these factoids.
Which brings us back to Schumacher’s book which is something of an attack on the idea that bigger is just better.
Flash over to Nelms who tells us that small often can mean more nimble, faster, more in tune with a specific community.
In this podcast we come not to bury small credit unions but to praise them - and understand they are the faces of the credit union movement.
This show will put a smile on their faces - but also on the faces of all who hope for the best for the credit union movement.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Sixteen fintechs suited up for the fray. Just one could win.
Welcome to CU2.0’s Fintech Madness, Las Vegas style in the days leading up to the NCAA’s basketball tourney and you know which team won there. Say Jersey City, say it loud, Danny Hurley and his UConn team.
But back to Fintech Madness. The competitors were all stars, many have been on the CU2.0 Podcast. Competitors went through four grueling rounds –
Best elevator pitch
Biggest expected impact
Easiest to implement
Most likely partner
So who won? Meet Rhian Horgan, founder and CEO of Silvur, where the slogan tells the message: Retirement Simplified.
The big brainstorm here is two fold. Credit unions have lots of members nearing retirement and as they get there they have to make some very hard decisions regarding both finances and healthcare, Social Security and Medicare. What they need is a trusted and trustworthy advisor to help them through this maze.
Enter the credit union and Silvur, a smart tool that helps a member make the right choices. It’s the right product at the right time.
But – tip – any fintech needs to listen to this show multiple times. Horgan is an all-star on the pitching circuit and in her performance on this show you find out why.
Incidentally, Silvur’s first credit union customer was InTouch, helmed by Kent Lugrand, a past CU2.0 Podcast guest. His is a great personal story. You have to hear it.
Listen up – to Horgan and Lugrand.
Go – right now – to this CU Times story about a new, bold marketing campaign from San Francisco Fire Credit Union, a $1.7 billion institution. This is unlike anything else you have ever seen from a credit union – promised.
On the show today is Josephine Chew, who tells how SF Fire came up with the campaign and why.
The why ought to be obvious. For many – especially wealthier – members a credit union account is a side bank relationship. And that’s OK. The credit union has a very real possibility of expanding that relationship.
Along the way she talks about the creation of the ad campaign, the metrics that show its success and more.
In this show Chew also muses about the differences between a credit union and a mega bank and she knows the latter because she came to SF Fire after a lengthy stint at Wells Fargo where she finished as an SVP.
Before that she put in time at Schwab.
She knows what it is like to work at a big institution.
And now she Is feeling her way at a big credit union that nonetheless is tiny compared to a mega bank.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Tom Barkley has a job you probably have never heard of. At TruStone Financial Credit Union he is VP, Solutions Architecture.
What’s that mean? Listen to the podcast. He explains in detail.
I wanted Barkley to guest on the podcast precisely because (a) I had never heard of this title; and (b) as I thought about it I realized that more credit unions need a person in this role as they sort through a staggering array of tech options…but are the solutions they bring what the business units of the credit union need? Does anyone at the credit union need them?
Barkley’s boss at TruStone is the CTO, Gary Jeter, whom you heard in a podcast last year. That show was taped at the inaugural CU 2.0 VIP Live event in Austin Texas.
In Barkley’s show you will also hear his discussion of why he went to Trinity College Dublin for his undergraduate education and how a Trinity history major migrated into technology.
But you will hear, too, what he is getting out of CU 2.0 VIP Live, a very different kind of credit union – fintech event.
Listen up.
Retirement, face it, is a hugely complex issue and that is why we are fortunate to have Kirk Kordeleski on the show. He’s the former Bethpage Federal Credit Union CEO and now an executive with OM Financial Group which specializes in c-suite retirement plans.
Kordeleski knows SERPs and in this show he tells about the issues facing executives - and their boards - when they want to cash in a SERP early, for health reasons, maybe, or because they want to move onto another job. Issues are complex. Kordeleski unravels them.
In this episode Kordeleski also muses on the conversations CEOs need to have with their direct report about their ambitions - especially when their ambitions likely won’t be met. This is great stuff, it’s inside the mind of a longtime CEO.
Listen up.
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2023 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1993 comp plans, even 2013 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here. Episode 9 is here.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
If you weren’t there, you weren’t there - but this year’s CU2.0 VIP Live in Boulder was three nights and two days of the unexpected, the unimagined, and a whole lot of interchange and learning among credit union and fintech execs.
Over the next week I will be uploading five podcasts where VIP attendees share what’s on their minds.
In this fourth podcast you will hear from Anne Legg who will tell you all you need to know about your data but what you’ve been afraid to ask.
I get it. Data to many credit union executives is just another four letter word. That’s because many institutions have poured lots of money into lots of data initiatives over the past decade and they have bupkis to show for it.
Legg doesn’t dispute that, not at all, Her spin is that data often is approached in the wrong way, with the wrong strategic objectives in mind.
Even better news is that in this show you will hear the word hadoop only once or twice and I think I’m the one who says it.
No need to grab your propeller hat before listening to this show. It’s down to earth and practical - and there are valuable nuggets for both big credit unions and little ones.
Listen up.
If you weren’t there, you weren’t there - but this year’s CU2.0 VIP Live in Boulder was three nights and two days of the unexpected, the unimagined, and a whole lot of interchange and learning among credit union and fintech execs.
Over the next week I will be uploading five podcasts where VIP attendees share what’s on their minds.
In this third podcast you will hear from Saroop Bharwani, CEO of Senso.ai, who will tell you what you need to know about ChatGPT and similar tools from Google and Microsoft. Right now this species of AI is on every lip and the question is do credit unions need to know about this - the answer is yes, definitely.
The next question is what should your follow up steps be? Bharwani tells us.
This is not a deep dive into the underlying technology. What it is is a high level discussion about why - really - to stay competitive your credit union needs to be moving now to embrace this AI because it will change how work gets done in fundamental ways.
The train is leaving the station. It;s time to hop aboard.
On a personal note your podcast host got an invitation from Google to test its AI tool, Bard, and of course I took it. I’ve had it write a short Seinfeld script, a press release, and lots more. This stuff is cool.
Get Bard, or sign up for ChatGPT, or the Microsoft tool.
Listen up.
If you weren’t there, you weren’t there - but this year’s CU2.0 VIP Live in Boulder was three nights and two days of the unexpected, the unimagined, and a whole lot of interchange and learning among credit union and fintech execs.
Over the next week I will be uploading five podcasts where VIP attendees share what’s on their minds.
Yes, there is background, ambient noise. Tune it out.
In this second podcast you will hear from Mart Vos, founder of Eko, a hybrid robo advisor with the wrinkle of allowing the account holder also to personally select stocks to add to his/her portfolio. Eko is integrated into the credit union’s app and is white labeled. The member believes he/she is dealing with his/her credit union - and in fundamental ways they are.
Vos’s sales pitch to credit unions is that Eko will stop some of the outflow of deposits into third party investment apps.
Eko also is free to the credit union. The enrolled member pays a small surcharge to use the system. A credit union may also select to impose its own fee on top.
In this show Vos also muses about raising capital for a startup, hurdles in selling to credit unions, and more.
Listen up.
If you weren’t there, you weren’t there - but this year’s CU2.0 VIP Live in Boulder was three nights and two days of the unexpected, the unimagined, and a whole lot of interchange and learning among credit union and fintech execs.
Over the next week I will be uploading five podcasts where VIP attendees share what’s on their minds.
Yes, there is background, ambient noise. Tune it out.
In this first podcast, Paul Fiore - known as the founder of Digital Insight and CU Wallet - along with Sean Hsieh, founder and CEO of Concreit tell about Hseih’s app that will enable owning fractional shares in rental real estate. So, yes, the spelling of the company’s name is right.
Why such an app? Fiore explains that credit unions are seeing a huge outflow of deposits - mainly into investment vehicles that aren’t widely available at credit unions such as crypto, fractional real estate, robo stock trading. He believes that for credit unions to compete they have to get with the program.
Concreit is a case in point.
In a future show from VIP Live you’ll hear about a digital investment play now offered to credit ions.
Listen up.
You don’t know Coviance - but you do know LenderClose and its founder Omar Jordan.
And now you know LenderClose has changed its name to Coviance.
Why? In the show Jordan tells why and he also talks a bit about what was involved in the name change.
Coviance is all about efficient processing which, generally, translate into faster lending decisions.
Looking forward Jordan is optimistic about the prospects for home equity loans and credit union marketshare.
Especially when borrowers get the faster decisioning that is integral to the Coviance approach.
Face facts: many credit unions are very, very slow in processing loan apps. Jordan explains why you don’t have to be and he also talks about business lost when processing speed lags.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Ask Affinity Federal Credit Union in New Jersey how it recently came up with over $50 million - in cash - to fund branch expansion.
Or maybe ask Wescom Central Credit Union in Pasadena, CA where it came up with $59 million in cash.
The answer is the same for both: they sold their headquarters building.
But that didn’t leave them homeless.
They both leased back their HQ in a transaction that has become increasingly common in for profit America. Called a sale leaseback it typically puts many millions of ready cash in the hands of the sellers who in turn sign leases in their buildings that typically run 20 or more years.
Details on both transactions are in this CuTimes story.
Clicking around I found this CuTimes story by Ed Lopes and Steve Eimert which offered up the nitty gritty of sale leasebacks. Their company is CU Real Estate Solutions.
So we got them on the podcast to offer the details of a transaction that remains rare among credit unions - but which many might want to look more closely at as opportunities for CUSO investments, loan participations and more multiply.
Here’s the fundamental logic of the deal. A credit union knows about financial services but is it truly expert at commercial real estate? Could it make more of a return taking the capital that is tied up in its real estate - headquarters buildings, branches, perhaps still more - putting that money to work in new loans, in CUSO investments, etc.
True enough, credit unions have been slow to plunge into this, but many other kinds of companies have turned this into a multi billion dollar marketplace. Here’s a link to one source on the size of the US market and it is huge.
You want to learn about sale leaseback.
Listen up
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Arlington Community Federal Credit Union - headquartered in Arlington VA and with assets just shy of $500 million - thought it had its growth plan set. It would merge with $246 million First Federal Credit Union (headquartered in adjacent Alexandria VA). But then the First Federal members rejected the plan.
So we invited David Martinez, CIO at Arlington Community, on the show to address a fundamental question: is there life for a $500 million institution?
Sure, the vast majority of credit unions are smaller than Arlington Community - but increasingly experts say that the minimum viable size for a credit union is $1 billion.
Spoiler alert: Martinez is here to tell why he believes Arlington Community has a bright future and it starts with knowing the community and serving that community.
Yes, that is the historic credit union success formula but listen to Martinez and he tells that it still is the way to success.
It’s an upbeat show.
Martinez also talks about being CIO at a credit union Arlington Community’s size. Yes, an institution that size just about always will be on the buy side of the build or buy question when it comes to tech but Martinez is convinced his institution has the tech it needs to satisfy members’ needs. Does it have the latest and glitziest - an AI chatbot for instance? It does not - although Martinez admits he has his eye on some possibilities involving non fungible tokens (NFTs) but probably that implementation will be delayed for some time. His point is that an institution can satisfy its members with good, reliable tech that does the job that members really need and want. It’s a good reminder to deliver the basics and do them well.
How is tech recruiting going at Arlington Community? There, Martinez has good news. Reports had been that credit unions were finding tech recruiting to be a tough slog but not at Arlington Community, not now.
If yours is a smaller credit union - anything under $1 billion - be sure to tune in for what will be a feel good show. Martinez is realistic but he also is optimistic.
Listen up..
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Shazam, watch a $10 gift card - maybe one issued by retail goliath Amazon or perhaps WalMart - transform into a $13 gift card.
Can’t happen? Everybody knows alchemy is a hoax?
Meet Prizeout, an ad tech company that says it has the formula for valuing up gift cards when they hit a consumer’s hand.
On the show today is David Metz, CEO of Prizeout who offers the details of how Prizeout works its magic.
Also on the show is Darlene Johnson, an EVP with Suncoast Credit Union, a Florida behemoth with over $16 billion in assets. She is a Prizeout evangelist who sees Prizeout as a key tool in her credit union’s member acquisition strategies.
Suncoast also is one of nine credit unions that have formed a CUSO to bring Prizeout to more credit unions. Other founding credit unions of the CUSO include Interra Credit Union, MSU Federal Credit Union, Patelco Credit Union, Stanford Federal Credit Union, Credit Human, Langley Federal Credit Union, University Credit Union and Collins Community Credit Union.
Look, I get it, it’s hard to believe an Internet pitch that says in effect we’ll take your $10 gift card and make it worth $13 - and you’ll be able to use it at leading retailers and, importantly, also at local merchants in participating credit unions’ geography.
But give Johnson and Metz a listen and they very well make you a believer.
Know too that the Prizeout CUSO is very much in search of credit union customers, no investment required.
Listen up.
Talk about Hatfields vs. McCoys. In the world of credit union c-suite retirement planning there are two major competing scenarios. There are SERPs based on whole life policies. And there are IULs, indexed universal life plans.
In this intro I am not going to tell you the difference. That’s because this is a complex topic and on the show is Kirk Kordeleski onetime Bethpage Federal Credit Union CEO and now an executive with OM Financial Group which specializes in c-suite retirement plans.
Kordeleski knows SERPs and he tells the fundamental differences between whole life SERPs and IULs and know that the differences can be substantial.
Are you already in a SERP or an IUL? Key advice from Kordeleski is to get an annual review of where you stand now. With credit union c suite salaries climbing and inflation roaring, where you really stand may not be where you had hoped to be. Get that review and get it soon. There probably still is time to take remedial steps to get your retirement back on course.
As you listen, keep in mind, a key question in your retirement planning is what is your risk tolerance? And what will it be when you are 65? 75? 85? And know that we are living longer. More years have to be factored in.
Listen up.
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2023 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1993 comp plans, even 2013 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
Financial wellness + millennials and Gen Z = a huge opportunity for credit unions.
At least for the credit unions that approach wellness for that age cohort with the right tone of voice and mindset.
That’s the core advice offered in this show by Doug Brown, president NCR Digital Banking. Before that he was at FIS and before that, in 2007, he launched Bank of America’s mobile app.
Brown brings personal experience to this discussion because he has two adult children currently living at home - and, yes, he talks finances with them and in the process has picked up insights into how best to communicate about dollars and cents to younger generations.
His advice to credit unions is to get financial wellness tools - ones especially tailored to Gen Z and Millennials - built into the mobile app. That’s what NCR is offering and the reasoning is simple. Those age groups use phones throughout their waking hours. They are accustomed to notifications via the phone and they read them.
Aren’t a lot of them drowning in student debt? Brown offers insights into this issue and he also discussed how credit unions can help show a way out of this indebtedness. It may take time, it will take a plan, but there are ways out.
A bottomline message of this show is don’t give up on bringing in younger members. It may seem hard. But young members are the future.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to Part 2 of the CU 2.0 dialogue on the NCUA’s proposed rule changes pertaining to loan participation and related topics.
The part 1 podcast featured Kirk Drake, wearing his Quilo hat, and Boris, a Quilo co-founder. There’s a link to that show in the notes.
Here’s a link to NCUA’s lengthy proposed rule changes.
That same link includes a box for submitting comments. As you will hear in this new show - round 2 - both Kirk Drake and Brian Lauer, a Pennsylvania lawyer who also is attorney for NACUSO, the trade association for many CUSOs.
Lauer has prepared draft comments on the rule - there’s a link in the show notes. Use this as a starter for your own comments and get them in by February 28.
These rules - to repeat - are intended to bring about substantial changes in the credit union world’s loan participations. Very possibly big winners will be small and medium sized credit unions. Fintechs, too, may come out way ahead.
Are there things to worry about in the proposal? Aren’t there always? But to get the full skinny
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You probably have heard about CuneXus, the CUNA Mutual company that helps a credit union sort through its members and determine which offers - car loans, personal loans, credit cards and more - this member is eligible for without filling out a loan application.
Read the last six words again: without filling out a loan application.
Think about it: most credit unions already have all the data they need on hand to approve or deny a member’s request for credit. So why not tell the member what he/she is eligible for?
It works. Your CU 2.0 Podcast host personally received a letter from his principal credit union that told me I was eligible for a bunch of things including a credit card. It occurred to me I had no credit card with the institution so why not? Basically I said I’d take it and, whoosh, it arrived.
On my desk now is another letter from that CU offering me my choice of a car loan, a personal loan, a checking line of credit, or an auto refinance deal.
See how this works?
A couple hundred credit unions are CuneXus users and they are because this is a way to make members more profitable to the credit union while also giving members friction free access to new credit tools.
Enter Union Credit, a new Santa Rosa, CA based fintech with the plan to build upon what CuneXus does by extending the same kinds of credit offers to non members of the credit union.
This is all about member acquisition, said Dave Buerger, a co-founder of CuneXus and now CEO of Union Credit.
Buerger is on the show today along with Barry Kirby, also a CuneXus alum and now a co-founder of Union Credit.
Right now Union Credit is available only to CuneXus customers (and CUNA Mutual is also an investor in Union Credit). That means setup of Union Credit at a credit union will be a breeze.
Face it: filling out a loan application is a hassle. Who wouldn’t cheer a program that ditches the loan app and says, which product do you want? You are pre approved. For real.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Just when you start to think that things are settling down in credit union land - talk of recession is vanishing, inflation seems to be getting tamed, most experts expect a healthy uptick in mortgages come Spring and even new car sales are growing - here is Henry Meier, onetime general counsel of the New York Credit Union Association with what he believes are big threats to credit unions that many executives just are overlooking.
Spoiler alert: Meier is right.
He outlined his concerns in a 10 point manifesto in Credit Union Times - link in the show notes - but in this show we will drill into what I see as the really worrisome four. What are they?
- Lawyers have their eyes on your website and although there have been some suits, brace yourself for more - and more that are better crafted which means they just may win favor from judges. The industry pay out bigtime to settle ADA suits with respect to ATMs. Could we be in for a replay with websites? Meier offers thoughtful comment, some that will worry you and some that may reassure. By the way, know reasonably easy fixes are already on hand.
- Members are howling about what they view as fraudulent losses incurred by transactions run through their Zelle, or maybe Venmo, account. This already is getting some press notice. Expect more because often these are not nickel and dime losses; big bucks frequently are involved. Your institution better get ready, now, to cope with this. Problems probably are coming at you.
- Do you know where your data are - and who is profiting from them? Another recent Credit Union Times story - link in the show notes - documents how a Navy Federal employee employee apparently pilfered member PII and sold it on the dark web. Kudos to Navy Fed - it looks to have handled the investigation itself. But how many other credit unions can match Navy’s brains, muscle and money? In this show Meier relates how credit unions have to own and protect their data - but the job gets ever harder. Is it become too hard for most credit unions to handle?
- Loan participation is a massively hot topic in 2023. And now NCUA is indicating it wants to help steer these activities. Good idea or bad? Necessary or a waste of time? Meier has nuanced thoughts on this. He definitely sees loan participation as important, especially for small and mid-sized credit unions. But do they need a steering hand of the NCUA?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The big news out of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is that the agency has proposed significant changes to its regulation regarding loan participation - and all the details are available to be read in the Federal Register. There’s a link in the show notes and that same link takes you to where NCUA offers guidelines for submitting comments on the proposal.
Understand, the language of the proposal is murky - it’s written in inside the Beltway lawyerese.
That’s why we asked Kirk Drake, founder of CU2.0 and also chief revenue officer at Quilo, an innovative loan syndication platform, to tell what the NCUA is trying to do here.
Joining him is Quilo co-founder Boris Fuzayloff, a veteran payments pioneer.
The bottomline: the NCUA seems to be trying to update its regs to reflect today’s digital payments world, a place where it suddenly has become easy to put loans out for syndication. What used to take a dozen phone calls now takes a few mouse clicks and this is all very good news for credit unions.,
Just maybe particularly for smaller ones that want to spread risk on a big loan to a member or maybe the institution wants to take small pieces of a big loan that another credit union has up for participation in order to diversify its revenue stream.
Keep that in mind: the chief beneficiaries of the NCUA revisions just may be small credit unions.
For another perspective on the NCUA and the participation revisions listen to this podcast with Henry Meier, onetime general counsel of the New York Credit Union Association.
Hear more on Quilo in this podcast from earlier this year with Quilo co-founder Don Shafer.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Ignite and preserve. Right there is the motto of rkGoBig, a CUSO with a singular focus: helping smaller credit unions survive and indeed prosper.
That seems a Sysephean task?
Peter Barnard. CEO of CUSO rkGoBig, firmly believes that cooperation among credit unions is a fast way to help more small credit unions survive.
To that end, rkGoBig offers a basket of services include a compliance toolkit - a real help when dealing with the regulator - credit cards, a shared core, card processing, shared back office processing and, well, you get the picture: rkGoBig has the tools a 21st century credit union needs to operate efficiently and effectively.
The biggest credit union presently served by rkGoBig is just shy of $400 million in assets.
Listen up to this inspiring story of helping the small survive.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Pick a number and here’s the question: over the last 11 years CEO pay in credit unions has gone up 2% per year, 5% per year, or greater than 10% per year?
Take a deep breath now.
The answer is 7.5%, said Kirk Kordleski, past CEO of Bethpage Credit Union, one of the nation’s biggest, and now a consultant specializing in retirement plans with OM Financial.
If that number rocks you, grab tight now because in this podcast Kordeleski explains why the CEO who can successfully lead your credit union in today’s hyper competitive marketplace will need that big annual raise and also why he or she is well worth the money.
The reason for both is competition. The number of CEO openings in credit unions is growing and that’s because Baby Boomers (born in the 1946 - 1964 span) are fast retiring.
There’s also just a lot more competition and a good CEO needs a range of skills. The complexity of the job just is so much greater now than it was a generation ago.
Open your checkbook wide when you are out shopping for a new CEO. It’s just not going to get any cheaper.
Know too that what a CEO is paid directly determines how much the other executives in the c-suite earn and their pay shapes how much just about everybody in the organization is paid
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2023 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1993 comp plans, even 2013 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
.
Are you helping your members succeed?
Before answering know a couple things. Banks - definitionally - are in business to benefit their shareholders.
A credit union, says Mac Thompson, founder and president of White Clay, which uses data analytics to help deliver more member successes, has as its mission member success.
But it’s the getting there that is the journey.
To do it, said Thompson, many credit unions find themselves on a cultural makeover - and that’s not always easy and rarely is fast.
Now, you might think that a podcast with a data analytics geek would be a fast jump into propellerhead thinking.
You won’t find that in this show.
But you will hear ways to consistently create more of the member successes that are the measure of a credit union.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Quick now, no Googling, what’s an ADU?
In the next half hour you will learn a lot about ADUs - which, by the way, are accessory dwelling units and recently California law has made it much easier to site an ADU on an existing homesite.
That’s good because California’s homeless crisis only worsens and one step in the right direction is more housing.
Other parts of the country - from Portland OR to Connecticut and Austin TX - also are embracing ADUs.
By the way, you surely have heard other names for ADUs. They’ve been called granny flats, casitas, in-law units, and lots more. Thy have also been part of the housing scene for many decades but what’s happening now is a regularization of the concept.
Enter Anthony Dedousis, founder and CEO of Revival Homes in Los Angeles, which he created to help more homeowners more easily fund and build ADUs on their property. Revival Homes does this in two ways. It has a vetted roster of contractors and it also wants to help homeowners get financing for their ADU project. Central to the approach to financing is that value will be based on value with the ADU in place.
Where do credit unions come in? Dedousis sees credit unions as ideal partners in putting financing packages together. ADUs, in many ways, are being promoted as a way to alleviate various social issues and that kind of concern has long been central to the credit union mindset.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Name the last big innovation in mobile banking.
No rush.
It's understandable if you are stumped because, well, there really haven't been many in the past half dozen years.
Ken Kondo, newly appointed chief innovation officer at Troy, Mich. based Maholo Banking, is on the show to tell his plan for upping innovation in mobile banking.
And he believes more innovation is critical if credit unions are to win more members from the younger demographics.
Quick now, do you know what a magic eight ball is in tech speak? Or Konami Code?
If you do, know that you will hear Kondo's take on these topics. And if you don't know, know you are going to have fun learning how such concepts just might help credit union code writers innovate more.
How about the so-called fart* feature built into Tesla cars - know about that? Kondo loves the outrageous, unexpected nature of the feature - and believes it is features like that will help credit unions create excitement for their mobile baking apps.
By now you have probably realized this is a show that it, well, different from many of the others in our catalog.
That's all the better reason to listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here.
Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
- Alas, fans of whoopie cushions and similar pranks will be disappointed to learn that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has put the kibosh on Tesla's flatulence. Explanation here.
Here’s the blunt news: the market for mergers and acquisitions involving fintechs now is very, very slow.
What’s that mean for credit unions, CUSOs, and fintechs themselves?
On the show is Martin Walker, an executive with both Next Level Ventures and Curql which puts him at the epicenter of fintech funding especially in the credit union/CUSO sphere.
A past podcast guest - link to that show in the show notes - Walker brings some very good news but not all of it is good.
The IPO market, for instance, is comatose, he says.
But he is very upbeat that there is a lot of capital available for early stage fintechs - especially ones with tools to help credit unions bring in more deposits and operate more efficiently in today’s highly competitive environment.
If you have 15 minutes, you’ll learn what you need to know about this topic.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Here’s a secret you don’t know about the CU 2.0 Podcast. Just about in every show there are some minutes of talk before the show really starts Most shows do similar. It helps get the guest comfortable and, importantly, it lets the host do a sound check to make sure all is working.
Those minutes almost always are deleted in editing.
Not in this show with Amy Travers, a regional vice president with NA Security focused on biometrics - voice - in financial services. That’s because we started by chatting about her personal background, growing up in County Donegal in the northwest of Ireland and earning degrees at the Institute of Technology in Sligo. And then…she’s in Florida where she founds a contact center company.
Understand that a good part of what her present employer does is equip contact centers to help authenticate incoming callers and to blow an alerting whistle if the caller seems fraudulent.
Travers knows that work from the inside.
Nowadays, the NA tools - which grow out of the wildly popular Dragon Naturally Speaking tools - are used in a range of applications to improve security and screening.
But a fundamental starting point is that the voice is indeed something that can be used to authenticate and almost all of us are comfortable with the procedure.
You’ll hear exactly how slick the tools have gotten - and indeed says Travers they pay for themselves at most FIs.
It’s a wide ranging talk about what’s happening right now in biometrics and voice - listen up.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here.
Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Discover software as a relationship.
That’s the tagline used by Austin TX based Tailwind which says it thrives on handling the knottiest IT problems and also that it is human based - and isn’t always so in IT.
On the show today is partner Andrew Tull who explains exactly what Tailwind means when it talks about software as a relationship and also about how Tailwind genuinely takes the people side of the business to heart.
A key point Tull makes is that one size fits all simply does not work when it comes to credit union tech. Many - most - credit unions are very individual and so are their memberships. That’s why the human part of the calculus has to come into play and it’s what Tailwind does well, says Tull.
Tull also hosts a video blog show called Humanizing Software - there’s a link in the show notes. He takes very seriously the concept that humans are involved in software and they need to be.
You don’t have to guess that he is rooting for Neo in the Matrix, do you now?
In the show we also briefly discuss People’s Credit Union’s move of much of its IT into the AWS cloud. That’s a topic explored in depth in a podcast with Sean Daly, CEO of People’s. There’s a link in the show notes. The pertinence to Tailwind, although it wasn’t involved in the People’s project, is that this kind of cloud migration is exactly the kind of project Tailwind thrives on, says Tull.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here.
Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
In the cloud. That’s is where People’s Credit Union CEO Sean Daly shifted much of the IT of the approximately $600 million in assets institution and in this podcast he tells why, how it went, and what the early benefits are.
In this show you will often hear the initials AWS - Amazon Web Services. Yep. Amazon. Aside from being a giant retailer, it is one of the biggest players in providing cloud services and tools to companies.
Daly is a big fan of AWS. He tells why in the show.
Daly also tells how to persuade a board to go into the cloud.
And how to bring employees - including existing IT staff - along on the journey.
He is very candid about difficulties suffered, lessons learned - and he also tells of the benefits to People’s and its members.
This is not a show only for propeller heads. It’s plenty down to earth.
Mention is made in the show of Arkatechture, previous guest on the show - episode 223, link in the show notes.
If you crave more details about this IT project, here’s a link to a useful NAFCU piece.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here.
Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Lucky you. You negotiated a satisfactory SERP (Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan) or maybe it was a 457F bonus package.
Just one problem: Ballooning prices in today’s economy coupled with the fast paced growth many credit unions have experienced in the past five years probably have rendered those plans as woefully too small.
Remember, the standard goal of much retirement planning is to give the retired executive an income equal to about 65% of his/her last three years’ income.
Plans that fall well shy of that mark make for unhappy retirees.
Such plans - if offered in a package to help hire new c-suite executives - will likely fall significantly short of offers from other suitors.
Are you stuck with that outdated plan? In this episode of Money Talks, Kirk Kordeleski, past CEO of Bethpage Credit Union, one of the nation’s biggest, and now a consultant specializing in retirement plans with OM Financial.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2022 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1992 comp plans, even 2012 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here.
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
You know about CRM. Now learn about CXM, a new approach to knowing and managing your members' journeys.
OvationCXM is on the show today and Vaneet Grewal, head of banking and financial services, is here to tell us about the emerging field of CXM, customer experience management.
Here's what OvationCXM says about what it does: "OvationCXM is the first platform to take your uncoordinated internal, customer and third-party interactions and turn them into exceptional journeys in the moment, start to finish. No rearchitecture required."
Understand: CXM is not CRM. CRM is what Salesforce and many more companies do. With CXM, CRM is an element in what it manages but there are many more pieces of data that go into its management of the customer's journey or, put in credit union speak, the member's journey.
This is still early days in CXM but just think about how many touch points today's member has with a credit union. In years past the touchpoint was the branch and maybe a phone. Now added into the mix are a website, a mobile app, maybe interaction with mortgage and credit card services. Possibly a car loan. There just are so many places and ways that members interact with a credit union today but who is mapping this journey?
No one in most cases.
Now the biggest banks are all in on CXM and at least some credit unions are following.
In this podcast you will hear what's involved in implementing CXM - and what the payoff is likely to be.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here.
Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Amarildo is head of Harness FI and, yes, he has a last name that you will hear him pronounce in the opening seconds of the podcast.
Here's the good news about what Amarildo - a longtime Mastercard employee turned fintech exec (and he talks about that transition) - and his team are doing at Harness giving credit unions tools that let them add new powers to old credit cards.
Such as? Harness - literally in days - created a tool that allowed participating institutions to implement a program where members could opt in to allow their credit card to donate money to be dispensed in assistance for victims of California's wild fires.
They have similar tools for hurricane and tornado relief programs.
More broadly, what Harness has are tools that let credit card issuers enable members to roundup purchases to help fund local charities - participating credit unions designate the eligible charities - and also to add gamification to further help keep users using their credit cards.
It gets better. Harness requires no core access, not even access to payments systems. Amarildo explains in the podcast how they access the information Harness needs - and he stresses that Harness houses no member card data.
Implementation at a credit union usually takes a week or two, he says.
He also said that Harness can do everything involved in rolling out Harness at an institution - including marketing - or it can pare down its involvements for a credit union that wants to take a DIY approach.
Ask yourself this? How many credit cards issued by your institution are inert bricks in members' wallets? Wouldn't you want to know about tools that just might bring those slabs of plastic back to life?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here.
Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
People are staying in their homes longer. That is fact.
One upshot is that more homeowners are planning more ambitious home renovation projects.
But many have had problems getting a loan for the full amount needed - a kitchen remodel for instance can cost upwards of $30,000.
Enter Housetable, a New York based startup that is bringing multiple new ideas to this issue. The big idea: it will lend on the after renovation value of the home. That can put significantly more money on the table to fund this project.
Housetable also will monitor the renovation as it proceeds - via its app and video - and it handles disbursements to the contractor and, of course, it checks on the updated status of the project before issuing a payment.
Housetable implements quickly at a credit union. CEO David Benizri said that it typically takes one to two months.
Benizri added that he sees Housetable working well in big credit unions but also institutions as small as $50 million. There is very little lift required on the part of the credit union to get this loan offering up and running with members.
Housetable is venture and angel funded. Benizri gives the details in the show.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here.
Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Here is where the pedal hits the metal. In this show credit union executive retirement compensation expert Kirk Kordeleski tells how the credit union senior executives can persuade their board to agree to market rate retirement plans that may well involve multiple millions of dollars for the executive team.
That's big money. It takes a smart argument to persuade. Kordeleski tells the argument and, in a bonus, he tells how he in fact convinced the board of Bethpage Credit Union to enact a market rate retirement plan for Kordeleski and other senior executives.
This is not blue sky hypothesizing. This is a genuine playbook. Kordeleski has been in these trenches - and he's here to report on what worked.
But the show isn't just for senior credit union executives. Board members too need to listen, to discover how compensation at credit unions with a strategy for success have to come together.
Listen up.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2022 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1992 comp plans, even 2012 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here.
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail
James White believes that the answer is in the data and he insists that credit unions already have plenty of data to fuel enormous leaps in member engagement. And the company where he now works -Total Expert where he is industry principal for banks and credit unions - has plenty of tools to help a credit union get with 21st century marketing techniques.
Lots of credit unions still are skittish about newstyle marketing but face reality: competitors from Bank of America to Apple to Venmo all are winning increasing shares of member business and they are doing it by unleashing contemporary marketing tools.
Case in point: do you know when a member lists his/her house for sale? You should because that is a prime moment to contact that member and explore his interest in a new mortgage. Total Expert has tools that make this easy and White tells about them.
Another case: what is your institution doing to prepare for an enormous transfer of wealth in the coming years as Baby Boomers die? Will those assets remain at your credit union when it becomes the property of heirs? White explores this in the podcast.
In one respect this is a show about big data but White never mentions Hadoop, Spark or any of the techie tools. What he talks about instead is how credit unions can put data to practical use. You don't need a propeller cap to get what he is talking about because this is a show filled with practical observations and tips that are meant to help credit unions compete.
Did we mention that some of the nation's very biggest credit unions use these Total Expert tools? But so do institutions that are much smaller.
Consider this a master class in the practical applications of big data.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here.
Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Today's credit union leadership - especially at the nation's best and biggest credit unions- is professional and deeply versed in financial services. But that wasn't always so in credit union land. This episode opens with Kirk Kordeleski - onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of the nation's biggest, and now an executive at OM Financial Group, which specializes in SERPs which are building block retirement plans for key credit union executives - giving us a history lesson on the five generations of credit union leadership. He starts way back when everybody was a volunteer and takes us to today where we now are moving into a sixth generation of post Baby Boomer leadership.
Then we take up what has become a challenge in many credit unions' budgeting: payroll in general and executive salaries and total comp in particular. What Kordeleski says boils down to this: in most cases nowadays you get what you pay for.
And today credit unions need exceptional leadership as we shift into an environment of inflation, possible recession, and where liquidity is a key but liquidity also often is hard to come by.
Remember, this is the onetime CEO of one of the nation's biggest - and most aggressive - credit unions and he is offering what amounts to free consulting insights.
Take notes, it's all good stuff.
You may not always agree with Kordeleski but you will learn from him.
Listen up.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2022 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1992 comp plans, even 2012 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here.
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Free. That's a price you don't hear for a core system - particularly not one with over 100 installations globally and with a pedigree that includes executives who played central roles in bringing the DNA core to market and that core today is integral to Fiserv's product line.
The company is Open Banking Solutions and you haven't heard of it or its core because its cloud-based core is in use in much of Latin America. Now it is coming to the US.
Also in the product mix is mobile first digital banking, an automated collections tool, and business intelligence and reporting tools.
Peter Maher, chief commercial officer, added that the company's target market are credit unions between $50 million and $500 million in asset size.
The reason? Many of those institutions are stuck using outdated cores that just don't let these credit unions keep pace with market needs.
He insisted the Open Banking Solutions' product suite is exactly the fix those credit unions need.
Keep in mind, too, that these tools - developed in Latin American markets - are effortlessly bilingual, Spanish and English.
And now the company is looking for a credit union or two to pilot the debut of the core in the US market. Maher tells what they are looking for in the podcast.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here.
Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
There's gold in them there hills.
That used to be the rallying cry for miners especially in the Southwest and California but listen closely in CU c-suites today and you may here a new cry: There's gold in our data.
Wait, you may be shouting. Didn't all those big data projects at credit unions a decade ago fizzle out? Well, maybe not all...but a lot did.
Today however is very different. There is a lot more data from a lot more sources. And there also is exponentially more computing power and tools for crunching that data.
Meet Jamie Jackson, CEO and founder of Arkatechture, a CUSO with a data analytics focus.
Here's what Arkatechture does: It "helps credit unions streamline the collection, cleansing, analysis, and sharing of data for the purposes of operational excellence, business intelligence and predictive analytics."
Should you close that branch? Should you shut down car refinancing? What will be the impacts of rising interest rates on your HELOC business? And how many members will you lose over the next few years?
You could guess at the answers. Or you could run the numbers and come up with data supported positions.
Arkatechture is in the business of helping credit unions use numbers and data in their decision-making. Along the way in this podcast Jackson talks about making better use of data to personalize member offers and even dazzling ideas such as perhaps monetizing the data you have.
Do we mean there might be a revenue stream lurking in your data? Exactly.
Jackson also talks about why the company went the CUSO route.
It's a provocative podcast
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The stark reality is that as interest rates edge up - and already in much of Europe inflation has climbed above 10% in the year and interest rates will follow - a fresh new look is being given credit union executive retirement plans.
It is just is exponentially harder - and more expensive - to plan retirement in a high inflation world.
Accept that funding such plans will cost more. Maybe a lot more.
But not funding it has its own costs starting with loss of executive talent and difficulty in recruiting new talent.
In this show, Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of the nation's biggest, and now an executive at OM Financial Group, which specializes in SERPs which are building block retirement plans for key credit union executives, untangles the fast changing environment for executive retirement planning and he looks at it from the viewpoint both of senior execs but also the board members who will have to authorize such plans.
No one talks about income, definitely not in the credit union world. But in this show you will here the facts.
Be prepared to be surprised.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2022 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1992 comp plans, even 2012 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here.
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
You know what we are talking about? Then you have to get to know Kris Kovacs, CEO of Constellation, a CUSO birthed to make it easy for a credit union to add the tech it wants, from AI tools to crypto to pretty much whatever you imagine because Constellation is open to adding fintech tools that its customers want.
This is a smashing of the technology walls that, for decades, have created moats around credit unions that kept them - and their members - removed from the tech they truly wanted.
Sounds like magic? It kind of is and in the show today Kovacs - himself a longtime credit union executive until he left to launch Constellation - explains exactly what Constellation does and how.
Along the way he gives a strong endorsement for going the CUSO route - he has never had investors at his door demanding quick sales now! Constellation enjoyed the time to develop the tools and services it knew credit unions wanted and needed.
Kovacs also tells why credit unions just may be a perfect customer for many fintechs and, surprise, speed of adoption is a key credit union strength when it comes to financial technology. Kovacs tells why.
If you want to regain optimism about how credit unions can beat off mega banks on the one hand and neo-banks and quasi banks on the other this too is the show for you.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Ask Jaime Marks how she sees her role in the credit union universe and her answer comes fast: cheerleader.
She is a true believer in the credit union mission and the credit union difference.
Most recently she has been a vice president at California Credit Union but along the way she has worked at CoastHills Credit Union, also Ent Credit Union.
Now buckle up for a wide ranging discussion that explores where credit unions are heading.
Central to that voyage is the credit union's culture and, quick question, in a few words what is the culture of your credit union?
Clichés don't score. Neither do hollow words. What - really - is the essence of the culture?
In this discussion she references a recent American Banker article that names the best credit unions to work for.
We also talk about State Employees Credit Union which has announced its appointment of a Chief Culture Officer.
When the nation's second biggest credit union tabs culture as critical to succeed, that's a hint that this is a topic that matters. really matters.
There's more in this show - how to succeed in business banking, a quick question to ask an REI employee, and also what life is like on the merger merry-go-round.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You may think IPA is a particular kind of craft beer but Joseariel Gomez, CEO of Shastic, is on the show today to tell all you don't know but need to know about Intelligent Process Automation. Along the way he also tells about RPA, robotic process automation.
What Shastic does is develop tools that let credit unions speed up many, many processes - everything from processing home mortgage loan applications through collections. Much that occurs in these functions is drudgery and, in many credit unions, the processes are very, very slow, manly because data is siloed and it had never been created for easy sharing across internal credit union functions.
What benefit does Shastic provide its credit union customers? Gomez did not hesitate in offering his one word answer: Speed.
Face it, we are in a now culture. Consumers want answers now, not tomorrow. Tomorrow often is too late. Members grow dissatisfied. Speed has become a crucial business tool.
Credit unions frankly often lag at speed. It's not a core skill.
Shastic's tools just may be the answer.
Shastic's tools also are a plus in today's environment where employees can be hard to find. But what if cloud based automation can do a lot of that work?
The big surprise is how affordable Shastic's services are.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Cars are more expensive than ever. New cars are hard to find in a marketplace ravaged by supply chain bottlenecks. Consumers are keeping their cars for ever longer terms.
Add that up and one conclusion is that the new car financing marketplace is slowing.
But another conclusion is that there just may be an emerging market opportunity in car refinancing.
It's a relatively new finance play. Many, many credit unions still aren't doing it. In this show, Todd Anderson, VP of lending at LendingArts, tells about the benefits, for credit unions and their members alike, in offering car refinancing.
He also tells how LendingArts may help bring new members into a credit union via an auto refinance loan.
Anderson, himself a longtime credit union employee before joining LendingArts, understands how credit unions think - and he talks us through how and why car refinancing in fact is a great tool for credit unions, especially now.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Who opens email anymore and as for phoning members, forget about it.
Diminishing returns from once mainline communication channels have many credit unions pulling their hair out in frustration.
Enter Larky. Larky delivers context appropriate push notifications from inside the credit union mobile app. It's not SMS, these are notifications in the mobile banking app.
In fact Larky itself is invisible to the member.
What kinds of notifications are available? They are customized by and for the credit union. It might be info about auto loans if a member is inside a car dealership. Or it might be a 5% discount on Culver ice cream or burgers in Grand Rapids MI when a member uses an MSUFCU Visa card to make the purchase.
Tap rates, as you will hear in the show, are staggeringly high.
On the show to offer the details about Larky are CEO Gregg Hammerman and Ami Iceman Haueter, Chief Research and Digital Experience Officer at MSU Federal Credit Union.
Incidentally, Larky is another company where Tom Shen is a board member. If you haven't heard his podcast there's a link in the show notes.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
This is a different kind of podcast. Unlike just about any other in the series.
It started normally enough. An email came in from a PR person offering Kent Lugrand, CEO of the $1 billion InTouch Credit Union in Texas, as a guest to discuss the institution's high yield checking account which provides members a way to earn up to 4% interest on deposits if they put $2500 per month on their debit card.
Then I discovered that InTouch has made a $1 million pledge to fund food banks for the hungry and needy in DFW, Las Vegas, and Detroit, its three chief regions. Money to fund this comes from a share of revenues generated by credit and debit card usage and also new loans.
The combination of food for the hungry and more interest for members seemed interesting and relevant enough to warrant inviting Lugrand to guest.
But we get a whole lot more than that. For instance: Lugrand started his career as a stockbroker and for some years he made the very big bucks. He had everything he wanted to buy and that was a lot of stuff because he had grown up one of nine children in a Plains state family where money was in short supply.
He still remembers when he got his first winter coat that was brand new. He tells that story in the podcast.
Did I mention that Lugrand is African American? I did not and that is because he is a man who is proud of who he is but he also is proud that he's a good family member, proud that he cares for his community, proud that he is a hard and smart worker.
He talks about him and race in the podcast too.
And why he ditched the high flying life of a stockbroker for credit unions.
Along the way we do talk about High Yield Checking.
But buckle up. This is not the ride you expect - but you definitely won't want your money back. This is a podcast you will tell many others to listen to.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The latest CUES executive compensation numbers for credit union executives are out and this explosion still reverberates across the industry. Total median executive comp in 2022 was up 14.9%.
For CEOs the total median compensation was $515,602.
Understand: those numbers are from a time when inflation was not a concern and most workers in most industries were happy to get a 2 or 3% pay hike.
Now every worker wants a big pay hike to stay even with inflation. You can bet credit union c-suiters will too.
How did this happen in the credit union c-suite? And what does it mean for credit union exec comp committees on the board and indeed for all other executives in a credit union?
On today's show to explain what's going on and to offer predictions about what this means for your pay packet is Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of the nation's biggest, and now an executive at OM Financial Group, which specializes in SERPs which are building block retirement plans for key credit union executives.
Kordeleski's firm prediction is that you ain't seen nothing yet. Credit union c suite compensation had long been a sleepy topic but now there is a war for top talent - the talent needed to compete in today's fierce financial services world - and top talent demands and deserves top money.
The credit unions that are in this to win are opening their coffers to hire the leaders they need.
Are you?
Want Kordeleski's one word summary of today's credit union compensation landscape? "Dynamic."
Who thought anyone would ever say that?
Hear it on today's show.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2022 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1992 comp plans, even 2012 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. Episode 2 is here. 1948
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
This episode was recorded at a conference. There is some background noise. Tune it out, just as you would if you were holding a conversation at that conference.
What a difference a year makes.
A year ago the typical credit union was awash in deposits - much of it coming in via stimulus money - and accordingly there was a rush to get that money back out on the streets working. that meant loans.
In mid 2022, the deposit glut is history for most credit unions.
So what happening on the lending side?
Meet Chad Heese, chief lending officer at $3.7 billion Rogue Credit Union in Oregon. He spends his days pondering how to profitably put Rogue's cash on hand to work and in this podcast he shares a range of ideas, some quite unconventional.
Heese also recounts how he got started on his career in financial services and he traces it back to a time when he called an HR person at a bank twice weekly for months before he even got an interview.
But when he did get that interview he got the job and now he has almost 20 years of service at credit unions along with a few starter years at banks. His is an intriguing job history and that's where we start the show.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Robert Johnston was a Marine and that is where he honed his skills at waging war in the cyber dimension - and you better believe that is where a lot of warfare now happens, from Russia knocking out ATMs in neighboring countries through nation state hackers targeting financial institutions, both to fuel widespread anxiety and simply to plunder others' money.
Johnston has a pedigree at this. He led the investigation into the Russian Intelligence Service breach of the Democratic National Committee in 2016 and before that he worked on the hack of the Joint Chiefs of Staff email in 2015. That is cyber war at its highest levels.
Nowadays Johnston and Adlumin, the company he co-founded and where he serves as CEO, is an active player in helping credit unions in particular bolster their cyber security and that means dealing with everything from Denial of Service Attacks (DDos) through Ransomware, which is today's flavor of the moment. Along the way Johnston also works with helping credit unions stay compliant with cybersecurity requirements set out by the regulator and they are voluminous.
It's a fast changing field and in this podcast Johnston gives a glimpse into its challenges and its excitement.
Think of this podcast's subtitle as Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Cybersecurity But Were Afraid to Ask.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Quick now, are you current on what's happening in the fast changing payments universe? Can you ace a pop quiz on the hot topics in payments such as
* Contactless payments’ role in a post-pandemic economy (Tap to Pay, Digital Wallets, etc.)
· Faster payments and key considerations for the FedNow service
· Emerging payments fraud concerns
· QR codes and alternative payment rails
· Credit card trends and the travel spending resurgence
Do you have a half hour? If you do listen up to Jason Bohrer of the US Payments Forum who gives us a quick update of the need to know headlines in today’s payments news.
Listen up
Tom Shen is a fintech OG, one of the originals who got his start in the industry 40 years ago when it was still called just financial services.
He's had glittering successes. He was EVP at Digital Insight when Intuit bought it for $1.33 billion in 2007. Earlier he founded Software Dynamics Inc. (SDI). More recently he founded mobile app developer Malauzai which was bought in 2018 by Finastra.
Now he is an active investor and a board member of five companies, including Sensibill and ZSuite, both of which have been featured on this podcast.
In this show Shen revisits his earlier days in fintech but - crucially - he spells out in detail what a fintech needs to know to work successfully with credit unions and also what a credit union executive needs to know to work successfully with fintechs.
His advice is sound, it's levelheaded and, importantly, it's rooted both in what worked in the past and what he sees working today.
Listen and you will hear pointed advice that says credit union execs today want fintech that delivers measurable and quick benefits. Talk about an 18 month build out and, guess what, that is an audience lost.
Know too that Shen was a guy who was working with credit unions literally decades before many fintech execs saw this as a good market. He tells what attracted him - and these are strengths that credit unions still have.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Ask Pablo DeFilippi, an executive with Inclusiv, the trade group for CDFI credit unions, why they did a deal with QCash, the fintech birthed to facilitate making small dollar loans quickly to credit union members, without reference to credit scores, and his answer boils down to this: It's the CDFI mission.
Members have financial needs, many turn to very high interest alternatives such as payday loans. For many of them QCash is the better option.
QCash also is automated and the process happens online. It's also fast. Decisions are made within 60 seconds.
A member has a life event - a blown car water pump, maybe it's an urgent need for dental work, or perhaps it's that eviction if the landlord doesn't get a chunk of cash. When before a credit union might have had to turn that member away, now QCash gives the member an option.
It's perfect with Inclusiv.
You may remember you heard DeFilippi on this show before. You are right. Here is his 2020 episode.
And here's a link to a 2022 show with Seth Brickman, CEO of QCash.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Your members text.
Especially your younger members but today, really, everybody texts.
That means your employees text too.
So why can't your employees text members with questions and offer them help. pointers, suggestions?
You say there would be compliance questions.
Meet Statflo, a company that specializes in one thing: compliant texting software and it also specializes in tools for credit unions.
Is it hard to get started with Statlo?
Listen to this podcast with Evan Bush, head of sales and partnerships at Staflo, who explains that in fact it is easy to get started using Statflo's tools and a credit union also gets to pick the pricing plan that works best for it. How easy is that?
A Statflo special ingredient is that its texting is done by human beings, not AI, and those human beings work in your branches, using tools and techniques developed by Statflo to get maximal results from texting.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Talk about miracles.
River City FCU in San Antonio knew it wanted to make small business loans - many of its members owned and/or worked in small businesses - and you have to know how hard it is for any small business to snare a loan. Then up the degree of difficulty if the small business is minority owned (and River City's membership is majority Hispanic).
How can those typically small loans be profitably made?
And then the miracle happened.
Compliance Systems, a provider of compliance documentation tools, realized that CDFI credit unions - community development FIs - were looking for ways to get more involved in business lending.
Along the way Hawthorn River, a developer of community banking software, hopped into the action.
So did IMM, a develop of e signature and digital transaction tools.
For Jeff Ivey, CEO of River City FCU it was put up or shut up time and he did not blink. He was all in.
The exceptional deal sweetener - Compliance Systems, IMM, and Hawthorn River agreed to donate their work, both because it simply was a wonderful thing to do but also because they now have available a tool kit that will let them put into place small business lending at many small credit unions.
This sounds like a Christmas fable? Indeed. But it is a reality and in this podcast you will hear how it came together, how it is working out, and Ivey as well as executives from the three tech companies all offer perspectives.
Here's a link to a press release with all the details.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
A machine just maybe can pick stocks better than a human - and just maybe credit unions can augment their investment services by offering a new robo-advisor service from longtime fintech Access Softek, a 36 year-old Berkeley CA based fintech that offers online and mobile banking and more to hundreds of FIs.
Now Access Softek founder and CEO Chris Doner wants to put a robo-advisor service as well as self-directed brokerage tools in the credit union investment toolkit.
The timing couldn't be better. With inflation galloping, cash in a savings account increasingly looks like a money losing proposition and, for sure, some members will be investigating shifting money out of savings accounts and into stocks - which often means shifting that cash out of the credit union and into another kind of institution.
That gets more perilous because many of those institutions already offer things that look like checking accounts.
Not only might member wallet share be lost it might come close to vanishing.
Sure, right now just a handful of credit unions offer robo-advisor services - but it's a trend that is catching on elsewhere.
Plus, many credit unions are scrambling to find new sources of fee income and robo-advisory tools plus tools for self-direct brokerage accounts may be just the ticket.
Even better, Doner's investment tools are based upon fees paid by the members who use them and those monies are split with the credit union. The pricing is very favorable to the institutions that climb aboard.
In this podcast Doner tells about his investment tools for credit unions and he also disclosed why he has never sold his company.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Now the US Congress is weighing in on credit union boards and Chris Otey, an executive with CU 2.0 but importantly for this podcast, board chair at South Bay Credit Union in California, tells what he likes about the H. R. 6889, the Credit Union Board Modernization Act, which now has ben voted out of committee and will come up for a vote in the full House.
The bill has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
CUNA has indicated support. Ditto NAFCU.
What would it do? It's narrowly focused legislation that would allow most credit union boards to meet six times annually rather than the currently mandated twelve.
That's it.
But Otey is plain that as board chair he thinks this would be a very good move. He tells why in the podcast.
Remember to tell your member of Congress and US Senators how you feel about H.R. 6889.
And, by the way, this podcast is a coming home for Otey. He was the guest in the first podcast - click here to listen. It's not exactly as big a landmark as the first Rolling Stones album but, for credit union geeks, it may rate right up there.
Listen up.
There has to be a better way. A safer way. There has to be a way to swiftly let a member re-set a password to gain entry to his/her accounts and to also defeat the account take-over criminals who specialize in seizing control of others' accounts and swiftly draining them.
Know this: the criminals who do this are an industry. They are professional. And they work fulltime at this.
Case in point: in the podcast Abrar Ahmed, CEO of Cozera Solutions, relates that criminal gangs will patiently call the same credit union, failing to win entry to the accounts they lust after but what they are doing is gathering intel. Pretty soon they know all the challenge questions and that means they also can know the answers.
A credit union needs to know how to fight back. id-go, a Cozera Solutions' tool, is one such way.
Cozera Solutions explains how it works its magic: "id-go replaces discoverable secrets like passwords and one-time passcodes with strong passwordless biometric authentication so there are no secrets for attackers to steal. To protect privacy, authentication is executed with device based biometrics that never leave the consumer's device."
In the podcast, Ahmed says that deployment of this tool to members is fast and seamless and can proceed with essentially no tech heavy lifting on the credit union's part..
The company is still in start-up mode but has already implemented its tools at four credit unions, a sector Ahmed is focused on.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Tools, not tips, that's what those with damaged credit need to get themselves on the path to credit improvement.
Right there is the guiding credo of Credit Mountain, a new CUSO that Cornerstone Foundation, the charity wing of Cornerstone League, helped birth.
Credit Mountain successfully ran a pilot with seven credit unions and now is looking to offer its app through more credit unions.
In this podcast, you will hear from two Credit Mountain founders. The first that you will hear from is Frank Santoni, chief product officer. In a recent CU Times piece he is quoted as saying, “Credit Mountain blends the member-focus of credit unions with emerging technologies to deliver a personalized credit-improvement experience."
The other voice is Nathan Pinto, CEO.
Both founders are strong in the belief that credit unions have a unique role in helping those with damaged credit heal themselves - and they believe their tool will help in that journey.
Listen up.
You are going to want to listen to this podcast twice. That's because the first time you hear it you will think, this can't be so. It can't be that easy for a credit union to connect with fintechs and have all the compliance and integration and all that complex and expensive stuff just, well, handled by this Utah based open banking company I have never heard of.
Then you will focus on this: Asa now is in a BECU sponsored fintech incubator and two things are true about BECU: it's a savvy, shrewd credit union and it knows technology. If BECU says Asa is worth a close look, count me as hunting for my spectacles.
In this podcast Asa founder and CEO Landon Glenn explains in considerable detail - but in a way friendly to non propeller heads - just how Asa works its magic act.
Note too: Glenn tells here about discounted pricing for credit unions that get in the Asa queue pronto. It really is a sweet deal for early adopters.
He also tells the benefits for the credit union - it gets to offer a wide range of cool tech to its members and that means it also can offer niche products because the integration is easy; it benefits fintechs but making it easy for them to align with credit unions; and it benefits members by letting them remain credit union members but still use and enjoy the tech they crave.
"The industry continues to grapple with how to keep up with skyrocketing demand for innovation in a safe, secure and affordable way," said Landon Glenn, CEO and founder of Asa in a press release. "With Asa’s collaborative banking model, financial institutions and fintechs are finally able to join forces, connecting customers with a marketplace of fintechs without ever having to share sensitive data or credentials. Such a model is a win for the bank, fintech and end customer. We are proud to be accepted into the BECU FinTech Incubator, and we look forward to continuing this momentum and growth."
You have to hear more?
Of course.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Here's the big, immense, mind blowing idea that is central to this podcast: a competitive credit union has to view executive compensation as a strategic initiative, really no different from putting investment money into a CUSO or rolling out a spiffy new mobile banking app.
Understand this: NCUA regulations explicitly allow this allocation of capital.
And grasp this: unless a credit union has invested in creating a first-rate leadership team it won't have the staff capabilities to make the most of its capital investments in more traditional vehicles.
With leaders it's as simple as you get what you pay for...and the results your credit union gets are determined by the leaders you have invested in.
That's the bold idea put forth by Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of the nation's biggest, and now an executive at OM Financial Group, which specializes in SERPs which are building block retirement plans for key credit union executives.
In the podcast Kordeleski offers more than his big idea. He also spells out, in some detail, the steps a credit union needs to take to keep its executive team competitive and what the coats are likely to be.
Note to board members: if you want to know what these steps will cost your institution, you will find out in this show.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2022 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1992 comp plans, even 2012 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Hear episode one in Money Talks here. It's not a prerequisite for understanding episode 2 but it does offer more insight into the credit union exec comp landscape.
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Listen up.
Steve Bone, a longtime fintech executive, has been given the big chair at Ongoing Operations - aka OGO - and now he is running the CUSO's efforts in providing credit unions with Business Continuity Planning (BCP), Disaster Recovery, Information Security and more.
Bone is just a few weeks in the job - taking over from Kirk Drake (hear his recent podcast here) -- and he is full of optimistic ideas, from leading a shift to the cloud to helping small credit unions, even $100 million institutions and smaller, get world class information security services. That last is important as cyber criminals - including many abroad working in tandem with their governments - increasingly are targeting smaller FIs because most have porous security and, as Willie Sutton said, that's where the money is.
OGO customers of course want to hear this show but so do just about all credit unions because Bone here outlines a lot of the pressing, critical IT issues credit unions face.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
You probably know Drake is also CEO of CU 2.0.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Kirk Drake spent 15+ years conceiving, building, and nurturing Ongoing Operations, a CUSO focused on disaster recovery, cloud services, and more. Now he is moving on.
He leaves OGO in good hands. The new leader there is Steve Bone, whose podcast focused on his vision for OGO posts Wednesday.
In this podcast, Drake reminisces a little about OGO, muses about the growing role of fintechs in the lives of credit unions and gets downright excited about Painted Hills, a CUSO he birthed and, definitely reads about Oregon's Painted Hills. Three credit unions - Rogue, Maps, and Carter - are already involved.
You want to hear about Painted Hills because it is intended to help solve credit union balance sheet problems that, right now, afflict many institutions.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
You probably know Drake is also CEO of CU 2.0.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Are you earning enough at a credit union?
Here's the bad news: it's not easy to figure out the right answer to that question. Information about executive pay at credit unions is not easy to come by.
Here's the worse news: If a top exec at a credit union is underpaid, very probably most of the executive staff is too - and that is an institution that will find it ever harder to compete against the growing numbers of credit unions that get it, that understand they have to pay their execs appropriately if they want to attract talent.
Also know that exec compensation is not a matter of what's in your pay packet on Friday. Today's compensation has multiple moving parts and salary is just one piece. There also are long term incentive clauses, SERPs (supplemental executive retirement plans) and still more wrinkles.
This has all gotten very complicated.
Here to demystify executive compensation is Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of the nation's biggest, and now an executive at OM Financial Group, which specializes in SERPs.
Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com
This show is the first in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled. This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2022 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1992 comp plans, even 2012 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.
Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Listen up.
You know the numbers. More credit unions are merging now and - crucially - more big credit unions are merging. I give you the marriage of $2,7 billion Capital Communications with $5.5 billion State Employees in Albany NY.
That takes your breath away.
But Peter Duffy, managing director at Piper Sandler, says in this podcast that - to paraphrase - you ain't seen nothing yet.
Size now is table stakes for survival in financial services.
Where once $100 million in assets was thought to be the scale needed for a credit union to survive, think much bigger now.
Duffy - a past guest on the podcast back in 2020 - shares his view from the field of what is happening in regard to mergers and credit unions and what to expect in a near-term future.
One takeaway: think merger and your institution. Because it just may be coming your way.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Meet Michele Dean, CEO of Suffolk Federal Credit Union on Long Island in New York and that is a $1.5 billion institution.
That makes Dean one of few female CEOs of big credit unions - and in this podcast she talks about that. She also talks about her credit union mentor, Kirk Kordeleski, who hired her when he was at Bethpage and who gave her increasing responsibilities that put her on the path to senior leadership. You know Kordesleski. He's twice been a guest on this podcast, most recently talking about creative credit union compensation strategies. Link in the show notes.
Dean gets animated in talking about what Suffolk needs to do to stay competitive in a region where three credit unions are bigger, and one of them is much bigger.
How to survive? According to Dean it will be by harnessing smart tech and she is on the hunt for just that.
Proof: your podcast host met her a few months ago at an Austin Texas conference hosted by CU 2.0 - and, she says, she already is pursuing tech projects with three fintechs she learned about there.
In the show she mentions crypto expert Joe - that is Joe Keller, a digital guru and a past guest on this show. Link to his podcast in the show notes.
And there's also a shout out for cannabis banking leader Sundie Seefried - and there's a link to her show in the show notes.
Here's a question for you: Do sharedraft accounts matter anymore? You want to hear Dean's answer.
A final thought to ponder: is Dean a harbinger of a generation shift that is radically remaking the CEO office in credit unions as Baby Boomers punch the clock for the last time? And what would that mean?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Close a Series A round and that's a sign the venture capital community believes this is a company with a definite future.
Congratulations to equipifi, which just closed a $12 million financing round.
In this podcast equipifi CEO Bryce Deeney - a December 2021 guest on the podcast in a full length show - tells why equipifi impressed VCs, what he sees as the company's future, and why credit unions need to be looking hard and now at deploying BNPL.
Yes, BNPL has recently hit some bumps in the road - I explore that in a recent CUInsight blog - but Deeney is confident that BNPL will win a place in the lending portfolio of most credit unions.
A key will be smart, savvy deployment. He talks about this.
Don't miss this podcast. You need to get BNPL on your institution's roadmap. Starting about now.
Listen up.
You know Paul Fiore. He's the co-founder of Digital Insight - a grand dad of online banking and still in use at numerous credit unions today. Fiore has been on staff at credit unions, he also was a founder of CU Wallet, an innovative attempt to create a uniquely credit union mobile payments tool.
Now Fiore is spending much of his time noodling crypto and looking for ways for credit unions to play a part.
Know this: he still very much thinks credit unions need to offer crypto solutions to members. Otherwise, some members will just take their money elsewhere.
Also know that as this show was recorded in late June 2022, Bitcoin was down about 50% from a high a few months earlier. It had lost $20,000 in value in that span!
Fiore said he is holding his crypto and he adds that the big investors in crypto whom he knows are doing likewise. It's a down cycle for many markets, not just crypto, he says.
Don't panic.
And credit unions, he insists, still need to be investigating what crypto they need to be offering their members.
Listen up.
Now it has become time to fear the unknown unknown.
That is a mantra of Amanda Cohen, the director of governance, risk and compliance products at Resolver, a developer of risk and security management software.
Consider this podcast an extension of the themes and realities brought up in last week's podcast with OGO's Tim Daugherty on BCP, Business Continuity Planning.
In this show with Cohen we are edging further into the wilderness of risk and pondering the risks that are out there but we just don't know them yet.
What hooey?
Indeed, just as talk of a pandemic was hooey in, say, December 2019. And talk of a war in middle Europe surely was ridiculous in February 2022.
And let's not even mention Hurricane Sandy, the Great Resignation and how about all those teller jobs you just can't seem to fill.
There are so many risks to contemplate nowadays and what Cohen presents is a disciplined perspective on how to come to grips with the risks you face whether you know them or not.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Just how good is your institution at digital - and do know that today digital is the financial services superhighway.
Just maybe there is no need to guess about the maturity level.
That's because Finalytics has issued a free Digital Maturity Index - download here - where many credit unions share their own grades of how they are doing in terms of setting and achieving digital goals.
An upshot: credit unions have a long way to go before claiming excellence in this.
A piece of good news: many credit unions now seem more aware of their digital shortcomings than they perhaps did 10 years ago.
A key finding in this report: 84% of respondents acknowledged that digital is key to their institutional future.
Telling about the report - and the reactions received - is Finalytics CEO Craig McLaughlin.
Listen up.
The pandemic. The Great Resignation. Oregon wild fires. Tornados in Kansas. Face facts: it is tough to know how to deal with the next disaster that comes on your scene because who knows what that will be?
This century - from Katrina to the war in Ukraine - has been a wild ride filled with the unpredictable. It has become essential for every c-suiter to live by the Boy Scout motto, Be Prepared.
But that isn't easy when there's no knowing what you need to be prepared for.
This is where Tim Daugherty enters because in this podcast he tells what a credit union needs in a business continuity plan - and he also muses about the maybe 25% that do not have a realistic plan in place.
Joining him is Shane Butcher. a CU 2.0 Podcast veteran and director of CISO Services at OGO, who offers insight into where data and hackers figure into BCP.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What a difference a few months make. Earlier this year the hot idea in CULand was BNPL, Buy Now Pay Later tools that allow a consumer to pay for an item - anything from a pizza at GoldBelly to a fancy exercise bike - over multiple months.
But now CFPB is asking BNPL players for lots of info about their practices, regulations are probably coming, and changes are afoot.
Add in sky high inflation - and its impacts on consumer wallets and also the cost of money - and suddenly, in some quarters, BNPL is just another four letter word, not to be uttered in polite company.
But let's not exaggerate. Just this week Apple announced its intent to get into BNPL.
Now are you confused? Here the unravel our confusions is Paul Davis from SRM who tells about a recently issued white paper on BNPL and its findings for credit unions.
Of particular note is that SRM sees a continuing role for BNPL but stresses that it be viewed not as a standalone but as a component of a holistic product set.
Davis also tells what a credit union needs to do in deciding where and if to deploy BNPL and he suggests that credit unions are well positioned to integrate BNPL with consumer financial education tools.
Listen up to this installment of the CU 2.0 News Flash where we give voice to credit union news.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
If you are a credit union executive you should be staying up at night chewing on this question: how do we survive in an age of relentless technology innovation and an increasing consumer acceptance of trusting their financial services to a fintech.
Tossin' and turnin'.
Guy Messick, a retired lawyer who now serves as CEO of NACUSO Business Services, is a man you want to hear.
NACUSO Business Services is a recent offshoot from NACUSO, the trade group for CUSOs and the credit unions that own and use them, and this offshoot has a specific focus which is to help credit unions and CUSOs hook up, especially CUSOs with a fintech focus.
Messick believes that CUSOs are a tool that potentially give credit unions an enormous marketplace advantage.
But he also knows that the two need a place to meet and mingle and get to know each other and each other's needs and wants. Thus the rise of NACUSO Business Services.
Its offering include a listing marketplace where many fintechs just might want to be featured.
This just might be a way to get better sleep at night.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The news is that Eltropy, which provides compliant communication tools to 300+ credit unions including text and chat, has bought POP/io, a leader in video banking which serves 100+ financial institutions.
This matters because - a stated goal of the company - is to provide community institutions the communication tools to compete with the biggest banks.
Communication with members should be a key credit union strength. And in 2022 that increasingly means digital.
Face to face is so 20th century.
In this podcast you will hear from Gene Pranger, executive chairman and founder of POP/io. If his name is familiar it might be because he founded uGenius, a company bought by NCR in 2013.
Also on the show is Ashish Garg, founder and CEO of Eltropy.
This show is the debut of the CU 2.0 News Flash where we will put voices to breaking credit union news.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Subtitle this podcast: what a fintech needs to know and do to succeed when working with credit unions.
Just maybe knowing how to do that is the special sauce that has powered Digital Onboarding - not that many years out of the DCU Fintech Innovation Center - to having 80+ customers in financial services, mainly credit unions.
And in this podcast Ted Brown, CEO of Digital Onboarding, tells where he got the idea for a company that provides tools that help credit unions turn members into raving fans who use many of the institution's tools, from direct deposit to automatic card payments.
By the way, the more such tools a member uses the stickier the relationship.
Oh...the idea that led to Digital Onboarding's core business mission came out of talks with DCU execs who shared pain points and wishes and, click, the light bulb went off in Brown's head and the company's business plan took shape.
Brown is candid in this podcast.
But so also is Deborah Colby, chief marketing officer at One Nevada Credit Union who is in the show as a one person truth squad. Spoiler alert: she is a raving fan of Brown and Digital Onboarding. If you are hoping for Shark Tank snark, you won't find it here.
What you will find is Colby's perceptive take on what a fintech needs to know to really click with a credit union. Heads up, fintech execs, if you don't catch that bit you have missed gold.
Credit union execs, listen and you will hear good ways to assess if you are in fact getting what you need from your fintechs.
The format of this show departs from our pattern. Here you will hear an intro, then we cut to a one on one with Ted Brown where Colby puts in a cameo at the end, then we go to Colby on her own telling how One Nevada works with Digital Onboarding.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
How much do you make? Is it enough?
A question for credit union boards: Are you paying your staff, especially c-suiters, enough to stay competitive in your marketplace?
We are in an era of intense competition for talent. You know how hard it has become to recruit to fill teller openings.
But do you know that a talent war is upending olden credit union beliefs about senior talent and compensation?
It is. And this will help decide what credit unions are left standing 10 years from now.
Telling us what is really going on in credit union executive compensation is Kirk Kordeleski, a onetime Bethpage CU CEO who now consults with credit unions about compensation especially SERP.
If you think that has to do with search exchange results pages you definitely need to hear this show.
That's Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans and they are emerging as a key tool in senior executive recruitment and retention at credit unions.
Kordeleski, by the way, is a past CU 2.0 Podcast guest - episode 46 in Season 1.
Kordeleski did this show from a quarantine hotel in Amsterdam after failing the Covid test required for passengers entering the US. He is in a remarkably good mood and that may be a clue that this is indeed a guy who can help you untangle your institution's antiquated comp practices.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What happens when you throw a bunch of ex-Googlers into an office in San Mateo California?
Enter Upstart, a new breed lending company that helps financial institutions - credit unions very much included - make more, better unsecured loans and also do auto refinancing.
Upstart comes at lending with a focus on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and doing a lot of data crunching. Using Upstart's analytics an institution approves a higher percentage of loans - but also enjoys a lower default rate.
How can that be? According to Jeff Keltner, who heads business development at Upstart and is himself an ex Googler, lots of models plain look at the wrong data when making credit decisions.
Upstart has a page full of dazzling stats about how its models perform versus traditional lending models. Check it out.
20+ years ago I interviewed the Google founders for MIT's Technology Review magazine. Here's that story.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Tell me: do you have a VP of digital assets?
Didn't think so.
What exactly would such a position do?
Good question.
That's why you want to pay close attention to this podcast with Joe Keller whose title - drumroll please - is vice president of digital assets at Visions, a $6 billion credit union in upstate New York.
Right, Endicott, New York. Not Cambridge Mass or San Jose Ca.
Endicott. Which is pretty near Binghamton if that helps place it.
Keller, whose background involved big banks, consulting firms, and startups, might have seemed an unlikely credit union hire.
Keller was brought in by Visions CEO Ty Muse.
You'll hear Keller's first reaction to the suggestion - then discover what persuaded him that in fact this was exactly the job he wanted and why getting this right at a credit union genuinely matters.
Incidentally this show is about way more than Bitcoin. Lots more. We are deep into an embrace of digital assets and the institutions that get that now will have a head start.
Keller tells how he plans to help Visions get its head start.
And he also tells what he thinks a credit union's first steps into digital assets should look like.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
How good a manager are you?
Be honest now. Do you have a systematic way of measuring how effectively you are leading? Or is it all seat of the pants guesswork and, well, we have to be doing okay because the lights are still on?
Let's be honest. A lot of credit unions are going out of business in the next decade. A lot.
Right now there is a flood of fintechs into the credit union orbit and many come with promises and promise - but a lot of them won't be open in five years.
Ineffective management and leadership will figure into many of these demises.
Enter Julie Markee. She is a professional implementer - you haven't heard that title before, have you - with EOS, a company that teaches what it calls an entrepreneurial operating system (this EOS).
In this podcast Markee - who has worked with a number of companies in the credit union orbit - offers up a fast view of EOS' thinking and processes,
Case in point: are your executive meetings a productive use of time - or do you leave the room thinking why the heck am I spending so much time on this? EOS has a fast approach to meetings that will up effectiveness. You want to hear that.
Do you have the right people in the right seats? That's a core EOS principle and when it's not in place that organization will struggle to succeed. Find out how to get the right people in the right seats in this show.
Along the way, Markee promises links to tools you may find useful. Here they are:
How to run a Level 10 Meeting:
https://www.eosworldwide.com/level-10
Link to miscellaneous EOS resources
https://www.eosworldwide.com/eos-tools
This is a content rich show. Think about what she says. Think and learn.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Seth Brickman's career includes the US Navy (remember Top Gun? That was his motivator). Then he landed at Microsoft, he co-founded a startup Nicolette which builds tools to help parents make informed decisions about their baby's health, then he was at Amazon where he earned a patent involving Alexa and the content delivered to its screen.
Now he is at QCash, a CUSO created by Washington State Employees Credit Union (hear CU 2.0 Podcast #56 with past QCash CEO Ben Morales).
Why QCash? In the podcast Brickman tells why but the short version is that he had reached a point in his life where he wanted to do a lot of good and he joined QCash because it seemed to him to be the vehicle that could make that happen.
Listen to this section of the podcast multiple times. Take notes. You want to get highly talented techies into your organization. Brickman tells how.
At QCash, his dreams are big. The CUSO presently serves 50 credit unions. His goal is to double that number by year end.
Partly it's that Brickman has tweaked QCash's product messaging. It no longer refers to itself as an alternative to payday lending. Now it's about helping members through what QCash calls life events.
Don't think QCash is abandoning the people it was created to help. It isn't. The QCash focus remains making loans - oftentimes to individuals who might not qualify for traditional lending products - to help members deal with life events, from a blown car transmission to false teeth.
What's exciting about QCash is that its loans do not involve a traditional application. It connects to the core and that gives it ample insight into this member who wants a loan.
Brickman also is expanding the QCash toolbox - for instance there now is an emergency response loan that will let a participating credit initiate lending to community members after a natural disaster - an earthquake, fire, even Covid-19 - literally within minutes of the event. How cool is that? The credit union can legitimately call itself a financial first responder.
What could be more in the credit union spirit than that?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Buckle up, this will be a bumpy ride.
That's because today's guest, Barb Lowman, president of CUNA Strategic Services has a huge portfolio of responsibilities - and she need to succeed to keep the credit union sector thriving.
We are in existential times. Break out your Kierkegaard because, honestly, the future of thousands of small and even mid sized credit unions does not look bright as pressures grow in technology, in regulation, in compliance and you know the lengthening list of issues that credit union CEOs wrestle with.
Lowman's job as CUNA Strategic Services is to find ways to give credit unions competitive edges and she is looking hard at technology. For instance: how can small credit unions have good, contemporary core systems? We talk about exactly that issue.
We talk a lot more tech too - but know we also talk executive compensation and board recruitment and those are issues that smaller credit unions in particular fight with.
Can you guess the typical CEO retirement package at a small credit union? Listen: Lowman tells us.
And when you hear it you will know why many credit unions struggle to survive when a long serving CEO retires.
Lowman is a lifelong optimist. This is a cheery podcast.
So smile.
And listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You know the numbers. In just the first three quarters of 2021 the NCUA approved 117 mergers and there will be more this year. In the mix is an ever growing number of credit union acquisitions of banks.
Here's the million dollar question: post merger how many members (or bank customers) will flee to a new institution. If you are going to have to learn how to deal with a new institution, why not make it a completely new institution?
Hmm.
Then I saw an article by Glia CEO Dan Michaeli in Credit Union Times that put out an entrancing thesis: "Credit unions undergoing a merger can benefit from modernizing member service with a digital-first approach.."
What if?
What if you not only can lose fewer members but get more wallet share?
Just maybe, says Michaeli, you can do exactly that.
In this podcast he talks about the 2022 credit union imperative to master digital member experience.
It no longer is nice to have. It's an authentic must have and do.
Incidentally, Michaeli also believes that a good member digital experience can help boost employee satisfaction. That's news you want to know in the era of the great resignation.
You say you think you heard Michaeli on this podcast before? Bonus points are yours. Episode 115 was his first appearance.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Is the company name pronounced Datava, Data-va, or, what's your guess?
Just as the pronunciation of the company's name may prove slippery for many, so too is it difficult to neatly sum up exactly what Gordon Flammer's company does.
But I can tell you this: when American Heritage Credit Union worked with Flammer, it grew by $1 billion. Organic growth, Not acquisition. That has to grab your attention. Here's a link to a CUBroadcast show about this $1 billion miracle fueled by Flammer's unique way of looking at credit unions and their data.
Here's a link to a press release about the same fantastic growth.
His starting point: a lot of software and tech tools sold to credit unions do not do what they are promised to do and, importantly, they do not solve the problem the credit union wants solved.
So Flammer takes a different kind of look at what ails a credit union and he comes up with different kinds of solutions.
Much of what the company works on is creating better sales tools, dashboards, monitors, and so on. But there's more in Flammer's tool box.
Along the way in this podcast Flammer explains why his company is a CUSO - he is a big booster of the format - and he also muses about the plusses and pitfalls of working with venture capitalists. For some - point a finger at Flammer - a CUSO is simply a better path.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The company name flows much more smoothly off the tongue: Engageware.
Before it had been TimeTrade SilverCloud and that was its name a year ago when CEO Bill Clark guested on this podcast. Now he's back for an encore.
The company's business remains helping companies - credit unions very much included - get more member engagement through whatever channel and tools the member chooses to use.
Engagement is critical today. You know that. That's also why Bill Clark is a man to talk with because he knows engagement and he also knows that credit union execs are tempted by many new shiny objects but do they deliver?
In last year's podcast Clark talked at length about the findings in the company's digital first banking report.
This year he is back with a new report with new findings and some of what you will hear in this podcast will blow your mind.
Such as? Chew on this: Consumers will stay skeptical. We just aren't as trusting and believing as we had been and that changes a lot. Including relationships with credit unions. Clark elaborates on that theme in this podcast.
Another finding: 40% of bank customers say they are willing to leave their primary financial institution for digital banking that compares to a great online shopping experience. Do your digital channels measure up against Amazon's? They better.
35% of bank customers nationwide say it is not easy to find even simple answers on their banking institutions’s mobile app or website.
You and your peers say digital is the priority in 2022. But what does that mean? Clark talks us through this.
Listen up: this is a podcast that will refresh what you really know about digital and member engagement.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Ask Very Good Security - a San Francisco based fintech - what it does that is different in terms of securing member data and the answer is blunt: what it does is different, better, even very good. To quote from the company's website about the question that spawned the solution: "Was there a way to secure the data, take it out of scope of liability, and still allow it to be used and exchanged? There was. Their solution became Very Good Security, a new type of data security company with a revolutionary way for companies to secure data."
Bold idea?
Absolutely.
But face up to reality: data security has been a train wreck for some years. How many times have your credit card numbers, even SSN, been stolen by hackers in the last decade?
There has to be a better way.
Very Good Security believes it has that way and Elan Mevasse, the company's credit union lead, is on the podcast to tell what the company does and how it does it.
There's some technical speak in this show - "tokenization" and suchlike - but on the whole this is a PG rated episode that will be accessible to all.
Listen to the end too. There's a minute or two devoted to how Very Good Security helped Ukraine based engineers and their families relocate to safer ground as Russia invaded the country.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine's tech sector was a brilliant, bright spot in that Eastern European nation. By most tallies it brought in revenues around $6 billon in 2021, around 4% of GDP. Foreign investment has been brisk. The future definitely had been bright.
Is it still?
In this podcast the guests are Anatoly, CEO of CXDojo, a Ukraine based firm staffed by software engineers and business consultants, and Maksim, business development manager for CXDojo. Consumer experience is a key focus.
Our talk is about the war, the future, why agile matters as a business philosophy, maybe now more than ever, and why Ukraine is a great place to look for computing talent...and why it will again be once the bombs stop falling.
Along the way you will also hear a lengthy discussion of agile as a business philosophy - and how war maybe is a stark reminder of the need to stay agile.
To get more of team CXDojo, here is a podcast they did with Kirk Drake, founder and CEO of CU2.0. It's a fun, informative romp that tells why making wine is a lot like starting a fintech.
Listen up: this is a podcast that is unlike any of we have recorded before.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
It's called Array for good reason. That's because this fintech offers an arsenal -- ok, an array - of credit score tools such as a a credit score, a credit score simulator (what happens if you pay off that mortgage?), three bureau credit scores (they do differ), dark web monitoring and more.
Credit unions that sign up for the Array services can pick and choose what tools they want to offer.
Isn't it simpler - and cheaper - just to point members to Credit Karma?
You bet. But why don't you just tell them to apply for a loan there, too, because Credit Karma makes its money by funneling users into financial products. Products that aren't yours.
Now do we have your attention?
In this podcast, Laura Trujillo - call her Lo - director of credit union sales at Array - tells why you want to know about Array and why your members will be eager to use the tools.
You want more member visits to your site and your mobile app? You want sticky tools? Then you probably want credit score tools because many frequently check their credit score, especially if they are dreaming about a new home or rental or maybe a new car and who isn't these days? Is your credit score high enough to qualify? Don't guess, know. Use the Array tools at your credit union - and get loan or mortgage there too.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Take a guess: how many of your members earn income from the Gig Economy?
That can mean anything from an Uber driver, doing DoorDash deliveries, working as a realtor, or creating podcasts.
Guesses run from 25% to over 40% of your members get some money that results in a 1099 form and, therefore, they very much need an easy way to track tax deductible expenses.
Enter Hurdlr, an app that automates expense tracking - including mileage. That means more Gig workers can deduct more expenses and pay less taxes. Legally.
Hurdlr's aim is to take the sweat and heavy lifting our of expense tracking for gig workers, said Raj Bhaskar, CEO of Hurdlr.
By the company's estimate it has saved users over $300 million in taxes
What does this have to do with your credit union?
Hurdlr is available directly to consumers - there's even a free version.
But now Hurdlr wants to help credit unions make the app available to their members - and that may help bring in new members who suddenly see that your credit union is actively deploying tools for gig workers.
Sound good?
Listen up to this interview with Bhaskar.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Time travel back 20 years. Imagine going into a credit union or bank and asking for a personal loan for $500.
Reality: unless you are a very established member/customer you would be shown the door. Empty handed. That's because, in those days, there was no way to profitably make that loan.
$50,000? Sure.
But $500 for some emergency dental work? Nah.
But now we are in 2022 and, suddenly, fast, inexpensive loan underwriting is a reality as is loan processing. Enter Quilo, a startup co-founded by Don Shafer, well known as a co founder of Kasasa (click here to hear CU2.0 Podcast #23 on Kasasa).
Quilo's business is making quick instalment loans to credit union members where the member chooses the payback timetable that works best for him/her.
In most cases, too, the terms are more favorable than buying over time on a credit card.
Loan decisioning also is very fast and loans can be offered on credit as well as debit transactions.
Quilo's business model is direct to credit unions and community banks.
The company also plans to help participating credit unions market the availability of Quilo financing to merchants in their community who will be encouraged to make their customers aware of this opportunity.
Sound good? The other guest in this podcast is Joe Arnold, CEO of the $500 million Carter Credit Union in northern Louisiana. Arnold says he wants to offer Quilo to both his members and merchants in his community. He also indicates he believes Quilo will help bring new members into Carter. That means it will help solve two concerns: the need for new members and putting Carter deposits profitably to work.
This is the fourth and last quick podcast from the recent CU2VIP-Live event that brought together perhaps three dozen credit union and fintech leaders. The conversation with Armstrong and Shafer that you hear in this podcast is representative of the kinds of conversations that participants enjoyed over two and one-half days.
Wish you'd been there? Take heart. A follow up event is planned for late summer/early fall. Stay tuned.
And...listen up.
Build a fintech from the ground up with security in mind - especially and crucially if the fintech wants to work with credit unions.
That is the one sentence takeaway from this 20 minute conversation with Shane Butcher, director of CISO Services of CUSO Ongoing Operations (and a past CU2.0 Podcast guest, episode 85), and Gary Jeter, chief technology officer at Trustone Financial Credit Union.
At credit unions - and the federal regulator - security is a non negotiable must have.
Along the way you will also hear about the differences between CIOs and CTOs, where a CISO resides in a credit union (and why), and - listen closely - Jeter tosses out a fascinating idea for a newstyle 21st century safe deposit box that is there for data protection and, he suggests, it just might bring in revenues down the line.
Right there is what made the CU2VIP event special - clever ideas just pop up if you are listening for them.
Listen up.
Money talks.
Fintechs are hungry for money.
Ray Crouse, CEO of Parsons Federal Credit Union - and a CU 2.0 Podcast veteran (episode link here) - talked in detail at the CU2VIP-Live event about how credit unions and fintechs both can harness the money raising ability of CUSOs, credit union service organizations.
Ray, by the way, is also chair of the board of NACUSO, the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations.
Parsons, incidentally, is not a huge credit union. It has assets of around $265 million - but Crouse has found a few million dollars that will get invested in CUSOs.
Why? In this short podcast he tells why he sees CUSOs as crucial to credit unions today, maybe especially today when many are looking for new income sources.
Consider this all you wanted to know about CUSOs and credit unions but didn't know who to ask.
Listen up.
The inaugural CU2VIP-Live event will become a Woodstock like meeting in this sense: yes, hundreds of thousands went to Woodstock but if you asked for a show of hands of those who were there be ready to count well into the millions.
Five years from now many will say, yes, I was there at the first CU2VIP-Live event.
We were actually there and what you will be hearing this week are snippets of short talks with participants - who also were there.
The first episode: Martin Walker with NextLevel Ventures with its $250 million-plus venture fund for investments in fintech oriented CUSOs that will bring next gen tech to the credit union industry.
The big idea: to stay competitive with mega banks and fintechs credit unions have to up their technology game.
The better idea: by investing in early stage fintechs credit unions can get a sizable jump on the market and just maybe will gain competitive advantages.
Sound good?
You bet.
Keep listening and you will also hear why Walker attended CU2VIP-Live and what he got out of it.
Listen up.
Boring. Old. Anachronistic.
Are those the words that come to mind when you think of calculators?
Guess what: maybe those adjectives apply to the calculators at your financial institution's website...but that is not how Chase Neinken, a co-founder of fintech Chimney, sees them.
That's because Chimney is in the business of creating calculators that engage members in looking at their finances in new ways.
Chew on the company's mantra: Engage more customers. Fund more loans.
You know you now want to know more about Chimney.
This podcast will be the short course. Then go to the website - link in the show notes - click into the Chimney website and you will find some 30 templates that are there to try for free.
As in: at no cost.
Neinken in the podcast also reveals that the typical Chimney FI customer is billed under $1000 monthly. That's for 10 calculators. Fees are not based on institution size or number of members. And there is no minimum contract, no need for any time commitment.
You understand calculators. We all do. But the Chimney message is that there is a new breed of calculators that you won't typically find on a credit union website but your members will find them at fintechs such as Nerd Wallet.
Can that member be won back?
Neinken says sure, with Chimney's calculators.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
How many loan applications does your credit union reject because of the applicant's credit score?
Harder question: how many times are those credit scores erroneously lowered due to faulty information in credit reports?
Listen to Clint Lotz, ceo of TrackStar AI, and the answer is that plenty of loan apps are rejected for exactly those reasons.
What if your institution could harness machine learning tools to swiftly analyze a credit report and identity probable errors that when fixed would result in a 50 to 100 point jump in the credit score?
Sound good? That's why you want to listen to Lotz as he talks about contemporary, cutting edge credit repair tools that will enable a credit union to empower a loan applicant to quickly initiate repair of his/her credit report and, in the process, position the credit union to comfortably grant the credit the applicant seeks.
How good does that sound?
Why haven't you heard of similar before? Probably, says Lotz, because it is all new, enabled by the emergence of inexpensive cloud based computing (think AWS, Amazon Web Services). But powerful cloud on demand computing is here and that has made it possible to analyze loan apps and credit reports in wholly new ways, says Lotz.
Along the way you want to hear what Lotz has to say about FICO. No hints here as to what he says. But buckle up when this moment arrives.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
NSF has become the new four letter within the financial industry. While many institutions have grown dependent upon the $30 or so they charge a customer/member for an NSF, Washington DC is revving up to throw shame at FIs that impose those fees.
What's a credit union to do?
A year ago we did a podcast with Joel Schwartz, founder of the then fledgling DoubleCheck, a company created to help consumers - and their FIs - better navigate NSFs. You are going to want to listen to that podcast - link here.
A lot has happened since that podcast. Washington DC has gotten more vocal about NSFs - you aren't the only one having nightmares about the CFPB and Elizabeth Warren.
A lot of FIs - from Chase to B of A to many credit unions have slashed or eliminated NSF fees. You might think that this is curtains for Schwartz and DoubleCheck.
Think again.
There is the NSF and then there are the ripple effects such as late fees imposed by merchants and credit card companies. Often the late fees can add up to lots of money that inflicts still more damage and pain on a consumer struggling to stay afloat. That's where DoubleCheck's patented technology comes in. It gives an early warning to the consumer about late fees heading his/her way and it also offers alternatives (such as putting some charges on a credit card).
This is win-win. It's good for the consumer and good for the FI (and it does not create bad press which doing nothing can).
You might think this will be a somber podcast, talking about bounced checks and fees and cranky politicians. Be prepared instead to laugh. Schwartz knows what he is dealing with is serious stuff but he is a man who can see the lighter side too.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
To start the podcast we asked NCR executive Doug Brown the hard question: exactly what can mid-size and small credit unions do to stay alive in the face of relentless competition from fintechs who increasingly are gobbling up home mortgages, p2p payments and a lot more - and what can NCR do to help them.
The questions only got harder from there.
In the podcast Brown tells about how to beat fintechs by achieving better member engagement.
We also talk at length about BNPL, where credit unions may find a piece of this action, and questions to ponder about BNPL. Does it make even a tiny bit of sense to pay for a $100 gourmet sandwich in four easy payments - and by the time you've paid it off do you even remember what you ate.
In this podcast you will also hear crypto currency brought very much to earth. Brown tells how NCR is planning to use crypto and blockchain to revolutionize international remittances and how cool is that? This may also be a fast track to bringing many under- and unbanked into the credit union universe if crypto helps them move money to relatives and friends faster and at much reduced expense.
Blockchain, maybe it's not just for geeks anymore.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Brynn Ammon is on the podcast to tell us that it just isn't true that old cores can't learn new tricks - and she has plenty of examples of integration of new skills into core systems to enable credit unions to offer more and more useful tools to their members.
Reports of the death of the core have been greatly exaggerated suggests Ammon and in this podcast she offers an arsenal of evidence to show the contrary.
She even tells about Symitar's work to integrate a Fiserv tool and, yes, that sounds like the Hatfields and McCoys making nice - but she insists it is true and it is part of Symitar's push to integrate into its cores the tools that will enable credit unions to compete more effectively. Even if that means cooperating with a competitor.
I will be honest, I went into this session thinking it would be as captivating as a talk on what makes a classic Singer sewing machine special.
Ammon proved my preconceptions wrong.
Listen up to find ways to get more value out of that core system in your institution.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Can AI - artificial intelligence - be harnessed to build and strength member relations, indeed to know what this member is likely to do right now?
That is the guiding belief at Senso, a Canada based AI company that now is expanding into the US market with a specific focus on credit unions.
It is no secret. The credit union share of the home mortgage market has steadily eroded, as nimble fintechs grab more business. Smart AI just may give credit unions an edge in recapturing marketshare.
The Senso promise is intriguing. When an institution has the right data it can predict with significant accuracy when a member is about to shift from being a home looker to a buyer.
The answer is in the data, says Saroop Bharwani, Senso's founder/CEO.
Right now the Senso focus is on home mortgages but, he says, the same tools will work on car loans, credit card balance transfers and more.
Here is how Senso describes its approach: "Senso creates connected and contextual lending experiences, powered by predictive intelligence.
We enable enterprise customers to identify and engage borrowers with personalized proactive experiences.
We empower consumers with rich insights & experiences to help them make smart decisions through their home finance journey."
Integration of Senso tools - which are available white labeled - is comparatively quick and easy through the leading online banking platforms.
Right now, the primary Senso aim is at institutions with a billion in assets - but if a smaller institution is using an online banking platform that Senso already has integration tools for, the company wants to talk, says Bharwani.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The name is pronounced CU Soul and know that the CUSO's focus under CEO Jonathan Taylor is indeed on soulful solutions to member problems.
You almost want to cue up "Soul Man" and break out in song.
But these are very serious, thoughtful and - yes - quirky solutions that are getting cooked up at the Albuquerque-based CUSO, formed in 2019 and owned by four credit unions located in New Mexico, Washington DC and Guam. They range in size from well over $1 billion to around $30 millon.
The owners did not create CU Sol to provide cookie cutter products.
Nope.
These are products that are unique and they also are laser focused.
Consider CU SAFE: "CU SAFE is an indirect lending solution created by CU Sol that supports survivors of domestic violence. Its mission is to provide a hand up for survivors of domestic violence in providing both credit and financial counselling as well as lending options by pairing organizations that support survivors of domestic violence with partnering credit unions,"spells out a press release.
Another product is Accelewage which starts with the building block that each day an employee works he/she has earned money. Now what if that employee needs a fast $300 - perhaps for an emergency car repair - but doesn't have available credit? He could go to a payday lender.
But isn't the better choice simply to make the employee a cash advance against accrued earnings?
Taylor sees Accelewage rolling out initially to credit unions themselves where many employees live paycheck to paycheck.
But then the tool can also be offered to business members too and that could be a powerful persuader in getting new business accounts.
Taylor also has a range of ideas about innovative insurance products to be offered through the CUSO.
Nowadays the talk is how CUSOs have to be highly focused - and, yes, original - to survive. CU Soul is definitely both
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Crypto is now, it is happening.
Happy New Year!
Our first show in 2022 is about a topic that you will likely will be hearing a lot about this year: Crypto currencies. And what you may not realize is that with crypto in play the financial institution stranglehold on wire transfers may slip. Even worse, credit card interchange may vanish.
Now do we have your attention?
Crypto brings risks but also possible rewards for smart players.
On today's show is Larry Pruss, crypto lead at consulting firm SRM (Strategic Resource Management). and, says Pruss, crypto is streaming at you at full speed
Proof is that NCUA in December offered guidance about how credit unions should interact with crypto vendors.
Maybe the biggest risk to credit unions is that evidence mounts that many members will leave a financial institution that doesn't offer crypto related services for one that does. At the very least they will move money out of your credit union into an institution that trades in crypto.
We may well be at a perilous moment for traditional FIs as DeFi (decentralized finance) moves onto center stage.
How to get involved in crypto with minimal risk? Pruss offers suggestions in the podcast and, from my perspective, the easiest way to stick a toe into these digital waters is by offering crypto rewards. More institutions - Venmo for instance - already are on this but there remains running room for credit unions that want to play.
And Pruss has other suggestions.
This is a fast paced podcast. Inside 40 minutes you will hear what you need to know to play in crypto. Smartly.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Walt Agius knows credit union lending. And he especially knows what credit unions need to to stay competitive in the 21st century.
Consider this podcast a deep dive into today's lending.
The guest is Walt Agius, CEO of Lendsys, a fintech, and also CU Lending Edge, a CUSO that today focuses on car loans but, says Agius, he is looking to extend the portfolio.
In the past he was CEO of CU Sol, a CUSO, and also CEO of California Bear Credit Union.
He really knows lending, especially car loans.
In this podcast Agius offers tips about how to make indirect auto lending work for the credit union (and, yes, he knows many credit unions have grumbles about indirect lending).
He also throws out the idea that every credit union should be looking hard at syndicating every loan that comes in the door. That strategy dramatically limits risk. He said he would want to keep perhaps 10% of most loans but he would want to sell the other 90% of other participants - and this collaborative way is a particularly credit union mindset.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Put your brainstorming hat on. You'll want it as you listen to this podcast that serves as a preview of the January 20, 2022 CU 2.0 Brainstorm event that will gather together fintech leaders and credit union executives for a day of lively presentations (topics to be chosen by the attendees) and conversation.
Consider this podcast a mini preview of what the Brainstorm event will feel like.
Joe Cianciolo talks about how HomePace - a fintech that makes home equity investments that may be tapped by homeowners and buyers without taking on debt.
Chief information officer Kenzie tells about the tech priorities at Patriot Federal Credit Union, a $900 million institution - and he tells what he looks for in the fintechs he works with
Drake tells about the urgency of matching up credit unions and the right fintechs and the challenges of making it happen.
It's a show that will leave you more informed and also energized.
Listen up.
Want more info on the Brainstorm event? Click here. There's a sign up tool at the same site.
Want more from Cianciolo? You got it. Here's an earlier CU 2.0 podcast with him from June 2021.
Want more on the CU 2.0 Mastermind group? Here's a November 2020 podcast on it.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
BNPL. Remember that because you soon will be using that abbreviation often.
It stands for Buy Now, Pay Later and it is just about the hottest trend in payments at retail.
Today's US market is small, maybe $50 billion but forecasts show the BNPL market crashing into the many hundreds of billions of dollars by the middle of the present decade. And then the numbers start to get dizzily huge.
Why so much interest? Oldtimers will recall that BNPL was a staple of 1950s retail but as credit cards proliferated it receded into the background. But now it is again hot and that's because it speaks to the purchasing needs and desires of Gen Z and young Millennials. Why don't they just slap down a Visa card and put it on credit? The advantage of BNPL to them is that they know the total cost of purchase when they make it. The full payments amount, spread out over an agreed upon number of months, is there to see.
Pay the minimum on a credit card purchase and suddenly the total amount paid can vault much, much higher.
So the younger generations are hopping aboard BNPL which, right now, is largely used for consumer purchases of a few hundred dollars to maybe a few thousand.
Right now, too, it's mainly fintechs that are playing hard in this space.
But Scottsdale AZ based equipifi is a fintech that wants to enable credit unions in particular along with some banks to play in this space.
In this podcast with co-founder and CEO Bryce Deeney you will hear about equipifi's secret sauce which is software that can approve and fund a BNPL loan at retail in under a minute.
No application is required. No FICO score is checked.
The basis for the loan is knowledge of the history of the member's checking (sharedraft) account and insight into how much surplus money generally is in the account. So that's a solid basis for forecasting that this consumer can in fact handle this monthly payment.
In the podcast Deeney tells in detail exactly how equipifi works along with how it is integrated into the core.
Any credit union that wants more members under, say, thirty years of age needs to listen and take notes.
Keep listening and you will hear the equipifi has plans to roll out a BNPL service for SMBs too. How cool is that?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Be bold.
That is the loud message from Cameron Madill, CEO of PixelSpoke, an Oregon headquartered marketing agency that primarily serves credit unions. He also hosts "The Remarkable Credit Union" podcast.
Too many credit unions simply want to fit in, he says.
Dare to be different and that just may get you noticed.
That's just one take-away from this podcast - there are many more.
Want to know if your website is good? Madill tells us the main way credit union websites go bad. Use it as a checklist to judge your own.
Do you do member testing of your site? You probably will want to after listening to ths podcas because Madill tells the enormous benefits of testing with even a handful of members.
He also tells why credit unions need to embrace storytelling in their marketing, a topic he has written about for CUInsight.
Buckle up because he also tells why PixelSpoke is a worker owned cooperative and why it is a certified B Corp. The latter is a credentialing program that designated businesses that put greater emphasis on purpose, not just profit.
As for worker owned cooperatives. that's a comparatively small slice of the cooperative pie in the US but it also is fast growing. Hear why PixelSpoke now is owned by its workers.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What you don't know about digital marketing can be your undoing. That is 2021 fact.
For some years credit union c-suite occupants have shrugged off digital marketing - it's just for kids, our members skew old. Maybe that was true (maybe it wasn't as true as the c-suiters believed) but what now has become indisputable in our pandemic era is that digital is here and it has become a significant part of just about every life.
That includes credit union members.
Where's a credit union to get started in digital marketing? That's what you will hear about in this podcast with Amber Callahan, VP of marketing at 1st Advantage FCU in Virginia, and Kristin Harrison, director of business development at Web Strategies, also in Virginia.
They have had a multi-year journey together and you will learn how to get started in digital marketing and how to go to next, higher levels.
Do note: this is pretty much a tech free podcast. There's no need to have a techie at your side for this one.
And accept the reality: we have entered the zone where tech is what matters. To quote the New York Times about Google and Facebook: "these tech companies are rich and powerful because they are the biggest sellers of advertising in the world."
Digital already accounts for more than half of global ad spend. Many billions of dollars get spent on digital advertising. There are good reasons for that. You will hear about that in this podcast.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
If you had asked me ten years ago what the future was for corporate credit unions I probably would have said: they have one?
There were reasons for cynicism: You remember Wescorp, right? There are links in the show notes if you need memory refreshing.
But - and this is a huge but - there are literally thousands of small credit unions that needed and still need a corporate credit union to provide crucial assistance in a range of functions, from payments (especially contemporary ultra fast money movement) to short term liquidity.
I covered the corporate credit union beat for a few years at Credit Union Times and, while I cannot say the sector every thrilled me, little by little I grew to see corporates as essential in today's credit union universe. Were the credit union sector to shrink down to a few hundred behemoths corporates likely would vanish.
But in a world with 5000+ credit unions, many minuscule, the need for corporates remains.
Have they modernized? Are they part of 21st century financial services or are they more of a curio shop of dusty processes and tools?
Today you hear the answer.
That's because in this podcast you will hear from Eric Dotson, EVP at fintech Aptys, and Jaime Agonstino, Vizo’s Director of Marketing and Business Development.
Vizo is the product of a merger of Mid-Atlantic Corporate Credit Union and First Carolina Corporate Credit Union.
Aptys enters this picture because it was tasked with modernizing Vizo's payments technology, which had been something of a rat's nest of tangled threads from the two merged in partners. The tools just would not suffice in what is becoming a realtime payments world, Vizo knew it, and so it brought in Aptys to produce something new, bigger, better.
It was a multi-year process. Hear the details here.
Along the way you will also hear mention that some other corporates - Alloya and Catalyst - are doing similar with their payments.
The message is plain: corporate credit unions are making changes to seek to stay relevant.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Some credit unions are making lots of very profitable member business loans. Most aren't. In fact, by Mark Ritter's count, maybe 300 of the nation's credit unions are genuine players in this business. The rest are dabblers, he says.
That's a shock because in the last couple years there has been a stampede of credit unions eager to get into member business lending. The reasons are obvious. There has been an avalanche of deposits that need to be put to work. Meantime, both the home mortgage and car loan markets are sputtering, definitely as far as credit unions go.
The eyes in the credit union c-suite shift to local businesses and the question gets asked: how do we lend to them?
Ritter, longtime CEO of Pennsylvania based CUSO Member Business Financial Services, which specializes in member business lending, knows the reality.
About 80 credit unions are active with MBFS - 13 are owners - and they range in size from tiny to over $1 billion in assets. Ritter pegs the MBFS sweet spot as institutions in the $300 million to $1 billion range but, he says, MBFS has no size limits, big or small.
MBFS in many ways provides credit unions with turnkey service. That means they prospect for borrowers, negotiate the terms, service the loan, and do pretty much everything except provide the capital to lend.
Want to know why member business lending initiatives sputter at many credit unions? Also want to know who not to hire to make those loans?
Ritter has the answers in this wide ranging podcast that is a must listen for any credit union exec who wants to get into member business lending - or wants to do better at it.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What are the chief tools of old school debt collectors? Phone and US mail. Two problems. Nobody answers the phone when it's an unknown number (do you?) and US mail, increasingly, is tossed unread because all the important, urgent stuff comes via email.
Enter Debtsy, a fintech that is pioneering 21st century collection techniques that are kinder, gentler and - above all - digital. The chief Debtsy tools are email and its website and, in the process, Debtsy also uses data to sift through charged off debts to zero in on those borrowers who have both the means and the willingness to repay.
A lot of debtors have neither. Debtsy seeks to focus in on the borrowers where the potential for return is real.
That approach looks vastly more effective than the old school techniques. It also is highly cost efficient because much of it is automated.
You will hear all about 21st century debt collection in this podcast with Tyler Gillies, Debtsy's director of operations.
Debtsy of course knows that most credit unions seek to have a positive image in their communities and so it avoids the bruising, demeaning tactics of at least some debt collectors.
What size credit unions will Debtsy work with? Pretty much any size. Gillies says clients range from $10 billion+ behemoths to small credit unions. In the podcast he also details exactly how a credit union starts with Debtsy, what the costs are, and how long it takes for Debtsy to get busy trying to collect. Spoiler: the whole process usually is very fast.
Sure, we know talking charged off debt is a something of a bummer - but this nonetheless is a surprisingly upbeat podcast.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Early in this podcast you will realize that Alexey Krasnoriadtsev is a different kind of tech CEO. For starters, this is a podcast where you will not hear much - probably nothing - that sends you to Google to look up words you don't understand. But the bigger difference is that this is a tech CEO who talks about why it's important that users of technology feel loved by their tech, that credit unions and other financial institutions do right by their users (and Alexey backs that up by refusing to help efforts that don't align with that philosophy), and who admits a lot of FI tech is blah - and he tells why that is so.
You know his work. In podcast 172 you heard about Bank Dora, the innovative neo-bank birthed by a credit union. BankingON worked on that project.
The core BankingON pursuit is creating new mobile banking apps and that means tools that do what the users want (rather than what the vendors and FIs want which is the norm).
Be prepared to be surprised, often in this podcast. Especially if you are a CIO or CTO who knows how fintech execs talk.
Alexey talks about his frustrations, his hopes, his dreams and why at day's end he is a happy guy.
You didn't expect to hear that, did you?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Meet Dora. She just may change all that you think about mobile banking.
A product of USAlliance - a $2 billion credit union based in Rye, NY that happens to be the legacy IBM employees credit union - Dora is the first credit union attempt to create a so-called neo bank, that is a branchless institution with no bricks and mortar.
USAlliance has been joined in this effort by three other credit unions: Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union ($3.5B in assets) headquartered in St. Paul, Minn.; Digital Federal Credit Union ($9.8B in assets) in Marlborough, Mass.; Service Credit Union ($5B in assets) in Portsmouth, N.H.
It may be seeking others to join in helping to spread Dora which, presently, is aimed at low to moderate income Americans who may be underserved or unserved by traditional financial institutions.
Can Dora survive in a marketplace where there are heavily funded, venture backed competitors - Chime for instance?
In this podcast USAlliance CEO Kris VanBeek offers candid, honest history about how and why Dora got birthed and how he sees it succeeding.
He is candid that he does not see Dora as a big money maker for USAlliance. But he believes it will generate a little profit.
He also indicates that Dora is going after different consumers than a Chime, say. He anticipates that many of Dora’s accounts will carry low balances and the economics of running Dora will be unlike a Chime.
Want to find out about Dora? The app is available in the Apple App Store, also Google Play. Signing up for an account is shockingly fast and easy. And Dora’s checking is free.
In this podcast VanBeek gives a shout out to BankingOn which played a significant part in creating the app. Tune in to next week’s podcast which will be with BankingOn and how it sees the future of mobile banking (think better, slicker, easier to use apps and be ready to toss existing apps in the dustbin).
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Irrelevance beckons. And it will swallow many credit unions whole.
That is the message delivered by Andre Iervolino, a longtime credit union senior staffer who wrote a provocative piece in The Financial Brand entitled "10 Factors That Will Determine Banks' Future Relevance."
Reading is article will rock you because, frankly, he is not optimistic about the future of many credit unions.
A core reason is that, often, they just don't get that technology is rewriting the game book. What mattered 25 years ago does not count today.
In this podcast we explore the key takeaways of the article and the first is that the nature of a primary financial institution has changed and, said Iervolino, "Community financial institutions no longer compete only against the large banks within their marketplace, but also with big tech (Apple, Amazon, Google Checking, PayPal), fintechs, and neobank/mobile banks such as Chime, SoFi and Ally."
He added: "On average, financial services customers have between five and eight relationships spread across multiple institutions, many of them not traditional banking providers."
How do you compete against that complexity?
His second takeaway is remapping the future of the branch - think small footprint, cashless, staffed by Apple type geniuses and, yes, he tells how you will hire them. Hint: it involves paying a lot of money.
Next he throws the FICO score under the bus and proposes that credit unions adopt what he calls a Financial Health Score.
Along the way Iervolino offers key survival advice: Act like a startup.
Prepare to be challenged.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Things are different today in financial services and, increasingly, there is a realization that we are not going back to "normal," not later this year, probably not ever. That means credit union executives have to think bigger - more boldly - about how to compete in a changing financial services landscape.
The podcast opens up with a huge credit union 2021 fact: institutions are awash in deposits. Why? What to do with them?
Data-driven thoughts on that and many more credit union issues come from Tim Keith, chief strategist of Account Boost for SRM, an independent advisory firm that focuses on financial services companies, credit unions included.
In the podcast Keith tackles tough issues - how should credit unions pursue branch realignment, how can they do business banking right, why aren't they better at offering online account opening, and what is a simple action step for deepening relationships with existing members.
It's a wide ranging podcast - take notes because you will get ideas well worth developing as you seek ways to navigate today's turbulent financial services currents.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The language on the Finalytics.ai website is bold: "Our mission is simple: use technology to help financial institutions offer the same exceptional service they are known for in-branch, online. As digital commands a greater share of the customer touch, we are passionate about helping organizations grow and keep the promise of modern service excellence alive."
Read that again.
For as long as I have been involved with credit unions, I have heard c-suite executives telling us that their differentiator is their people.
And then along came the pandemic. What difference do your people mean to the member who does not want to set foot in a branch and in fact wants to move the relationship entirely into the digital realm?
How do you deliver first rate member service through digital channels - and know that it can be done and in fact already is being done (think USAA and Chase)?
These are the questions that shape this podcast with the co-founders of Finalytics.ai, Craig McLaughlin,CEO, and Mark Ryan, chief analytics officer.
Along the way we explore why so many big data projects fizzled into failure at credit unions a decade ago and also why ai - artificial intelligence - is the engine that is reshaping financial services.
And note there are moments to be afraid. For instance: a generation ago your institution had maybe 10 or 20 competitors. Now it has thousands and many aren't even credit unions or banks.
That's not to suggest throwing in the towel. But you will have a fight on your hands.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The future of banking just may be voice - but that will probably mean talking with a computer. Already tens of millions of Bank of America customers use its Erica and that number is growing at a brisk rate.
It should be no surprise. Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant are part of many of our lives today. We talk with machines. We like talking with machines.
Question: how is a credit union to compete in this sphere.
Enter Finn AI, a conversational banking company formed precisely to address these needs for credit unions and community banks.
Already Finn AI has a couple credit union customers - BECU is one. And it is looking for more.
That's why it has scheduled an October 6 virtual conversational banking summit, a half day devoted to giving credit union and bank execs the information they need to make decisions about AI and conversational banking.
Did I mention it is free for credit union execs.
Link here.
If you can't make the summit, sign up anyway and you'll get a link so you can watch at a time more convenient for you.
Speakers include executives from Amazon, BECU, MX, United Federal Credit Union (also a Finn AI customer), and Kirk Drake, the founder of CU 2.0 and author of a book on AI.
In this podcast, with Finn AI CEO and co-founder Jake Tyler, you will hear more about the summit but you also will here about Finn AI's tools, its pricing, and why Tyler is persuaded that conversational AI banking just is not a technology that can be ignored. It's a candid discussion, tightly focused and to the point.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Be real - few credit unions can genuinely be all things to all members because how big would the institution have to be?
As you ponder that - really drill into the idea that there can be success in being small - now consider a fintech named ZSuite Technologies. It has three product lines that it makes available to its financial institution partners: ZRent, aimed at property managers and landlords; ZDeposit, again aimed at property managers and landlords, this tool helps track rental deposits and understand the laws vary by state, sometimes by city; and ZEscrow, which helps escrow account holders - such as lawyers and government agencies - better track and manage those monies.
All niche? You bet but that's the intent. The initial tools grew out of a Massachusetts community bank which wanted ways to better compete in a marketplace where it sometimes seems that only behemoths thrive. That's when a lightbulb clicked. Property managers and small landlords had lots of problems - how many still keep paper records? - and so computer skills were harnessed to help solve those problems.
And then why not attempt to persuade those property managers and landlords to shift most - maybe all - of their banking to the institution that helps solve their nagging business problems?
The escrow tools - the most recent addition to the portfolio - grew out of the discovery that for many escrow accounts are a real hassle. But the right computer programming could sole the problems.
All small? You bet. But small can be beautiful.
On the podcast to tell the story of ZSuite is the CEO Nathan Baumeister. He tells about the company's formation, why small is beautiful, and ZSuite's ambitions to offer its tools to more credit unions.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
It's tough out there. That's a paraphrase of how Jill Nowacki, a 20 year veteran of the credit union industry and presently CEO of Humanidei + O'Rourke where she focuses on talent recruitment for credit unions.
When fast food outlets are advertising starting pay at $15 and up per hour in much of the country you get a hint of how tough it is right now to recruit for credit unions.
But the problems aren't limited to entry level jobs. In this podcast Nowacki talks at length about issues in filling c-suite jobs (even CEO slots) and also the increasing challenges in recruiting new members for the board of directors.
One takeaway from this podcast: start thinking strategically about employees and board members. Random just isn't going to hack it anymore.
Also focus in on the credit union advantages in hiring - for instance a genuine community focus and a focus not on profits but on doing good. Many of us - and especially many younger people - put a high priority on those attitudes and credit unions have the right stuff.
Nowacki admits that at senior level jobs banks have a powerful attraction - stock options that can produce personal wealth. Credit unions do not have options. Bur they have that powerful draw of a culture committed to doing good. And that will bring in job applicants.
Nowacki does not underplay the difficulties in today's hiring marketplace but she nonetheless is upbeat. That's the attitude that just may prevail in today's talent wars.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You know the horror stories - the educational loan burden keeps mounting for many millions and, frankly, the options for lessening that burden are not plentiful.
But there are options. Meet UNest. It's an app and what it does it help set aside money for a child. It's flexible too. The underlying law is the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act which allows an adult to set up a tax advantaged savings plan that benefits a minor and the money can be spent on education, but also on a first car or a wedding or many other things.
Who gives also is flexible. Parents of course but also grandparents, other relatives and just plain friends.
Earnings in the account are tax advantaged.
You never heard of the UTMA? Join the club. It is not widely known legislation. But, executed smartly, it can deliver real benefits to a child.
On the podcast to tell us about UNest are Peter Mansfield, CMO, Erin Matta, VP partnerships, and Alison Silverstein, CEO of KidFund, a savings app that recently was acquired by UNest.
Where do credit unions come in? UNest already is working with one credit union to put the UNest app in the hands of members and it is looking for more credit unions to partner with.
Note, too, UNest sees the real power of its app as best serving the middle class and upper middle class - that is, the credit union membership. The app helps with setting savings goals and the ultimate goal is success.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
She's smart. She has around 20 years experience at Inclusiv, the association for community development financial institutions and its predecessor organization. And she has put a lot of attention on African American Credit Unions. Will they survive? Does it matter?
Meet Pamela Owens, a SVP at Inclusiv and she comes with a lot to tell us.
As for African American credit unions, they will survive and, yes, it definitely matters, says Owens in this podcast. She tells why.
She also gives a grade for credit union industry efforts regards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts (and know she is not an easy grader).
Along the way we talk about progress African Americans have made in regard to credit union employment - and the progress they need to make in regard to C-suite employment.
Credit unions, unlike banks, are birthed with a moral reason for their existence. Banks exist to profit their shareholders. Credit unions - especially CDFIs - exist to bring financial services to the underserved and that is indeed a reason to get up in the morning.
If you want to feel good about being in the credit union industry this is the podcast you want to listen. Of course you will also get some to-do's - but this is work that isn't going to be finished soon.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Go to the website for Otomo and here's what jumps out at you: "Be the money platform people love. Turn any account holder into an avid user with autonomous personal money management."
Read it again.
What Otomo is about is a revolution in our digital money management and here is a fact: on a fundamental level, online and mobile banking are not substantially different from what debuted in the mid 1990s.
Another fact: PFMs are not significantly more engaging than they were when they were introduced a generation ago.
Otomo's plan is to revolutionize all of that.
To rethink how we bank.
And, yes, to make it all much more engaging - and fun! - than we are accustomed to.
On its LinkedIn page, Otomo says about itself: "Picture a world where your money knows where to go as soon as it hits your bank account, organizing itself in real-time. Sounds like something out of Blade Runner? It's not.
"Otomo is delivering on banking's ultimate promise of hyper-personalized cash management tools today. We deliver our service directly through your favorite financial institution or money app. In other words, you'll quickly be able to offer smart banking that can provide engaging, long-lasting, and meaningful experiences to your customers."
Ready to hear more about the Otomo revolution? In this podcast you will hear at length from Khellar Crawford, CEO and co-founder of Otomo and you will also hear why he founded it and why your credit union just may wat to explore deploying it to your members.
Face it? Members increasingly want more from their digital banking experience than they are getting. Otomo just may be what they are hunting.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Money woes.
It sounds like the title of a blues song but, ask Peter Rice, Chief Banking Officer at Workers Credit Union in Massachusetts, and he will tell you it's not an oldie but today's lyric and he can prove it with a recent Central Mass survey that found 65% of the residents said they were unsure, stressed, or extremely stressed about money.
Ouch. that's a lot of anxiety but, said Rice, it's exactly a place where a credit union could and should help and, in that way, it will also gain a competitive edge.
In the process, Workers has introduced a new branch concept - called PlanIt - which, get this, features an interactive hologram named Olivia and a short, perky robot named Pepper.
I don't kid you.
That's because the Workers hope with its new branch is that it will be welcoming, inclusive, but also will help inspire members to achieve their personal financial wellness.
A stat that hit Rice like a brick is that most of us - even the seemingly well off - don't have $400 in ready cash to deal with financial emergencies and yet this past 18 months have been a text book illustration of how the unexpected and unimagined can become our reality.
We need to be financially well to deal with these speed bumps in our life highway.
A goal of the PlanIt centers - Workers has opened three and has plans for more - is to help members to feel empowered and also to get them more engaged with the credit union.
And, yeah, people do come into the branches to interact with Olivia- who is multi lingual and very helpful - and also with Pepper who is cheery.
Is this the future of the credit union branch?
Is this how a credit union can win the battle for the member?
Expect to hear challenges to credit union orthodoxies in this podcast. Rice thinks into the future and in this podcast he tells his route to getting there. By the way that accent you hear is not a rogue Boston lilt. It's from Rice's native Ireland.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Ask Kavita Singh - a vice president at payments company Payrailz - what's a smart way to differentiate a credit union in a a competitive marketplace that is ever more cluttered and her answer is succinct: AI.
As she wrote in a recent Credit Union Times article, "Credit union leaders must go a step further and find a true strategic differentiator. This can be found via artificial intelligence."
A few years ago AI was akin to The Matrix - kind of a cool but spacey idea and, truth to tell, none but the very biggest credit unions even had it on their "learn about" lists.
That's changed.
AI is suddenly everywhere. Call your cellphone provider and a machine will answer. Ditto at the big credit card companies. Also airlines. And down a lengthening list of institutions that, increasingly, turn to machines to find information, answer customer questions, solve problems.
In Singh's view, credit unions are ideally positioned to win at AI, mainly because they already have bushels of member data and that data, properly used, will tell how best to serve this member's needs right now.
Singh gives this for instance: "For example, a member may pay a particular bill around a certain time of month. AI will learn this behavior and begin to proactively alert, or remind, members in advance of the pending bill."
Think about that. A simple nudge may help save a member a late fee and that is a way to build member loyalty.
AI can also predict in advance when a member is about to bounce a check and that's not black magic. It's knowing the account balance and also knowing what bills are likely to come in soon and if the numbers don't add up that member could be prodded to shift money from another place into an account to cover the incoming bills. That means more late fees saved.
Think too about how good companies like Amazon and Netflix have gotten about predicting what you want to consume next. They are not guessing. What they are doing is cranking in past consumer behavior and taking a very educated guess about what this consumer wants next.
AI is changing our lives and it will be a factor in what credit unions thrive (and which don't).
You want to hear Singh on credit unions and AI.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You know the income of many of your members.
Now here's the big question: do you know what they are spending it on?
Down to the SKU level - that is, on exactly what are they spending?
You want to meet Izabella Gabowicz, COO and a founding team member at Toronto based fintech Sensibill, a company built around the insight that financial wellness is not one size fits all. Joe's financial wellness might include a craft beer a day, wile Susie's might favor a non alcoholic kombucha a day and, yeah, knowing such differences night help a financial institution deliver more customized financial wellness programming.
Says Sensibill about itself, "At Sensibill, we're working to make financial services personal—you could say, more human. We build products that reveal insights into everyday spend that can be used to truly personalize financial services. And in doing so, help people achieve their unique version of financial wellness."
Focus on that: insights into personal daily spend.
It all adds up. A newspaper, a cup of coffee, a short taxi ride and who is keeping track?
Sensibill can.
How? Listen to this podcast where Gabowicz extols the benefits of SKU level spending data.
Know too that Sensibill's products touch 60 million people worldwide.
Call this financial wellness 2.0.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Kelli Ellsworth Etchison, chief marketing officer and chief diversity officer at the $950 million, Lansing, Mich.-based LAFCU and a member of Michigan’s Black Leadership Advisory Council, and Gary Lee is Chief Client Office at MDT, Member Driven Technology, a tech focused CUSO, are in this podcast to tell why DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion - matter to credit unions.
Here's the big question Lee addresses: how does MDT explain to its owners, customers and prospects that it - a CUSO that specializes in delivering cloud based core processing - puts a large emphasis on DEI? What business is this of a tech focused CUSO?
It's a central concern, explained Lee in the podcast and he added that MDT has even signed new customers who said their preference is to do business with companies that share their concerns about social justice and equality issues.
As for Etchison, she puts a DEI concern on the table that we have not heard before in over a half dozen DEI focused podcasts. Her idea is that we have to stop looking at DEI simply as a concern inside the four walls of the credit union and instead look at it in a bigger community orientation. Her point: until there is real DEI in the community, a credit union's DEI focus can produce only so much good.
That is a huge idea and a huge challenge. Many credit unions are doing very well in regard to DEI inside walls - but how about in the community?
The mammoth idea here is that systemic racism results in, for instance, low credit scores for many - and so they become prey for payday lenders rather than good credit union members.
Help more people in your community achieve the successes they deserve and the result will be a stronger. more successful credit union.
How large is that idea?
You might sat the subtitle for this podcast is do good for your credit union or CUSO by doing good for the community.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Newsflash: ask the experts and they will tell credit union executives that a tidal wave of fraud very likely will be crashing into them and soon.
Why? For the past year criminals have been kept busy attempting to cash in on the various federal and state government pandemic related relief programs such as PPP loans. That money is drying up so they are casting their eyes in search of new targets and you just may have a bullseye on your back.
That’s why you need to hear this wide ranging conversation with two Jack Henry fraud and financial crimes experts, Rene Perez and Nat Southern.
This is a conversation about crime trends and also about crime trends that remain largely ignored.
A big trend for instance is that as financial institutions, especially the big ones, have toughed their perimeter defenses, criminals have shifted focus and are eyeing credit union members for vulnerabilities - which they very often will find.
Perez says a trigger for this is that many financial institutions have simply gotten very sophisticated, often in response to prodding from regulators.
But he adds that he talks with maybe 10 small financial institutions a week that are still doing a lot of their fraud work on paper, with humans doing the reporting.,
That increasingly is just not adequate, not when smart criminals enter the battle.
You will also hear a phrase - “willful blindness.” That’s a term regulators are using to describe an institution’s failure to detect fraud perpetrated by insiders or perhaps by friends or community leaders.
This is not a technical conversation. It is more in the nature of cops and robbers and what you need to know about the robbers who want to steal your credit union’s money.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Welcome to the CU2.0 doubleheader podcast where you will hear two perspectives on DEI and the industry.
"We are stronger together." That is what Emma Norman, director of learning and development at Local Government Federal Credit Union and also chief diversity officer at the African American Credit Union Coalition, has to say when asked why LGFCU is all in when it comes to supporting the Credit Union DEI Collective.
She adds that what she tells credit unions is that "DEI has to be part of your strategy."
Think on that. DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion, a movement that gained force in the past year as evidence multiplied that the United States is a country with deep, lingering racial divides - just maybe is a whole lot more than a nice to do.
"DEI is a business imperative," said Lynn Heckler, chief talent officer at PSCU. Her point: the credit unions and allied companies that want longterm success will be very sure they look much like their communities and across America those communities are increasingly diverse,
This is a wide ranging podcast, with two very different voices and perspectives but the two women agree on this: DEI is a real, important concern.
Local Government FCU of course is a powerhouse. Its assets exceed $3 billion.
PSCU is the nation's leading payments CUSO - it supports 1500 credit unions and their many billions of payments annually.
These are two important institutions - and that is why it matters that they are saying DEI is real and it is real for any business.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You know Renee Sattiewhite. She's CEO of the African American Credit Union Coalition (AACUC), has been a past guest on this podcast (episode 101), she is a co-star in DCUC's Tony Hernandez's recent podcast (155) and she is the person to see if you want to know how African Americans are faring in credit union c-suites, in boardrooms, and as they stand in teller lines.
But, lately. in the DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) universe, her interests are broadening and she is pondering how many minorities (Latinos and women for instance) are succeeding in credit unions.
DEI, she says, is not a minute, it's a movement. Indeed. Started amid the despair of last summer - George Floyd RIP - a year into it and the question has to be, what's been accomplished. Sattiewhite tells her opinion in this podcast.
Know that progress is getting made. But this is hard, continuing work.
A recent project is CCEP - cross-cultural exchange program - where credit union people are pared with another, typically of a different race, possibly a different gender - for a 90 day dialog.
A talk with Sattiewhite is lively. She laughs. She mentions people you should know (Pete Crear, Victor Corro -- both past CU 2.0 podcast guests by the way).
She also expresses fundamental optimism because, she says, talk with young people (Millennials and Gen X) and "they are not playing around." These young people want change and are unprepared to accept less. For them real racial and gender equality is non negotiable.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Now don't you wish you had a magic decoder ring?
There's an alphabet soup in the podcast title. Let me decipher.
DCUC - Defense Credit Union Council, the trade group for some 181 military themed credit unions (and many are behemoths - Navy Fed, Pen Fed, you get the picture).
Tony Hernandez is the DCUC CEO, after logging 25 years in the Air Force where he finished as a colonel.
AACUC is the African American Credit Union Coalition. You know AACUC because last year the CEO Renee Sattiewhite was a guest on the show. Remember that name because you will hear it frequently in this podcast.
As for CCEP that's a new AACUC initiative that has paired people of different backgrounds and often different races for a 90 day interaction.
Hernandez is on the steering committee, and he has authored CUInsight blogs explaining the why of CCEP.
The first CCEP round comes to a close in July, but the hunt already is on for participants in a new round.
Experts debate when the US will become minority majority, meaning whites will no longer be in the majority, but one fact is certain: that day is coming and now is the time to focus on efforts to produce more harmonious race relations, And a big part of that just is talking with people not like us. (Whatever we are.)
Along the way in this Hernandez podcast you will hear a great deal about why defense credit unions matter, why they have an ideal membership mix, and how a 25 year Air Force veteran transitioned into the credit union world.
Hernandez' personal story is something you didn't expect, from how his wife was instrumental in his getting the DCUC job (never sneer at being a plus one!) to musings about the difficulties in ascending the military ranks ladder.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
An elderly member contacts you. He/she has a stack of medical bills, little in savings, but substantial equity in a home. What are the options? How can you help?
Two obvious choices are a HELOC and a reverse mortgage but there are significant problems with both. When there are no other options, well, maybe....
But now there is a third way and today's podcast guest, Joe Cianciolo, CEO of HomePace, is here to tell us about what amounts to co-investing in single family homes (sorry condo owners, HomePace presently is not investing in them. It also is not interested in rental property or vacation homes).
What HomePace does is buy an option to purchase up to 17.5% of a home. It pays for that ownership now, But it does not collect until the home is sold, or in rare cases the owner buys out their position. That means HomePace is in for the longterm.
HomePace is a passive investor. It has no right to force a sale.
HomePace's investment is not debt. It has no impact on the homeowner's FICO score.
Another HomePace play is co-investing in a new home purchase. Say a buyer is cash short and can come up with only 10% of the purchase price for a downpayment. HomePace may match that 10%, qualifying the buyer for more favorable loan terms.
In such cases, HomePace envisions the credit union as the mortgage originator - and that's a plus in a time when credit union mortgage market share continues to slip. A new tool in a credit union's lending tool set just may help close more deals.
Note: HomePace requires its owners to have a minimum 10% equity in a home. It will not invest in a no down or 3% down purchase. Lenders who portfolio mortgages generally will accept the HomePace participation.
In this podcast, Cianciolo tells how HomePace works, what it looks for in a deal, what states it operates in (and one state where it believes it unlikely it ever will do business), and why it especially likes credit unions as partners.
A number of players now are in this co-investing market but a HomePace distinction it that it already is working with one credit union on its deals, it believes it will announce several more shortly, and it is actively seeing additional credit union partners.
There are many cases where a co-investor is an obvious advantage in a deal. Check out HomePace and this co-investing universe. There just may be advantages for members in need.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Jon Voorhees has spent his work life optimizing branch performance. He has headed initiatives where an institution added hundreds of branches and he has headed initiatives where hundreds of branches were closed. His last job at a financial services company - he now is a consultant based in Washington State - was as a senior vice president at Bank of America and you can guess how many challenges he faced at that bank.
But he knows credit unions too and in recent years has worked with a number on a simple question: how to optimize the branch strategy. The question is easy to ask but hard to answer, especially since so much that impacts branching, from the pandemic to financial technology, keeps changing.
One thing Voorhees is adamant about: branches aren't going way.
Another thing: branches make for remarkably effective billboards for financial institutions. Maybe you cannot afford a sizable ad daily in your local newspaper, but a properly positioned branch, with the right kind of signage. just may succeed in reminding your community that you are still thriving, still ready to help with their financial services needs.
This is a wide ranging conversation, something of a primer on branch optimization,
Along the way you will find out where in supermarket branches make sense (or not), what could possibly go wrong with a branch that featured a Starbucks, and exactly where a branch needs to be in a shopping center.
Personally, I went into this podcast thinking, close'em all. I had come to think that branches had served their purpose and were done. After giving Voorhees a listen, I now believe there is indeed a valuable place for branches in the credit union system - but only when they are smartly sited, tweaked for today's times, and wear the right, eye-catching signage. And many institutions just aren't getting that right.
The fixes are in this podcast.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You know the headline - in fact you could write the story on the explosion in digital banking transactions during the last pandemic year.
But do you know this: there has also been an explosion in the use of digital self-service information gathering and problem solving.
That's the surprising news in a report from TimeTrade SilverCloud, a provider of customer engagement solutions.
In this podcast Bill Clark, CEO of TimeTrade SilverCloud offers the specifics - and prepared to be surprised. Everybody knew members have been using digital to check account balances and pay bills but who knew members were making strong use of digital to investigate everything from PPP loans to how to get contactless debit cards.
By TimeTrade SilverCloud's data, "Usage of online self-service increased 38% from March to April 2020 and has sustained a level 69% greater even a year later – demonstrating a shift in customer behavior to leverage self-service options before reaching out for live support."
Another factoid: Usage of knowledge based in mobile banking apps is up 82% year on year.
A third blockbuster number: "Chatbot usage on bank and credit union websites and mobile apps increased 272% year-over-year."
A last fact: Credit unions saw a 107% increase in year over year in pre-scheduling in branch appointments from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021.
The numbers tell the story: Something big has happened in regard to how we do our financial services.
This is a brisk podcast. Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Consider this podcast everything you wanted to know about credit unions and their social media channels but were afraid to ask. Or maybe you just didn't know to ask.
But the reality today is that social media have emerged as a crucial communications outlet - and for some generations they may be the most important way to communicate.
And yet the channels are so new. Twitter started in 2006. Facebook dates back to 2004. Instagram was launched in 2010. LinkedIn dates back 2003.
But for most credit unions it is safe to say their significant involvement in social media dates back maybe a handful of years.
And the media themselves evolve and change.
That's why you want to hear from Michelle Asher, a marketing manager with a specific focus on social media at ENT, the nation's 25th largest credit union with assets of $6.7 billion.
Asher is the first fulltime manager for social media at ENT but she came to the job with 25 years of experience in public relations and communications.
In the podcast she talks about the learning curve involved in joining the credit union industry - not so hard at ENT, she says, because there are many knowledgeable, helpful staff. She also talks about when and how legal and compliance weigh in on her content.
Along the way, Asher talks about a social media policy for employees - and know that there are times and places where an employee post can bring risks to a credit inion, even when the post is on an employee's personal account. If you haven't thought about that issue, now is the time.
We also find out how the various social media channels differ - and what works on Facebook might fail on both LinkedIn and Twitter. That's why professionals do not post the same content on multiple channels. Who knew?
Of course new channels keep emerging - think Tik Tok and ENT is not presently on it. Asher tells why.
This is an approachable conversation - but it has plenty of content both for credit unions with well oiled social media programs and those that are just dabbling in it.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
File this under trends that will rock the ground beneath your feet. The next wave in financial services will be self-direction, says Vince Bezemer, head of strategy at Backbase, whom you know from CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 110 (and the companion, 111, with Wildfire Credit Union, a Backbase customer).
Now Bezemer is back with a big message: members no longer want you to tell them how to do what they want to do. You can't offer 90% account origination online but in the last mile insist a branch visit is key.
In a similar vein, the money centers banks no longer will be able to bully customers into using digital solutions when what they want is high touch analog.
There's a revolution coming, warns Bezemer, and the FIs that thrive will be the ones that get the message that today's member calls the shots.
And for the FIs that resist this, there's the reality that at least some FIs already have heard this message and are charging ahead.
For credit unions, Bezemer's message is that it's not enough the digitize, say, 25% of your products and tell members that for the rest, come to the branch.,
It's something of a different challenge from that facing the mega banks, where cost cutting and branch closures are accelerating a drive to push digital.
Wherever you are on the digital-analog continuum, there are warnings to be had in this podcast - and action steps to take. But this isn't a stern lecture, it's a breezy, fast, fun talk about what financial services need to look like soon, like tomorrow.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
It was the members' personal stories that hooked Samira Rajan early in her employment at what then was known as the Bushwick Cooperative and now is the Brooklyn Cooperative. When she started there it was in 2001 as a volunteer via AmeriCorp Vista the recently founded credit union had assets of $299,000, four employees (including her), and a membership of under 1000.
Rajan has been there ever since. Today it has assets of $50 million, 16 employees, and two branches (one in Bushwick, the other in Bedford-Stuyvesant).
As for those stories, Rajan spent her early years at the institution as the loan officer and the stories she heard was from this member as to why she needed a $10,000 loan for her business, or from that member on why he needed a $5000 home improvement loan. These are stories about hopes and dreams and Rajan found it exciting to think about making dreams come true and also protecting the credit union's solvency.
As for how she wound up at the credit union in the first place, listen to the podcast. You need to hear the story from her but I will tell you it involves a bachelor's degree at Bryn Mawr where she doubled majored in economics and Spanish (and the Spanish matters in Bushwick where over half the residents are Latino). She then worked as an economist at the Federal Reserve in New York. But she got restless, she wanted to see if financial services could in fact help address economic inequalities. So she went to Harvard and earned a master's degree in public policy at the Kennedy School.
Flashback to 2001 when she earned that degree and she was back home in New York, the economy was sluggish, New York City was still recovering from 9/11, and she heard about this start up credit union in Bushwick and decided to check it out.
Next thing she knew she was a volunteer and soon that became a staff job.
In 2008 she became CEO.
In this podcast you will hear about the day to day challenge of keeping a small credit union vital, about the help Brooklyn Cooperative has gotten (or not gotten) from large banks and credit unions, and why it matters to be a CDFI, a community development financial institution.
Related podcasts mentioned in this one include CU 2.0 Podcast #15 with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv.
Also listen to CU 2.0 Podcast #37 with Cliff Rosenthal, a pioneer in the CDFI world.
And Luis Pastor at Latino Community Credit Union in Durham.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Cathi Kim's job title at Inclusiv, a trade association for community development credit unions, tells you why you need to listen to her. She's Director of Inclusiv/Capital which means her focus is on finding ways for community development credit unions, often very small, to bring in new capital, which can come from a range of places - government programs, big credit unions, foundations, the list goes on.
How can the CEO of a small CDCU find out about these capital sources? Probably she/he can't because there are only so many hours in the day and usually leadership in a CDCU wears many hats and a chunk of time to research funding possibilities just is hard to come by.
That's why Cathi Kim has to be in your contact list. Here's how Inclusiv describes her job duties: "Her role includes leading underwriting, market analysis and strategy development, advising on credit union regulations, business planning, and impact design to help credit unions strengthen their double bottom line of financial growth and community impact."
Understand, too, that Kim believes there's increasing interest in - and support for - purpose driven institutions and that, definitionally, is what a CDCU is. It's there to make a difference in its community and, according to Kim, there are many organizations that want to lend a helping hand.
Some have been writing the obituaries for America's small credit unions. Cathi Kim is about proving those notices are, shall we say, premature. There is plenty of life in front of the nation's small CDCUs - if they grab the helping hands that are out there.
For a broader view of Inclusiv, listen to CU 2.0 Podcast #15 with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv.
Also listen to CU 2.0 Podcast #37 with Cliff Rosenthal, a pioneer in the CDFI world.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Latino Community Credit Union was founded in 2000 in Durham NC when the community was rocked by a wave of robberies - even murders - of Latino workers who were paid in cash and were believed to walk around with their pockets stuffed with cash because they were unbanked.
Enter John Herrera - whom you know from CU 2.0 Podcast 142 - and a handful more helpers and visionaries who founded the credit union which now has about $600 million in assets.
Among the early volunteers was Luis Pastor who was in the US from his native Spain because his wife was pursuing graduate school and he had time on his hands. But soon he was offered the job of CEO and he took the offer. It's a job he is still in 21 years later and, he says, the fulfillment the job brings is what keeps him in it.
Like what? Pastor tells of borrowers who have been deported who are still paying their loans - that seems unthinkable but it is a reality in Durham because this is a credit union that engages in helping people who have been ignored by traditional financial institutions. Extend a helping hand to them and these are people who remember that and value the relationship.
A proof is that in 2020 Latino Community had a lower delinquency rate on loans than it had had in 2019. Despite the pandemic. And despite the fact that few of its members got stimulus checks.
Another pandemic fact about Latino Community Credit Union is that it did not close any branches. "Our community needed us," said Pastor. He adds that the credit union is planning an expansion into South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia and it now has 15 branches but plans are afoot for adding three more.
Pastor has a word of advice: "If credit unions are trying to steal members from Bank of America we are going to lose this battle."
Focus instead on the people who really need the services you offer and aren't getting them elsewhere.
Along the way, you will hear about some truly out of the box thinking. For instance: the credit union has sponsored vaccination days, where - working with Duke University - it has put shots in the arms of some 7000 members. You'd heard that Latinos are vaccine skeptics? True enough. But when people trust a place where their money, they also trust that institution to get them vaccinated.
Listen up.
Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees' Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine's thinking in this CUInsight blog.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Anil Aggarwal is an entrepreneur who knows a thing or two about providing venues where executives come together and good things happen. He was co-founder of Money 20/20, an event that redefined how financial services executives and fintech executives could profitably come together. After that venture was sold, he co-founded Shoptalk, a meeting venue for retail execs and technologists. That was sold off. And now he is creating his next new thing, Fintech Meetup, and you want to know about this June 15-17 virtual event that will link financial services execs with fintech execs in double opt-in meetings that last 15 minutes.
Why 15 minutes? Aggarwal says he has found that's the optimal time. If the two parties find they have more to talk about they can arrange it. Or they can part with smiles on their faces because it was only 15 minutes.
And you did notice these are dual opt in meetings. Both parties have to accept for the meeting to be scheduled.
And it's all virtual in our pandemic era.
Understand too that the tools and technologies are battle tested. That's a big plus.
Joining Aggarwal in this podcast is CU 2.0 founder Kirk Drake who has thoughts about why this event is a must for credit unions and free admission is just one of the attractions for credit union execs. There's a link in the show notes to how to claim free admission.
Know this. Your host is a grumpy, cynical veteran of too many financial services events to count, most of which were tedious. I am a huge fan of the early Money 20/20 events so when I heard the guy behind Money 20/20 was the force behind Fintech Meetup my interest went from tepid to torrid.
And credit union execs get in free.
That is a great deal.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
PSCU called it a growing credit union threat. CUNA Mutual called it one of the fastest growing malware threats. Security company Arctic Wolf has said there was a 520% increase in ransomware and phishing attacks in the banking sector between March and June 2020. NCUA has even issued a punchlist of steps to take to protect against ransomware attacks.
Color me surprised. I had thought ransomware - where hackers "lock" a site or a database and demand a ransom to unlock it - was a thing of the past. Data redundancy in the cloud had eliminated the threat, I thought.
I was wrong.
Crooks are nimble and in today's iteration of ransomware, yes, the site still is locked - but before that happens the crook makes a point to copy key files. Tell the crooks you won't play ball, or simply ignore their demands, and they up the ante by posting a sample of their data theft on publicly viewable sites. Imagine if the Social Security numbers of 10,000 of your members suddenly sprout up online. How ugly is that?
Would you pay to avoid that?
Crooks also know that increasing numbers of credit unions have what amounts to ransomware insurance coverage and they also know how much the insurers will pay.
Don't underestimate them. Brilliant hackers they are not necessarily - some in fact simply use ransomware kits they buy online - but here is what it takes to defeat them: recognizing that security is a 24/7, 365 days a year job, says Robert Siciliano, a longtime cybersecurity expert who works with many organizations to help them raise their defenses.
It is not being paranoid, believing we are under continuing attacks, insists Siciliano in this podcast. It is just being prudent
This is not a podcast overloaded with technical jargon. What it is is a podcast intended to light a fire under all of us because we need that zeal if we intend to win, says Siciliano.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
At 29 Randy Icelow said he was a temp worker for a bus company in California's Central Valley and flashforward to now he is 38 and CEO of a $63 million credit union, Rolling F based in Turlock CA, where its SEG is Foster Farms, one of the biggest chicken companies in the country.
This podcast grew out of a post Icelow put up on the CU 2.0 Facebook group where he recounted his story. Reading his story we knew he had to be a podcast guest because his is an inspiration story of success in the face of failure. He graduated from college in 2008 with a finance degree and you remember how dismal the credit union and bank job markets were then. He bounced around a bit, took more classes, got a job as a school teacher in Stockton, which proceeded to file bankruptcy. He was back working as a temp and he lucked out. He got a gig at a credit union which liked him so much they hired him onto regular staff.
After a while he applied for a CEO job at a bank - didn't get it but learned a lot - and then applied for the CEO job at Rolling F which he did not get. A retired banker got the job but the board advised him to hire Icelow and train him up to be his successor, which came to pass in three years.
You like that story? Of course you do.
But there are other great stories in this podcast. For instance, Icelow says that a Rolling F specialty is refinancing car loans - and many come in with a loan that has a rate of maybe 29%, which Rolling F can in some cases get down to 5.5%. The monthly payment goes from $500 to half that and an extra $250 per month in that worker's pocket is big money.
Magic happened in Icelow's personal life but now he is making magic happen in the lives of the hard workers who are his members.
Can Rolling F survive with $60 million in assets? Listen to his answer - and as you hear it remember that $500 monthly note on a 10 year old Nissan Sentra, You just may be persuaded by his math and his passion.
Listen up.
Along the way, mention is made of the CU 2.0 podcast with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusive, the trade group for CDFis.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The building still stands at 420 Notre Dame Avenue in Manchester NH. That's where the nation's first credit union - St. Mary's Bank - opened its doors in 1908, to serve founding French American mill workers (and, yes, much of the original paperwork was written in French).
St. Mary's Bank outgrew that space, moved into other facilities, but some years later it recognized that it wanted to preserve its original history and an attempt to buy it from its then owner was made.
It did not succeed.
As for how therefore the building now houses the America's Credit Museum you want to listen to this podcast with Stephanie Smith, executive director of the museum.
The museum now is deep into an effort to capture and preserve the memories of a generation of credit union leaders who are entering retirement.
Words of advice: don't throw away your archives without first contacting the museum. You may well have pieces that the museum will covet as it seeks to document the how of the rise of America's credit union movement. You'll hear more about this process in the podcast.
You will also hear how and why you want to visit the museum - which is about an hour north of Boston. Of course the pandemic has impacted the museum - it is presently open only by appointment. But that will change and, even better, the pandemic has prompted the museum to step up its efforts to digitize its collections which will put them within reach of us wherever we are.
Ultimately, said Smith, the mission of the museum is to capture the credit union difference - and that happens through the histories of the many in the movement who have shaped today's credit unions.
Listen up.
Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees' Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine's thinking in this CUInsight blog.
Also mentioned is Bucky Sebastian. His podcast is here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Before logging into this call, I studied up on who John Herrera is. He was born in Costa Rica, then came to the US to go to college at the University of Delaware and one thing led to another and instead of going back to Costa Rica to build a better society he stayed in the US and has worked on building a better society for all of us but with a special focus on Hispanic immigrants such as himself.
My first question to him, off mike, is how did he get from there to here. The podcast starts off with him telling that saga.
Today Herrera is a senior vice president at Self-Help in North Carolina, where his focus is on Hispanic relations and he has been busy building banking relationships with immigrant communities in North Carolina but also Illinois, Florida and California.
Also on is resume is that he is a co-founder of the very successful Latino Community Credit Union in North Carolina. That credit union got its start some 20 years ago when there was a wave of robberies and murders of immigrant workers who got paid in cash and often carried large sums.
He is the founder of El Pueblo in North Carolina which focuses on civil rights for immigrants.
He was named an immigrant innovator by President Barack Obama.
He was the first Hispanic immigrant elected to a North Carolina municipal office. He served as an alderman in Carrboro NC.
He was named by Time Magazine as one of 31 people who are changing the South.
In this podcast he offers rich and deep insights into how to serve immigrants - especially Hispanics - and he muses on how the United States is soon to become a minority majority nation (by 2045 according to many demographers). This is smart, sensitive commentary. Take notes. It's a primer in how to serve a crucial US demographic.
Listen up.
Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees' Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine's thinking in this CUInsight blog.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
CUNA is still at its "Open Your Eyes" to a credit union campaign and Teresa Freeborn is still heading the effort. Regular listeners will remember Freeborn from her podcast two years ago, episode 29, and when she asked for a return we gladly said yes.
You probably heard that CUNA paused the campaign last year for what was called a re-set. Freeborn tells what happened.
Along the way, CUNA spun the campaign off as a separate company January 1, 2020. The campaign now is led by CU Awareness, LLC
Freeborn also tells what is happening now where about half the nation's states are on board with supporting the campaign and more are on tap to go online this year.
Freeborn stresses in the podcast that this is a critical chance for credit unions to join together in lifting what has been a long stagnant market share. The big banks keep getting bigger. Credit unions need to fight the trend.
Freeborn's belief is that the cooperative structure and nature of credit unions is a huge advantage - but it is not always cleverly deployed. The "Open Your Eyes" campaign is a step in that direction.
(On that note, do read the CUInsight blog "Credit unions, Quo Vadis," which draws on a conversation with retired credit union CEO Jim Blaine to develop the theme that the cooperative foundation is the key to success in credit unions.)
In this podcast Freeborn clearly discusses her disappointments in leading this campaign and at the top of the list, there is meager participation among credit unions with over $1 billion in assets. By her count just 98 of the biggest 320 credit unions are supporting "Open Your Eyes" - and their maximum annual contribution is capped at $500,000. Freeborn does not know why the biggest are holding back and she is plain in her unhappiness about this.
"We are trying to build the credit union brand," said Freeborn and her point is that a rising tide lifts all ships. The campaign will benefit all credit unions.
Why don't more people join and make real use of credit unions? They don't believe they can join one and if they can, they don't believe it could have the national reach of the biggest banks. The facts are different - but many in the consuming public just don't know. Thus the need for a continuing campaign to put credit unions on the minds of many of us.
By the way, "Open Your Eyes" is an entirely digital campaign and you may think, I have never seen an ad. Freeborn says she too has never seen an ad but she is happy about that because the campaign is targeted - specifically at Millennials - and she is not in that group.
So if you are not seeing ads just maybe that means the campaign is functioning as designed.
Just coincidentally, on the day we talked for this podcast, Xceed, where Freeborn had been CEO, voted to merge with Kinecta. 83% of voting Xceed members approved the merger, which has created a $6 billion credit union, the nations 35th largest. Freeborn is staying on as president and has promised a return visit to discus in detail the merger and what it may mean for credit unions.
This podcast is only about "Open Your Eyes." That's a huge topic on its own. Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and th
This is not an infomercial for Scienaptic, an AI vendor with a particular focus on lending.
There are two guests on the podcast - Eric Steinhoff, a Scienaptic executive vice president, and Kevin Willborn, vice president of consumer lending at $3.3 billion Gesa Credit Union.
Essentially you will hear that Scienaptic's tools are a way to speed up loan decisioning and also to make the decisions very possibly better. It's hard not to like better and faster.
Willborn also tells what loans he plans to run through Scienaptic - lots of different kinds.
This is a tight podcast but in it you will hear how Scienaptic in fact creates better tools for smarter underwriting. It's a short course in the secret sauce of an AI engine.
Steinhoff also tells why he prefers to work with credit unions over community banks. You will want to hear this.
At Gesa, meantime, the determination is to up its lending game and that is why Willborn took a look at new tools for smarter processing. When he heard the Scienaptic presentation he knew he had found the vendor for Gesa.
Right now, Scienaptic has multiple credit union clients but it is looking for more.
Find out more about AI in CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 138, a lively talk with CU 2.0 founder Kirk Drake. Link here.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
On July 1, Sundie Seefried, longtime CEO of Partner Colorado Credit Union, makes a huge career change. On that day she resigns the credit union job to become the CEO of Safe Harbor Financial, LLC, a Partner Colorado subsidiary formed for the purpose of handling cannabis related banking.
When Safe Harbor was created in 2015, it was a groundbreaking institution for conducting compliance based banking that would satisfy regulators.
Safe Harbor has become a big, consuming business and, said Seefried, it's helped put credit unions into the conversation of cannabis banking - and, increasingly, that is a conversation that is being heard as more states legalize marijuana. Included are multiple big states: California, Washington, Michigan, and Illinois. In only a handful of states is marijuana fully illegal.
In this podcast Seefried talks about the process of validating the cash that flows through a marijuana business. She also talks about the early days of Safe Harbor - and the hostility and ridicule she faced.
Who's laughing now?
By any measure, Sundie Seefried has emerged as the queen of cannabis banking.
What would her father, a Baptist, missionary think about this? We ask her.
Just as we ask about that uncommon first name, Sundie.
We ask about being perceived as a maverick in a credit union industry that does not always revere its mavericks.
The one question she is asked that she doesn't answer is the question, are there plans to take Safe Harbor public?
Her podcast with CUInsight is mentioned. Here's a link.
Reference is made to how much it costs to open a Dairy Queen franchise - and surely you want to know how that came up. Listen for it.
Earlier CU 2.0 cannabis related podcast guests include Paul Stull, also multiple guests on two long cannabis podcasts, episode 20 and an early unnumbered show.
Listen up. This is a fun episode.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Start today, really embrace AI - artificial intelligence, where machines think and they are good at it when fed enough of the right data - and, guess what, you are already four or five years behind the leaders and that group includes most of the money center banks and maybe even a few credit unions.
Sounds gloomy? Well, it is, kind of, but CU2.0 founder Kirk Drake is here with a new book, FinAncIal, which aims to tell credit union executives what they need to know about AI and also what they need to get doing, right now. This book is not so much about theory as it is an action manual and, know this, AI is something every credit union needs to be exploring right now.
The good news is that there are many hundreds of AI focused fintechs that are actively hunting for credit union customers.
The better news is that those fintechs can be met through the CU2.0 Mastermind Group. Drake talks a bit about the CU mastermind in this podcast - and he and a few members exhibit a bit of what it's like to be in one in this podcast, #121. An earlier podcast - #106 - lets Drake and executive coach Dr. Patty Ann Tublin talk about what a mastermind group is and how it works.
But back to AI. The Matrix is now and you can choose the blue pill (blissful ignorance) or the red (confronting the sometimes unpleasant realities ahead ) abut the deal is that AI is the red pill and it is the future no matter how many blue pills you munch.
Why do so many credit union execs want to dodge the unpleasant uncertainties of embracing AI and the wholesale institutional changes it will deliver? We talk about that in this podcast and a lot of it is simply that credit union people are nice people but they sometimes don't want to dive into changes that will discomfit many.
Except with AI there is no choice. It is coming your way no matter how tightly shut your eyes are.
In the podcast Drake tells why - and what you need to get doing, like this afternoon.
Buckle up, it's a fast ride.
Listen here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You may think you have it tough managing a credit union in the pandemic. You need to talk with David Tuyo, CEO of University Credit Union, with assets edging up towards $1 billion and a growth rate in loans that's running around 30% per year.
2020 too saw sustained growth - in assets, loans, and even members. That's despite the reality that University serves a membership of what the name suggests: colleges and universities, mainly in California, some faith based (St. Mary's College in northern California and Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles), others large publics (UCLA and University of California Irvine). The kicker is that California colleges were closed for much of 2020 due to the pandemic and yet University grew.
And every University branch was closed. Still it thrived.
How? Tuyo tells in this podcast.
The credit union had had a multi-year plan to go full into digital. What had been envisioned as a three year transformation took three months.
He also notes that University's compensation is entirely team based - that is, raises are a result of the organization's performance. Not the individual's.
Another Tuyo word of advice: now is the time to let your nerd out. He means dig into and revel in the data. Really know your members and prospective members, what they need and want.
At around $875 million in assets, can University survive? Tuyo says his benchmark is that he wants the credit union to perform at the rate of a $2 billion institution. That, he thinks, is the velocity that is needed to stay competitive in a world where a handful of big banks control half the banking in the U.S.
Along the way mention is made of a CUBroadcast show he did. It's linked here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU 2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Know this about Pete Crear: He was the first to win the lifetime achievement award from the African American Credit Union Coalition - and when they gave him the award in 2003 they decided to name it after him.
The roster of Pete Crear Lifetime Achivement Award winners is now a dazzling hall of fame of credit union heroes and heroines, including several who have been in the CU 2.0 Podcast - Bill Bynum and Bert Hash, Jr.
The podcast opens with how Crear felt when he was told that, not only did he win the award, it was now named after him. You will like his authenticity.
Just who is Pete Crear? Here's the press release that went out when he retired as CEO of WOCCU, the World Council of Credit Unions.
The release noted: "Prior to joining WOCCU, Crear was CUNA’s executive vice president of external relations and, before that, executive vice president and chief operating officer responsible for daily operations of the Madison, Wis., office. He also served in top leadership positions at the Indiana, Connecticut and Michigan credit union leagues."
Crear also is of an age where he saw the nation change. He vividly remembers the impact of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society legislation that made civil rights a legal reality, not just a talking point.
And he remembers the job discrimination he encountered when he applied for his first adult job.
Does he think matters are better now for African Americans - both credit union members and employees? Listen to the podcast for his answers.
In the podcast Crear mentions a CPA he worked for early on, Richard Henry Austin, who went on to serve as Michigan's first African American Secretary of State.
He name checks Bucky Sebastian - a past podcast guest - for helping rid NCUA of regulations that made it harder for African Americans to borrow.
Crear also tosses a praise bouquet at Angela Russell, a CUNA Mutual executive, and Cliff Rosenthal who literally wrote the book on CDFIs.
One more name to mention: Renee Sattiewhite, CEO of the AACUC and a past podcast guest.
A last fact to know about Pete Crear: this is a very good natured man. He laughs. He shares himself. And he wants to make the world a better place.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU 2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Overdraft fees are big business for most financial institutions and it's estimated that 20% of credit union members, one in five, have an NSF annually.
The worse news is that the credit union's NSF fee is just the start of the consumer's pain. Joel Schwartz, founder and co-CEO of DoubleCheck, a Los Angeles company with an innovative spin on how to best handle NSFs, estimates that the NSF can lead to perhaps $175 in ripple charges such as a returned item fee imposed by the payee of the bounced check.
Ouch.
DoubleCheck has an alternative - and, hold on you protest, your institution wants to maintain its NSF income, especially in today's economy where loan interest rates are anemic.
Schwartz gets that. He describes DoubleCheck as the financial equivalent of traffic school in the context of a speeding ticket. Go to traffic school and, usually, that wipes out the pain of an increase in insurance premiums.
What DoubleCheck's tool does is offer the consumer realtime options for dealing with the consequences of an NSF such as offering the opportunity to use a credit card to make good on the check or ACH, therefore it doesn't look like a bounced item to the payee. Whoosh, that $175 in ripple charges may vanish.
DoubleCheck charges $20, an amount it typically splits with the credit union - so in fact the credit union income goes up.
Sounds good? It gets better. The DoubleCheck tools - which make the NSF process transparent to the consumer - may help a credit union duck class action suits that claim discriminatory processing of NSFs.
There's a link in the show notes to a recent Navy Federal $16 million settlement involving NSF charges.
There's also a class action suit in progress. Link in the show notes.
Meantime, Schwartz predicts there will be Congressional action to limit NSF charges, a topic of much interest to Senator Cory Booker. See the link in the show notes.
DoubleCheck tools may help a credit union recoup some income that may be capped by federal action.
Mentioned in the show are SECU's NSF policies. The charge is $12 but the member gets a two day window without charge to clear up the issue. (Here's a link to a podcast with Jim Blaine, the retired SECU CEO.)
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Every day there are four data breaches. And every year literally of billions of dollars are lost in various frauds that are fed by the data stolen in breaches. Who pays the bulk of that loss? Financial institutions, says Jim Van Dyke, founder of Breach Clarity, an innovative company that wants to shed a bright light on the breaches themselves but also what any given breach means for this consumer.
Generally there's enormous opacity around breaches. Most organizations are slow to divulge details - and that makes it difficult for a consumer to decide on an appropriate action plan.
Breach Clarity aims to shine a spotlight on the breaches but also to tell consumers what steps they need to take to protect themselves.
Note: this is not a LifeLock type company. Breach Clarity is about research and personalized prescriptions that in many cases the consumer will take him- or herself, often in association with a participating financial institution.
Key to Breach Clarity is that its business plan involved signing up financial institutions who in turn will offer the service to their customers and members. It is not a direct to consumer play.
Another key: for now Breach Clarity's focus is on signing up credit unions in particular. The member focus, says Van Dyke, makes Breach Clarity a tool that credit unions will want to offer members.
And a benefit is that Breach Clarity may well reduce a credit union's fraud losses and also call center costs associated with breached members.
The first Breach Clarity customer is BCU (nee Baxter Credit Union). Check out a recent CUBroadcast show featuring Van Dyke and BCU's Carey Price.
BCU forecasts its ROI on Breach Clarity will be 5x.
By the way, if Van Dyke's name seems familiar it is because it should be. He was a co-founder of Javelin, a strategy and research firm focused on financial services. In a spot check, I found I cited Javelin research and opinions 61 times when I wrote for CUTimes. That's a lot.
Check the Breach Clarity database for credit unions and there are 39 breaches. Is your FI on the list?
Don' be lulled by that small number, Van Dyke warns. Few credit unions are breached - buy they still are where much fraud shows up, using data stolen in other breaches.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Sit back and listen. Over the next 45 minutes what you will hear is how a data geek thinks because Karan Bhalla, CEO of CU Rise, will show you.
I did not ask Bhalla to do a demo. This just is what he does.
Show him a pile of data - it could be anything: from your Safeway grocery receipts for last year through a credit union's auto loan portfolio - and Bhalla will begin sifting, searching for the meaning in the data.
Think like a quant, he says, and quant is Wall Street slang for a math maestro. Quants gave us securitized mortgages - "we had no idea how much people would lie," a quant who played a role in developing that instrument told me some years back.
But a quant like Bhalla can help a credit union figure out how to make more and better car loans and, get this, a quant can even help a credit union figure out which borrowers who are veering into default are most likely to pay up if contacted by the credit union.
Don't miss Bhalla's CU Compare which lets a credit union compare its performance metrics to a competitors or a group of competitors. At what price? Free for the basic service (add-ons with fees are available but Bhalla says the basic version is very rich).
Bhalla has been in data analytics for many years and, he says, the biggest change is that nowadays credit unions of just about all sizes want to make data analytics work for them. Used to be only the big institutions had an interest. Now institutions of all sizes recognize that data is what paves the path to prosperity.
In this podcast Bhalla offers tips on how to get started but he also talks about how to go ever deeper.
Quants rule - you will be a believer before the podcast ends.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Ask Ray Crouse, CEO of the roughly $250 million in assets Parsons Federal Credit Union, if he is helming an endangered institution and be ready to get an earful.
Crouse well knows the NCUA data that show big credit unions growing (ones over $1 billion in assets) while little credit unions, and Parsons counts as small in many metrics, are struggling for air.
But Crouse does not see Parsons as endangered.
A few years ago, Crouse and the board explored how big Parsons FCU needed to be to be secure and the number that came back was $350 million. That is now the five year growth target and it obviously falls far short of the $1 billion minimum size some seers throw out for credit union survival.
But Crouse is confident the number will works fine for Parsons.
A big part of the reason is that Parsons is an unusual institution. It still primarily serves a single SEG (engineering company Parsons), it has just two branches (Pasadena, CA and Centreville VA), it has just three ATMs (but it belongs to CO-OP's ATM network and also reimburses members for any fees incurred in using out of network ATMs), and member appearances at branches are rare. It's an institution that went online and digital before Covid and that's because the bulk of the members are engineers and people accustomed to being around engineers.
Parsons has just 22 employees. Some credit union half its size have twice as many employees.
In this podcast you will hear why Crouse is confident of survival and you will also hear how to well serve members in a contactless context.
There's a grumble about NCUA's demands on board members.
And Crouse also tells that Parsons is open to a merger but is in no rush and, first and foremost, needs to find a group that will be compatible with the Parsons engineering employees.
This could have been a woe is me, downbeat discussion about managing a credit union in an era of vanishing loan interest rates. It's anything but. Crouse is upbeat. You will be too when you listen.
Want more Crouse? Listen to the CU2.0 Mastermind podcast - he's one of the guests.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Lee Wetherington, director of strategic insight at Jack Henry, the big core maker (Symitar is theirs), has a picture in his head of the path to success for tomorrow's credit unions. Picture yourself as a platform, he says, and, yes, a platform company is Amazon, for instance, and what makes Amazon a platform is that it creates an environment where many other vendors can also sell and consumers in turn can reap the benefits of choice and keen prices.
How's that apply to credit unions? Wetherington sees the credit union as a platform where the best, most useful finech tools are aggregated to best serve an institution's members. The credit unions with the best tools win.
A necessary ingredient in this equation: core systems that provide an open environment that allows for reasonably easy and inexpensive integration of third party tools and, yes, some core providers maintained rather closed universes. But that just won't work going forward, insists Wetherington.
Buckle up because Wetherington has more big ideas to throw your way. He says, for instance, that early in 2021 Google will unveil a powerful suite of banking tools that will be free to credit unions to offer to their members. But he calls it a Faustian bargain. That's because what Google wants is the data of the members and although Google says it will not ask credit unions for access to the data, it has another route to getting it. In the podcast, Wetherington tells how.
There's also a provocative discussion of cores in the cloud. Accept that that is the future and, actually, it's better that way for most institutions.
By the way, Wetherington is adamant that core systems are a lasting part of the financial services universe. But he tweaks that by explaining that nowadays cores come in many different forms, with many different capabilities.
It's a wide ranging podcast. Hop aboard for a voyage into tomorrow and your credit union.
In this podcast mention is made of a 2000 article I wrote for MITs Technology Review magazine. There's a link to the interviews with Google's founders in the show notes.
There's also a link to a 2012 article I wrote on Google and its introduction at the 2012 Money2020 show of a predecessor to the banking tools it now is about to unveil.
A third link is to a Google video on its banking tools. Watch it.
A fourth link is to a story I wrote on neo bank Lili.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Are credit union members healthier?
The $3 billion Colorado based Canvas Credit Union knows the answer for its members - and the answer is that they are.
That's because, Canvas, working with Filene, compiled data that looked at the health of its members versus average Coloradans along three fronts: financial, social, and health. The verdict is that Canvas members score higher on all three fronts.
That, said Tansley Stearns, guest for this podcast and chief people and strategy officer at Canvas, is excellent news - both for the members themselves but also for the credit union.
That is because she believes that the brands that win over the next 10 years are the brands that consumers believe advance their health.
Stearns hopes that other credit unions do similar research and if there is a pattern where credit unions collectively boost members' health think about the power of that messaging in getting across the credit union difference.
Doing good by members just may be the credit union ticket to ride to competitive success.
Learn more about this in this lively podcast.
If this podcast leaves you wanting to hear more from Stearns, watch her CUBroadcast segment on this topic here. It's a lively 12 minutes.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Suddenly a lot of credit union CEO eyes are turned to small business as the financial institutions hunt for ways to bring in profitable business.
And credit unions - many of which have been especially active in PPP lending - are finding that small business is receptive to their overture. The money center banks often are indifferent to small businesses and community banks often lag in the tech tools small businesses want in a financial institution.
Monit, a new cashflow management app for small businesses, just may be the tool that helps bring in more small business members.
Monit is not in any app stores, it is only available to members and customers of financial institutions that are Monit customers, said Steve Dow, Monit CEO. The Monit app is customized to resemble the credit union's.
Dow added that Bank of America lately has made much of its Cash Flow Monitor for small business - but Monit puts a similar tool set in the hands of small business users at credit unions and community banks.
What Monit does is monitor key financial numbers for the small business and it also forecasts cashflow.
For the credit union, additional tools are offered. For instance, a credit union can see exactly what share of wallet it has of small business members. Note: that data is anonymized except for small businesses that explicitly opt to disclose their data.
Monit will also help a credit union find targeted lending opportunities so that more efficient and effective offers can be made.
How Monit works is that it ties into the accounting software used by the member - often Quickbooks. Monit does not require integration into the credit union's core.
In the podcast Dow explained the benefits for both the small business and the credit union with Monit.
He also talked at length about Monit's PPP related tools which will prove newly useful in the fresh wave of PPP lending.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Don't you wish you knew when a member is about to pop down a Chase credit card to buy a pricey pair of Nikes - especially when you are prepared to offer a $5 discount just for using your institution's credit card?
Just that is the thought that has powered the development of Mall IQ, a San Francisco and Istanbul based company that has won backing for FIS. But Batu Sat, Mall IQ founder, acknowledged to us that the company's ambitions go way beyond malls and it wants to connect financial institutions with customers and members wherever they are - high streets, car dealerships, furniture stores, and of course malls.
Mall IQ has digitized and mapped many shopping environments so it can know your member is in a Nike store and not a GAP. "We understand the floor plan" said Sat.
A member enrolls in the Mall IQ program through the credit unions' mobile banking app. That enables push notifications of deals, discounts, etc. when using the credit union's card to make purchases.
"This is not spray and pray marketing," said Sat.
Mall IQ offers a one month trial of the product before a credit unions signs a contract.
At a time when every credit union is hunting for new revenue streams, Mall IQ is coming along at an opportune time.
Check out how it works and what it does in this podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The pace of change at credit unions is quickening. That's the central message from Doug Brown, senior vice president and GM of Digital Banking at NCR.
In a wide ranging conversation, Brown explores five key trends:
- Channels quickly collapsed in 2020 as digital and physical experiences merged; this is only expected to accelerate next year. Experiences were ‘de-channeled’ as physical and digital experiences converged.
Banks and credit unions are now operating in a more dynamic, distributed model, causing de-channeling to occur at a rate much faster than initially expected, in some cases three or more years ahead.
- Branch strategy will shift to accommodate the evolution of self-service. Branches will remain relevant, but they must adapt to become part of the larger ecosystem. There will be a continued evolution of self-service, one that includes leveraging technology to provide touchless alternatives and increased automation to enable continued access to cash.
*The ATM will remain a critical touchpoint and utilize expanded functionality. ATMs are not going away. They are just getting smarter, more capable, and more fully digital.
- An increased focus on end-to-end delivery and management. Consumer behaviors will be dynamic into 2021 and beyond. Being able to quickly modify digital experiences and business structures to accommodate customer needs and provide a consistent user experience regardless of channel will be a competitive imperative moving forward. This is all part of the profound shift toward digital first banking.
* Small business earns bigger focus. The pandemic disproportionately impacted small businesses and gig economy workers; they faced a drastic liquidity crisis. Small and micro businesses have experienced a heightened need for financial advice and guidance. This year, we saw many community and large regional banks step up and help businesses through PPP loans, even when the national institutions elected not to. This has caused the smaller and mid-tier institutions to win market share and gain new business accounts, a significant opportunity.
Listen up, Brown in this podcast offers a vivid picture of an existing credit union experience that blends digital with legacy banking.
In this podcast, mention is made of the new digital bank, Lili. Story here.
A related podcast is with Octavio Marquez, a senior VP ar Diebold Nixdorf. Listen here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
A dirty secret inside credit unions is that many frontline workers - and very possibly most senior staff - just do not use their institution's digital banking tools. Why bother when you work in a branch? Just walk up to a teller and, whoosh, task handled.
And then along comes a pandemic that closes many branches, and makes many members and employees leery of setting foot in the open ones, and suddenly there is a stampede to adopt digital. A couple problems however. A lot of the institution's staff cannot adequately explain how to use the tools because of their own lack of familiarity and a lot of the members who are newly adopting digital are starting at ground zero and genuinely need help.
Enter John Findlay's Digital Academy, a SaaS (software as a service) tool that aims to solve both problems for credit unions.
Better still: right now there is a 90 day free trial because, says Findlay, the company wanted to do its part in helping financial institutions and their members and customers meet the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
What Digital Academy gives financial institutions is an automated way to create an instructional walkthrough that can be used by members and employees alike. How easy is it to create this? Often an institution can create a walkthrough for, say, Mobile Remote Deposit Capture in perhaps a half hour, says Findlay.
How can it be that easy? Remember, it's automated. Basically the credit union grabs perhaps a half dozen screen shots. How simple is that?
The cost? Findlay says the company's tool kit is available for a fee correlated to asset size. An institution in the $100 million range might pay around $15,000 annually. An institution with $1 billion in assets might pay $100,000 annually.
He stresses that significant staff technical expertise is not required to create an instructional walkthrough. The aim of the tools is to democratize the creation of learning tools.
In the podcast there is mention of a CUBroadcast show - here's the link.
There's also mention of a podcast about the CU2.0 Mastermind group - link here.
**Get your FREE ticket to the December 9th CU2.0 Fintech Mastermind Presents Showcase Day 2020. This is the first of its kind event where CU 2.0 has brought together the industries' top leaders form well known Credit Unions and paired them up with top Fintech experts in one place! Our subject matter expert will help you and your organization tackle the top issues we face today with unique master classes, tailored for folks just like you.
Get your ticket at Eventbrite. Click here.**
Read up to learn more about Mastermind groups here in this CU2.0 blog post.
Hear the first CU2.0 Mastermind podcast here. In this episode Kirk Drake and Dr. Patty Ann Tublin, who facilitates the CU2.0 Mastermind groups, talk about why and how Mastermind groups work and who will benefit from them.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Is now the time to bury the ATM?
A few months ago the answer looked like a definite maybe but now, says Octavio Marquez, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Global Banking, Diebold Nixdorf, ATM traffic is up across much of the US and oftentimes it is higher than pre-pandemic levels had been.
What's happening, says Marquez, is that financial institutions - credit unions very much included - are rethinking their branch networks and in that process many are also rethinking the role of the ATM. That new look at ATMs is accelerated by the reality that many of us are seeking to minimize person to person interactions. And financial institutions are also beginning to look at the ATM as not just a piece of machinery but as a useful player in digital banking.
Along the way, Marquez talks about new uses for ATMs. They no longer are just about spitting out money and taking deposits. On many we can now pay utility bills. Some can also perform KYC chores for a credit union. Some can print out and distribute a new debit card.
Clearly it's no longer simply your father's two note machine.
The podcast opens with a brief discussion of a new partnership of Truliant Credit Union and Diebold Nixdorf where DN All Connect Services are now available to Truliant members. Said the press release, "The comprehensive service will increase branch and ATM channel efficiency, offer enhanced digital integration and provide members with modern and convenient self-service banking options.”
Rik Kielbasa, chief digital officer at Truliant, said: “Our expanded partnership with Diebold Nixdorf will help us anticipate future market needs and develop even stronger connections with our members. User expectations around ATM services are constantly evolving, and enhanced functionality allows us to exceed these expectations and increase service levels. Implementing DN Allconnect Managed Services offers opportunities to continuously optimize the member experience so we never miss a moment with them.”
In the same press release, Marquez said, "Together, we’re on a mission to amplify Truliant’s membership through a truly consumer-centric, highly-available ATM experience.”
Listen up.
**Get your FREE ticket to the December 9th CU2.0 Fintech Mastermind Presents Showcase Day 2020. This is the first of its kind event where CU 2.0 has brought together the industries' top leaders form well known Credit Unions and paired them up with top Fintech experts in one place! Our subject matter expert will help you and your organization tackle the top issues we face today with unique master classes, tailored for folks just like you.
Get your ticket at Eventbrite. Click here.**
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Ask Larry Nichols, CEO of Member Driven Technologies, a Michigan based CUSO, what's in the future for credit unions and he has a one word answer: Digital.
Actually, that oversimplifies the answer because in this podcast Nichols and I talk for about 40 minutes about what's next and he in fact ticks off four basic themes:
-
Digital banking - by which he means many, many things besides mobile and online banking. E-signatures for instance. Also digital account opening. Digital is the future of banking.
-
The evolution of the branch
-
The new need for business continuity planning
-
The need to find new ways credit unions can support their communities in this time of need.
Along the way, Nichols evangelizes for cloud based core systems, the central MDT focus. Around 106 credit unions are MDT core customers and, Nichols says, this is a way to have the latest technologies - but to leave the hefty lifting to professionals.
He's probably right. Many credit unions would benefit from turning their cores over to a third party to manage in the cloud.
There are explanations about why that is so in this podcast.
The podcast starts with the question: How many member owners are there for your CUSO? The answer will surprise you.
A technical matter: after the podcast was recorded, Nichols emailed to say he had misremembered the date when MDT first offered mobile banking. That wrong date has been erased and, in my voice, you will hear the right date, 2008. Larry's voice did not inexplicably change. It's my voice.
Also for the record, the Apple iPhone was introduced in 2007.
Listen up.
**Get your FREE ticket to the December 9th CU2.0 Fintech Mastermind Presents Showcase Day 2020. This is the first of its kind event where CU 2.0 has brought together the industries' top leaders form well known Credit Unions and paired them up with top Fintech experts in one place! Our subject matter expert will help you and your organization tackle the top issues we face today with unique master classes, tailored for folks just like you.
Get your ticket at Eventbrite. Click here.**
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
This is a special CU 2.0 Podcast where the aim is to take listeners inside the CU2.0 Mastermind group where credit union executives and fintech executives join together to explore new ideas, to review problems, and together - by sharing wisdom and experiences - join in reaching higher levels of success.
In this episode Ray Crouse, CEO of Parsons Federal Credit Union and board chair of NACUSO, Darryl Hicks, CEO of fintech FlexPay, and Kirk Drake, founder of CU2.0 talk candidly about Mastermind groups and along the way you will get a sense of the flavor of what a Mastermind group really is and how it works.
Consider this a glimpse into how a group works.
In this podcast you will hear personal testimony from all three on what they are getting and have gotten out of Mastermind groups - and both Drake and Hicks, longtime members of Mastermind groups, offer vivid reports of exactly how Mastermind groups have benefited them, personally and professionally.
Hicks, in the podcast, males mention of Johari quadrants. Info on that is here.
Listen here.
**Get your FREE ticket to the December 9th CU2.0 Fintech Mastermind Presents Showcase Day 2020. This is the first of its kind event where CU 2.0 has brought together the industries' top leaders form well known Credit Unions and paired them up with top Fintech experts in one place! Our subject matter expert will help you and your organization tackle the top issues we face today with unique master classes, tailored for folks just like you.
Get your ticket at Eventbrite. Click here.**
Read up to learn more about Mastermind groups here in this CU2.0 blog post.
Hear the first CU2.0 Mastermind podcast here. In this episode Kirk Drake and Dr. Patty Ann Tublin, who facilitates the CU2.0 Mastermind groups, talk about why and how Mastermind groups work and who will benefit from them.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Branches are not going away. That's a firm belief of Nathan Rogers, a longtime financial services executive who has spent many years in shared branching - a feature he calls a significant credit union strategic advantage.
Yet now, amid the pandemic, many credit union executives are talking. about pulling out of the shared branching networks. Why bother with it if nobody is using the branch?
Ask Rogers and he sees that thinking as short-sighted and in fact now is the optimum time to offer shared branching and thereby provide more member service without the expense of opening and staffing a branch that may in fact have an uncertain future.
Back up a step. Know that there are around 1850 credit unions participating in the CO-OP shared branching network. They have around 6000 branches collectively and that is bigger than any branch network in the US. Feast on that. The credit union shared branch network is the biggest in the country.
Along the way in this conversation we also explored the credit union shared ATM network - another industry advantage that often is inadequately explained to members and prospective members. And we discuss new trends in digital banking and the branch of the future.
Listen up here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Go big or go home. That's the bold message from investment banker Peter Duffy of Piper Sandler and for some years he has been in the thick of credit union mergers.
And Duffy is here to say there's a new trend. Used to be, most credit union mergers involved a shoebox credit union getting devoured by a bigger one. You know why that played out. Usually the small credit union had reached a point where its viability was questionable and the regulator, with winks and nods and maybe a shove, engineered a shotgun marriage with a bigger, healthier institution.
According to Duffy, that is changing and now very big credit unions - some with well over $1 billion in assets and healthy balance sheets - are talking "mergers of equals" with like sized institutions.
Why? It just is getting tough to compete with the money center banks who control an ever expanding piece of the financial pie. Add in the competition of fintechs and, suddenly, institutions with assets under, pick a number, $500 million? $1 billion? $5 billion? Are finding it ever tougher to thrive.
And $5 billion, by the way, often is the number that survival oriented big credit unions have their eye on, says Duffy.
Duffy also posits that what he calls Covid fatigue is wearing out many credit union senior managers and lots of board members. A merger to them may appear to be a great exit strategy.
Along the way in this podcast Duffy throws out lots of Piper Sandler research findings on what it takes to succeed today. Take notes. This is excellent stuff.
You won't sleep well after listening to this - but you just may hear your path to institutional survival.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Do it for me. That is exactly what more and more credit union members expect from their financial institution. Especially around payments.
Amazon's Alexa is smart enough to remind us that, based on our order history, it's now time to re-order cat food. Why can't my credit union remind me to pay my car lease, my mortgage, and the Discover bill that is always due on the 15th?
The insight of Payrailz, a Connecticut based fintech, is that the credit union in fact probably has all the tools it needs to do those reminders - even to initiate the payments for members that choose.
Enter the world of AI powered payments.
Mickey Goldwasser, chief of staff at Payrailz, said we are entering into an era of "Do It For me" - and AI makes that a very possible reality.
A member forgot to pay his/her American Express card bill - but won't that member welcome a nudge? "Usually you have paid American Express by now? Is that bill due?"
Smart payment rails can also be called upon to actually make the payment.
The beauty is that drudgery is being taken off the member's plate - and smart machines are running with it.
13 credit unions are in CU Railz, a CUSO that owns Payrailz. A few other credit unions, and a smattering of banks, also have adopted the technology. But, says Goldwasser, 90% of Payrailz business is with credit unions.
Size varies from small to the $12 billion Sun Coast.
Listen up. The time is now for smarter payments tools that anticipate what members want to pay and help them do it.
Do it for me is now a reality in payments.
This, clearly, is the next evolution in payments.
Dig deeper into AI and credit unions in earlier CU2.0 Podcasts - with Posh Development and Coalesce, both DCU Innovation Lab companies (our podcast with the Innovation Lab director Vasilios Roussos is here).
A recent podcast with Fahd, the CEO of Abaka, tells more about AI and how credit unions can sell smarter.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Here's the fast track to making members feel they are being sold to: offer them products and services they have no interest in or use for. How often does your credit union do exactly that?
But if you want a member to feel understood, valued, offer him or her something they honestly want or need.
If only it were so simple, you grumble.
Maybe it is exactly that simple.
Meet Fahd Rachidy, the CEO of London-based ABAKA, a company in the business of harnessing AI to help financial institutions - credit unions included - better serve their members.
Fahd also is a strong believer in democratizing his tools. He proudly says ABAKA serves small financial institutions and giants. The company uses a SaaS model - software as a service - so users pay as they go and for what they consume. Some FIs spend low five figures in a year with ABAKA. Others may be high six figures and beyond.
So what you want to know is how offer members what they want. Really. Listen to the podcast where Fahd tells about ABAKA's tools for zeroing in on what he calls the next best action - that is, pinpointing what this member wants now.
How? By using account data the institution has on hand, supplemented with publicly available third party data (from social media posts to credit scores and history).
Crunch that data right, says Fahd, and an institution can jump from a 3% conversion rate to 30%.
You want to hear more about this.
Along the way in this podcast Fahd also talks about ABAKA's conversational AI chatbot tools - and many members in fact prefer to talk with a machine - and also about how AI is making PFM tools, at long last, easy to use and actually useful.
The theme of this podcast is that AI has come of age and now is ready for credit union deployment.
Listen up.
Dig deeper into AI and credit unions in earlier CU2.0 Podcasts - with Posh Development and Coalesce, both DCU Innovation Lab companies (our podcast with the Innovation Lab director Vasilios Roussos is here).
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Most credit unions continue to wrestle with too many deposits and too few places to park that money profitably. Call this Part 3 of the CU2.0 deep dive into lending in the pandemic era and that is because Barclay Keith, CEO of Artis Technologies, has developed tools that will enable a credit union to empower business members - think home improvement retailers, contractors, jewelers, etc. - to initiate personal loans to consumers, typically in the range of $3000 to $65,000.
For the credit union, this just may be a high yield lending arena that also may well bring in new members.
For the business, a fast, convenient way for a shopper to borrow may bring in bigger and more sales.
For the consumer, this may be a quick and easy way to borrow at competitive rates.
Win-win-win.
For the consumer it typically takes minutes to complete a loan app, a process that can be initiated and completed at the retailer. The underwriting is AI powered, there's instant KYC verification, and the lending institution - the credit union - gets to set its own policies. Some may not want to lend to subprime borrowers, others may. Some may want to lend only to super-prime borrowers, many will have a broader standard. Artis Technologies lets the lending institution set the policies it is comfortable with.
The conversation with Keith in this podcast is a broad look at how the Artis tools work and the benefits that may come to credit unions that deploy them.
Part 1 of the new lending tactics series is #113 with Sherif Hassan on small business lending. Part 2 is #114 with Nicholas Hinrichsen on opportunities in refinancing car loans and also lending to subprime car buyers.
You know you have money on hand you want to put to work. Listen to the CU2.0 trilogy for ideas you can use today.
Barking alert: There is some barking and growling in this podcast, noises that defied filtering software used in editing the podcast. The podcast is clearly audible. And no animals were injured in recording the podcast.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Call this the best of times for digital member service company Glia and that is because, in the pandemic era, credit unions' traditional member service tools have fallen out of favor and so just about all of us have become significantly more digital, said Dan Michaeli, Glia CEO and co-founder.
Just a couple years ago, many credit unions looked at digital customer service tools as a "nice to have." That's changed for many and, suddenly, these tools are must haves.
Especially at credit unions, says Michaeli and that's because credit unions have always had a member centric attitude. And digital tools just may be the best tools around.
Here is what Glia says it does: "Glia creates digital-first moments that simplify and transform conversations between institutions and their customers using Messaging, Video, Voice, CoBrowsing, and Artificial Intelligence."
Even better, as service switches from channel to channel - as often happens - the context and history are retained. No more maddening moments for a member who just spent 10 minutes explaining a problem to a rep and now is asked by a new rep to tell about the problem. From scratch. How frustrating is that?
Right now, we are in a shift from telephone based member service into a variety of digital channels, including oldfashioned voice, but with text, AI and more claiming ever larger roles.
An upshot is that members may find themselves experiencing better service and now they will be able to pick their own channel.
Are these tools that mainly will abound at only the biggest financial institutions? Michaeli believes otherwise. He in fact believes that this technology levels the playing field and a $100 million credit union just may have member service tools that rivals that of a big five money center bank.
How cool is that?
You want to know - indeed, in the Covid era you need to know - about digital member service and that's why this half-hour is a must listen.
Call this Part 2 of our smarter lending for credit unions. The recent episode, #113, explored small business lending with Capiform's Sherif Hassan. Listen here. This week it's time for something entirely different.
Happy with your car loan portfolio?
Many credit unions are anything but and this has become a crucial issue as most are awash in deposits and now are hunting for profitable places to put that cash to work.
Car loans could be it. But indirect lending...not so much.
Enter Nicholas Hinrichsen, an online car sales veteran who co-founded an online used car marketplace in 2015 when he raised $10 million in venture capital. They sold that business in 2017 to Carvana, which by now has grown into one of the nation's biggest used car retailers.
After logging three years at Carvana he is again starting up a new company, with $5 million in venture funding, where the aim is to help credit unions better sell car loans to their members.
Hinrichsen knows car loans and he also knows about credit union dissatisfaction with indirect loans. He has a better idea: helping members refinance existing car loans issued by third parties, converting them into credit union owned loans.
Credit unions can win that fight, said Hinichsen, because usually their loans are better, at lower interest rates.
Most credit unions, he admits, do "spray and pray" marketing, sending out mailers to all pre-qualified members. In this podcast he tells a smarter, more cost effective way to contact the right members, ones who just might be prospects for car refinance.
Keep listening because he has an idea for tools that will essentially pre-populate a loan app for a member, using data the credit union already has. So filling out a loan application literally takes seconds.
And another - intriguing - idea he has is about how to profitably make sub-prime loans to existing members and, in the process, to create a path for them to get lower interest rates going forward. Just that may be a core credit union mission, especially as more members deal with economic pains of the pandemic.
You know you want to issue more and more profitable auto loans. This is a podcast you have to hear.
Contact Hinrichsen here. The company is named Clutch
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Call this Part 1 of our smarter lending duet. Part 2, posting tomorrow in podcast 114, is on smarter car loans with Nicholas Hinrichsen. You don't want to miss that one.
PPP loans just may have awakened credit unions to the immense opportunity there is in small business lending. That's what Sherif Hassan, CEO of fintech Capiform, believes. The opportunity is there.
But to win that business credit unions need to speed up their lending process, said Hassan, and they also need to create a more efficient process that cuts costs.
Automation - smart technology - is the key. At many credit unions, the typical cost for funding a small business loan is around $3600, said Hassan. Capiform's tools get that cost down to maybe $360.
At that cost, suddenly making smaller loans - maybe $50,000 or $75,000, loans that often are what small businesses want - is realistic.
Community banks have long had a lead in small business lending, but CU2.0 Podcast listeners recently heard Steve Bruyn of Foresight Research say that his data shows a huge drop in customer satisfaction at community banks. That's an opportunity for credit unions.
Add in the comfort many credit unions gained in the PPP program - where they learned they could successfully deal with small businesses and also with the federal government - and the path to more loans for credit unions is clear.
It comes at an ideal time. Many credit unions are drowning in deposits. Small business loans are a profitable path to safety.
Don't many fintech lenders want that same market? They do. But credit unions - with their community focus - have a fast track to succeeding in that battle. Listen up as Hassan tells why.
You may have heard Hassan's earlier podcast. Here's a link.
Listen up to this new podcast here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Now just may be the worst of times but it also is an opportunity for credit unions to reinvent themselves, by reimagining their roles and taking an active part in helping to limit what many experts see as a coming eviction crisis, as renters who have suffered enormous economic hardships in the Covid-19 pandemic are put out on the streets.
What if credit unions made available emergency loan funds to help renters avoid that outcome?
That's the question Jake Schlachter, executive director of We Own It, an organization devoted to reinvigorating the cooperative movement, asks.
A starting point is that many credit unions have more set aside than the 7 to 8% excess capital required by the regulator. What if those institutions used some of that money to help renters avoid eviction. What if....
Credit unions just might be seen as community heroes.
Suddenly, many would know exactly the difference between banks and credit unions.
Schlacter has sent out a letter to the CEOs of 1430 credit unions with assets above $100 million and significant excess capital. Here's a link to the letter.
Now what happens? Listen to the podcast. You will hear Schlachter's hopes and dreams.
This is a challenge to just about every credit union. But the need is real and the possible payoffs are also real.
Want to hear more Schlachter? Here's a podcast I did with him for a different series a year ago. This one focuses on cooperatives in general with minimal direct references to credit unions.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Bank Transfer Day 2020, Bigger and Better?
By Robert McGarvey
You remember Bank Transfer day, that 2011 movement that brought in perhaps one million new credit union members, possibly more.
Something a lot bigger may be about to happen.
That’s the opinion of Steve Bruyn, CEO of Foresight Research who, writing in The Financial Brand, said that its extensive polling had found nearly a doubling of the number of consumers who say they intend to change financial institutions. Now 22% say they are heading to the exit of their present financial institution, per Foresight Research.
Foresight Research elaborated: “We have surveyed almost 11,000 banking customers and credit union members in 44 markets to find out what is really going on in the world of banking from the customer/member’s point of view. Then we added another survey of almost 700 customers and members to find out what the pandemic had changed in the banking industry. We found a hot spot of churn. Churn increased from 12% (over two years) to 22% expected churn in the next year or two.”
Hear the Bruyn podcast here.
The news gets sweeter still: “Of the people who intend to leave their financial institution almost 3 out of 4 are Gen Z or Millennials - the very block of business that drives the future of your financial institution,” said Foresight Research.
Foresight Research added: “So, what drove the high churn? Even though satisfaction declined greatly (except at credit unions) that was not the culprit. Customers and members were generally empathetic, likely thinking ‘we are all in this together’. It was all about financial issues like interest rates and fees. The switchers while forgiving also are looking to reduce cost or increase interest on items like money market accounts, CDs, etc.”
This makes sense. The economy is the worst it has been since the Great Depression. Millions of us are unemployed and millions more are underemployed (working fewer hours). It’s tough to balance the household budget when less money is coming in so a shrewd step is to slash unnecessary outgo.
Bank fees are prime to be trimmed. And that is a potential bonanza for credit unions.
Ask yourself this: where can credit unions beat banks, consistently? The answer is and has long been on pricing of everything, from account fees to NSF fees and loan interest rates. Credit unions are member owned, they have no shareholders who demand dividends. Most have unpaid boards of directors. Most pay their employees fairly but rarely lavishly - and here’s a CNN round up of bank c-suite compensation and note that the CEO of Bank of America had total compensation of $24.8 million but he was by no means the highest paid in the group.
Big salaries, big dividends to shareholders, and bloated, inefficient branch networks add up to huge expenses on the books and that means customers have to pay through the nose for the privilege of having a bank account.
Ac
No more cookie cutter solutions. And put a branch in the member's hands with mobile tools that allow the member to do pretty much anything he/she could do in a branch.
When Wildfire, a $900 million credit union in Saginaw Michigan, set out on its omnichannel journey four or five years ago it dreamed big, says Mark Schuiling, VP of technology.
A lot of the process was doing hard thinking about what the institution wanted to be and what it wanted to provide members. From the start, however, Wildfire knew its future would be digital and it also wanted to provide members with a unified consumer experience, not the fragmented experience many credit unions offer because they have pasted together solutions provided by third party vendors.
At $900 million, however, and with only three programmers, Wildfire also knew it had to carefully pick a vendor and a tool that would suit its budget and its internal skills.
About a year ago, the process turned serious and Wildfire went all in on its digital transformation, working with Backbase as its technology partner.
Listen up to the Backbase podcast, number 110 in this series.
This Wildfire podcast tells the story from the institution's perspective and Wildfire candidly tells about its hopes, its challenge, and also why it now is going slow in the roll out of its omnichannel solutions to members (because it wants members to want the solution and to know they want it).
Listen up here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
For how many years have you heard about omnichannel banking - and you also know not many institution have done this more than pay lip service to an idea of the digital first financial institution.
About 90% of financial institutions in the US in fact fall very short of really getting omnichannel, says Vince Bezemer, head of strategy at Backbase, a digital platform provider with the tagline "Become the Bank that People Love."
That means about 10% of US FIs are in fact digital first and of course that includes many of the biggest.
But it does not mean that credit unions can't succeed in embracing a digital first strategy.
In fact now, in the Covid-19 era, many are going forward at high speed to become digital first.
As for Backbase's pedigree, know that its clients include Navy Federal, State Employees Credit Union of North Carolina, and Schools First.
But Bezemer in this podcast stresses that Backbase has tools and services for smaller institutions too.
This podcast is Part 1 of a two part series on digital first. In this podcast Bezemer talks at length about what digital first means, why it is important, what institutions need to really do it, and why you don't want to define your credit union with cookie cutter tools and apps that literally hundreds of other credit unions use.
In Part 2, you will hear from Wildfire Credit Union, a Backbase client that is deep into its transformation into a digital first institution. It's a rare, candid look at what the process really is.
You know digital first matters.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Paul Ablack knows big data and fintechs. He served as CEO at OnApproach, a big data company aimed at credit unions that was acquired by Trellance.
Ablack left OnApproach after the acquisition and is now noodling new opportunities in fintechs and especially in commercial lending for deposit rich credit unions. In that latter regard he is bullish on what he sees as major opportunities in lending for new senior care facilities and, yes, that industry has taken a beating in the Covid-19 era but that, too, may well fuel the need for new, more smartly designed senior care facilities.
The need for senior care will only grow for some years to come as Baby Boomers age (and the oldest Boomers are now 74, the youngest 56).
Throughout, Ablack sees unique opportunities for credit unions, in part because of their cooperative character. If enough credit unions share data, a powerful big data lake would be an industry asset that will help credit unions compete with the biggest banks.
If credit unions come together into what Ablack sees as a Venture Capital CUSO that manages many fintech investments, big successes could come to the movement, he said, where today's piecemeal, every credit union for itself fintech investing produces scattershot successes.
Bold thinking? You bet. That's why Ablack is a fun podcast guest. He throws out a number of good ideas you may not have heard before.
Covid-19 is triggering huge changes in financial services. Tomorrow's services won't be today's. Think new, think fresh - and this Ablack podcast will nudge you in that direction.
From our archives, here's a podcast with Lou Grilli of Trellance. It predates the OnApproach acquisition. But there's good info on payments.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Before he was 40, Ralph Swoboda was named CEO of CUNA in Washington, DC. That was in 1986 and he held the job until 1994. That was when CUNA was a big association, with a head count upwards of 1400 because it provided a lot of assistance for credit unions with back office operations.
His next job after leaving CUNA was chairman of the management committee of the Association of British Credit Unions, based in Manchester, England.
Later, he moved to CUNA Mutual where he was head of international operations, directing operations in some 30 countries, from China to the Caribbean.
Now Swoboda is managing director of CUFA Ltd., a fintech based in Dublin, Ireland which creates lending analytics software running on big data for credit unions in Ireland but expansion into the United Kingdom and the United States is afoot.
Buckle your seatbelt for this wide ranging conversation that covers upwards of 35 years of high level involvement with credit unions, literally in dozens of countries. You will hear about differences between Irish credit unions and American credit unions, about the importance of community banks to US credit unions, and how the US payments system is something of a Third World embarrassment.
We wind up discussing the lending analytics tools Swoboda now is involved in and the timing could not be more ideal as many credit union executives awaken to the reality that lots of once solid loans on their books may be turning bad as Covid-19 takes its toll on many national economies.
Probably no podcast in this series covers so diverse a range of topics, countries, technologies.
You may not always agree with Swoboda. But you will definitely have fun listening in on this conversation.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
When Bert Hash, Jr. took over as CEO of MECU in 1996 it was a $400 million institution with one branch that served municipal employees of Baltimore. In this podcast he tells about the institution he took charge of. It had exactly zero ATMs. It did not dispense cash to members - if a member wanted a withdrawal, they were issued a check and most went across the street to a bank to cash it.
Hash, who came to MECU after a long career with banks, knew there had to be changes. Within his first six months he put cash in the branch, installed the first ATM, brought in computers and prepared the institution for the battles ahead of it.
When he retired in 2014, MECU had assets of $1.3 billion, a membership of 106,000, and it had grown from one branch to 11.
I knew I had to talk with him even before I heard that story and that was because retired SECU North Carolina CEO Jim Blaine and Renee Sattiewhite of AACUC enthusiastically seconded the motion.
When I initially asked Bert, he momentary hesitated - did he belong in the company this podcast features? Of course I knew he did. But he is a decent, modest man and you will hear that personality throughout this podcast.
In one section he tells of taking a call from an irate member who believed MECU had made a mistake with his account. Bert agreed with him but still the man went on and after 30 minutes, the man was still threatening to move his account to a bank. Bert told him he was sure he would find at least one thing different at a bank. What, asked the man. "You won't have a half hour conversation with the bank CEO trying to convince you to stay," said Bert.
His is a credit union life and it is made all the special because, as an African American, he faced challenges in his career path and in his leadership of MECU. He tells his story in this podcast which is an especially personal document.
At the end, you will hear a podcast paste on where a recording of a call Bert made to me is. That's because as he reflected overnight about what he had said when asked if he witnessed racism in financial services, he decided he had more to say. His perspective is thoughtful, nuanced, realistic. (Sound quality is different. But the recording is audible.)
He offers a brief summary of the 100+ year of African American credit unions, tells why he think them important in reaching out to the underserved, and offers a stirring perspective on the real credit union mission.
Along the way, you will hear mention of many past CU2.0 podcasts - Jim Blaine, Bucky Sebastian, Gary Oakland, Renee Sattiewhite, Bill Bynum, Cathie Mahon, and Marc Schaefer.
This podcast is recorded in Phoenix - thus the first remarks from Bert.
Tech note: this week the podcast switched to new software, Hindenburg Journalist. Forgive any glitches - they are on me.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Are you ready to jumpstart your credit union's successes?
How about your personal success?
You want to know about the new CU2.0 Mastermind group - which is specifically created to help credit union leader and fintech leaders come together in small, working groups to hash out problems, solutions, opportunities.
Listen up: we are in a crisis. A health crisis and a national, indeed global, financial crisis. The impacts of what we now confront will be with us for years. You remember 2008. This is worse. And it will cause more disruption.
That's why now is the time for a Mastermind group. Because it's time for a big rethink and a Mastermind group will put this process in overdrive for participants.
Mastermind groups work. They accelerate success. In this podcast you will hear personal testimony about the power of Mastermind groups from CU2.0 founder Kirk Drake.
You also will hear from Dr. Patty Ann Tublin who shares her psychological insights into what challenges credit union leaders and fintech leaders face today and the barriers they face in succeeding.
And you will hear about how these Mastermind groups will work, mixing small group sessions with larger ones and all done virtually, at least for now.
You've heard of Mastermind groups? Indeed you have if you have read the great motivational writer Napoleon Hill who is credited with coining the term in his 1920s book The Law of Success. He elaborated upon the idea in his later book, Think and Grow Rich.
In its simplest form a Mastermind group is for peer to peer mentoring - meaning the same folks get together, in person or virtually, on a regular basis and hash out what is gnawing on them. In the CU2.0 version, sessions are facilitator led to add more focus to every session.
That will speed the results and, nowadays, who has time to wait?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Ask Angela Russell, Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at CUNA Mutual Group, a year from now what she would want to be able to tell us about progress made in the year and she did not hesitate with her answer.
On a personal level, she said, she hoped her son would be able to go for a run outside without fear.
Professionally, she said she hoped that the conversation about race and diversity and financial inclusion would be continuing and that credit unions would still be taking positive actions, rather than today's focus on race simply fading away as just another fad.
Take a deep breath now. If you believe this will be a heavy podcast that challenges a lot of your beliefs you are right.
"We are doing better but we have a long way to go," said Russell
But also know this: Angela Russell is an engaging conversationalist (hear her personal podcast, Black Oxygen, here) who laughs often but who also puts our attention on issues we might want to ignore - but nowadays we cannot.
The US is changing. We are fast on the way to becoming a minority majority nation. Credit unions that want to stay relevant need to adapt to this changing reality and that means, among other things, tuning into the changing demographics of their communities, seeking to engage minority board members, and seeking to improve representation of multiple races and nationalities on their workforces.
It's a tall order. But now is the time.
There are many related podcasts in this series, including #100 with Victor Miguel Corro of Coopera, another CU DEI Collective member, 101 with Renee Sattiewhite of the African American Credit Union Coalition, and also Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, also a CU DEI Collective member. And a podcast with Cliff Rosenthal, a pioneer in the CDFI world. And there's a podcast with Pablo DeFillipa, also of Inclusiv.
Another don't miss is Bill Bynum of Hope CU.
The podcast also mentions a book titled Evicted, by Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond.
,
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You know the feelings - powerlessness, exasperation, maybe even anger - and know that these are typical for credit union staff involved in audits conducted by regulators.
Those audits are routine but for many credit unions they are an ordeal.
Why? Maybe 8 in 10 credit unions still handle issues that arise in an audit the same way they did in 1990, that is, a lot of email flies around to staff ("Handle the attached request from the auditor") and everything is logged into a tracking spreadsheet.
Except some items never make it into the spreadsheet. Some emails go missing. And anxiety and frustration boil over.
Those credit unions are drowning in minutiae.
Here's the life preserver.
Enter Redboard, a software tool that automates the process and, says Redboard CEO Brad Powell, the software pays for itself in reduced staff time alone.
Some audit software is hard to use. Not Redboard. When asked, Powell said it's "so easy even a caveman can use it."
He added that "we build our software on the same principle that Apple builds the iPhone," that is, there is significant sophistication but, for most users, what they experience is how easy it all is.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
"The credit union industry needs to reflect the community," said Pablo DeFilippi, a senior vice president at Inclusiv, the association for community development credit unions, a past CEO of the Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union in New York, and a leading voice in the push for more Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the credit union universe.
He points out that, as nation, we are becoming ever more diverse. Indeed, by 2045, the US will become "minority white," according to demographers.
The time for change is here and, said DeFilippi, he hopes we are moving beyond statements alone - well meaning as they may be - and into action.
He reminds us that the nation's first credit union, St. Mary's Bank, was founded in 1908 by French Canadian immigrants in Manchester, New Hampshire, who felt excluded by mainstream financial institutions.
DeFilippi's point: this kind of outreach is in the credit union DNA, it is a mission credit unions are well positioned to fulfill.
DeFilippi worries that the nation's minority depository institutions will be under particular strains as the nation's deep recession amounts to an existential threat.
But he also is pleased to be able to report that Inclusiv members issued perhaps $1 billion in PPP loans (and note this interview was recorded just before the PPP application deadline was extended from June 30 to August 8th).
Listen to why he is optimistic that we are indeed on the edge of real changes.
It's an upbeat podcast.
There are many related podcasts in this series, including #100 with Victor Miguel Corro of Coopera, another CU DEI Collective member, 101 with Renee Sattiewhite of the African American Credit Union Coalition, and also Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, also a CU DEI Collective member. And a podcast with Cliff Rosenthal, a pioneer in the CDFI world.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The subtitle for this podcast should be All You Wanted to Know About Mortgage Servicing But Were Afraid to Ask.
Our guest is Andrew Wang, CEO of Peach Street, a new approach to mortgage servicing that just may be exactly what many credit unions want.
Most mortgages are passed off to third party servicers for two reasons. The servicers know the government regs and how to comply and they also are skilled at cutting costs.
Most see mortgage servicing as commoditized and the only difference between companies is price.
Enter Peach Street which puts a focus on consumer experience, customer experience, and technology.
Lost at many mortgage servicers is interest in the consumer experience, if only because the servicer's customer is the financial institution that owns the paper.
Peach Street wants to win by offering a new model where experiences matter.
A lot of what the consumer needs will be delivered via self service online - but in most surveys that approach lowers consumer friction.
"This is about a 30 year relationship," said Wang, who adds that, done right, mortgage servicing can become a vehicle where the financial institution cross sells products to a happy consumer.
"Mortgage servicers should think of themselves less as a collection agency and more as a financial adviser," said Wang.
Along the way, Wang tells how Peach Tree has ended NSF fees for its consumers and also its innovative thinking about how to handle foreclosure in a way that benefits the homeowner, the lender and the community.
See what we meant: this is all you waned to know about mortgage servicers and didn't know to ask.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Is there racism in US financial institutions?
Can credit unions make a difference in the fight to combat racism?
Yes is the answer to both, says Renee Sattiewhite, CEO of the African American Credit Union Coalition, a founding member of the CU DEI Collective which is centered around this belief: "We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion is good business and is fundamental to a vibrant, relevant and growing Credit Union Movement."
That is the key: practicing DEI is both the right thing to do and good business.
The US increasingly is a minority majority country.
So is today's DEI movement likely to result in real changes?
Or is it another well intended effort that results in little substantive?
Ask Sattiewhite and she will tell you she is optimistic. Maybe cautiously so. But optimistic nonetheless.
"This time is different," she said.
The time for change is here, she believes, a reality dramatized by weeks of coast to coast protests against racism and police brutality.
"I believe credit unions can lead the way in helping America eradicate racism."
Sattiewhite is keenly interested in job opportunities in credit unions for people of color and she has numbers: there now are 15 African American CEOs of credit unions, including 6 at billion dollar institutions.
Could there be more? "I look at this and see a glass half full," said Sattiewhite, who added that credit union can do more, better in hiring minority professionals, promoting them, and - this is key - recruiting minority board members.
There are many related podcasts in this series, including #100 with Victor Miguel Corro of Coopera, another CU DEI Collective member, and also Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, also a CU DEI Collective member.
Sattiewhite also offers a shout out to Jim Blaine, a past podcast guest for his support of AACUC.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Something is happening, something big, when it comes to the US and race relations and this is making itself felt in financial services.
That's the strong opinion of Victor Miguel Corro, CEO of Coopera, a consulting firm - started with support from the Iowa Credit Union League - that helps credit unions meet the needs of Hispanic consumers.
That market is huge. In less than thirty years, one in three US consumers will be Hispanic, said Corro. Right now, Hispanics are about 15% of the US population.
But this conversation is about still more - the founding of the CU DEI Collective, by some 15 credit union related organizations, including CUNA, CUNA Mutual, Filene. The organization explains its purpose: "The CU Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Collective is an expanding group being formed within the Credit Union Movement devoted to furthering DEI, a shared cooperative principle. We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion is good business and is fundamental to a vibrant, relevant and growing Credit Union Movement."
Corro was in on the founding. Several additional podcasts with other credit union people are in the works and will post as we continue our coverage of what may be the other huge issue now confronting credit unions (Covid-19 of course is the other).
A credit union disconnect, said Corro, is despite the expanding multicultural character of US society, 90% of credit union board and c-suite positions are filled by non Hispanic whites.
But the credit union board, and its executive team, to succeed have to look more like the communities they serve, said Corro.
This is an expansive conversation. The foundation is Corro's belief that, for a credit union, a multicultural tilt is not simpy a good thing to do, it also is good business. It's a way to stay relevant in a society that is changing its face.
Regular listeners will recall Corro from an early podcast, #17. Catch up with it here.
A related podcast is with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, the association of community development credit unions. Hear her here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Call it a sea change - a massive alteration of the US financial services landscape. Everything seems different today and it is because of the pandemic.
What do you need to be thinking abut now to survive tomorrow?
An interview I did with Cornerstone consulting firm's Brad Smith for a CUInsight article left me wanting more from Smith and here it is, a one-on-one podcast where we hear what smart credit unions are doing today.
Like what? Like recognizing that the mainstage role of the branch finally is over, probably forever. Smith is not saying he thinks branches are toast - he doesn't - but he thinks their role is necessarily changing as many of us have gotten accustomed to not needing the branch and many of us also are simply fearful of places like branches.
Much financial services has shifted to digital and there it will stay.
"The challenge for credit unions now is learning to sell through the digital channel," said Smith - and many institutions are playing catch up. There's no time to delay.
An unexpected problem, said Smith, is that the economy's collapse has necessitated taking a new look at the FICO scores that used to enable confident and instant credit decisioning. But that 800 score of May may be today's 700 score and falling due to late pays, job loss, and worse.
How can an institution provide the fast decisioning consumers now expect - but do it safely? Smith has thoughts.
Another big winner today: MRDC, said Smith. Even those who had scorned it are diving in.
One more big winner: video chat. We use it at work and we are now ready to use it in financial services. "Video conferencing will be another net winner," said Smith.
An area where credit unions need to hop to it: credit card rewards programs need restructuring. The big players - Amex, Chase, Capital One - already are on the move. Credit unions need to think fast and hard about this. But not many are, Smith admitted.
A last pandemic triggered push: a huge drive for cost savings and efficiencies. Many credit unions are looking to trim costs on commodity tech - think core systems - and redirect monies into strategic tech - such as true digital account opening.
Big changes are in motion. Smith offers a road map in this podcast. Take notes.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You want to read James Robert Lay's Banking on Digital Growth. It's a book not about digital tools but rather about the transformation of community financial institutions, credit unions included, into organizations that can compete with and win against the mega banks.
Too small to do that? Nope, says Lay. That size can be a strength. It means a credit union can turn on a dime - if it chooses to.
It starts with recognizing that the traditional branch first marketing model is broken. Today's consumer is digital first. And yet at most credit unions digital is simply a bolt on onto the old branch model.
Time for a refresh. Think digital first. Flip the business model and that's the path to success.
Lay also believes that "Covid is a wake up call." He is not trivializing the damage it is doing to the health of the nation, or the finances of many of us. What he is saying is that this is the time to look for new opportunities. Many credit unions will fail because of Covid. Many others will find new prosperity.
Why haven't more credit unions seen the need for big changes? Precisely because they have had a good 12 year run since 2008. Why fix what ain't broken?
But now breaks are showing.
Make the most of opportunities.
This podcast is about digital transformation but what you won't hear is propellerhead talk. Lay is a marketer at heart and that's what you will hear. And it's what you need to embrace to get ahead in 2020, a year of immense challenges.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Do you have 10 minutes?
That's all it will take to listen to this CU2.0 Fast Take on PPP Loan Forgiveness, a topic that suddenly is bedeviling thousands of credit unions as they confront the reality of how time consuming it is to navigate the loan forgiveness process.
Make no mistake: you want to get that loan forgiven. Best guesses are that many of the loans that aren't forgiven will in fact default.
You don't want that on your books.
How long does the loan forgiveness process take a credit union that manually tackles even loan? Figure 10 to 20 hours.
That cannot work on a $100,000 or $50,000 loan.
No way.
Enter Capiform, where CEO Sherif Hassan tells in this Fast Take how to get the credit union staff time down to a few minutes, maybe an hour, max, per loan forgiveness application.
The secret: Capiform screens that guide the borrower as he/she inputs the needed data.
Call it a Tom Sawyer moment of brilliance.
And Capiform gamifies the process so it almost becomes fun for the borrower.
10 minutes. Spend them wisely. Listen up.
Hear the full length Capiform podcast here.
Want more info? Contact Capiform at its website.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Steve Winninger is the man to talk with about credit union boards and governance.
A longtime credit union CEO - 20 years at Lake Trust - now a $1.6 billion institution based in Michigan - plus he also served as CEO at IBM Lexington and since retiring from Lake Trust he has put in stints as CEO at four credit unions (only one of which merged out of existence).
But Steve is a rare CEO. He loves talking about the role of the board and - done right - a board should be crucial in a credit union's prosperity.
But many CEOs grumble about board meddling. In other credit unions - mainly larger ones - it's the board that grumbles that they are ignored.
Sigh.
Hear Winninger's views on that dichotomy in this podcast.
In this podcast Winninger spells out the four steps a good board must take. Must. No exceptions.
We also talk about whether boards are ready and able to help in the immensely difficult decisions that loom as credit unions wrestle with the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In this podcast we talk about some writing I did on Partners Credit Union - click the link and read about it. There's a mention of Maine Harvest Credit Union, also the effort to form a student credit union at George Washington University. Follow the links to hear the CU 2.0 Podcasts.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Michigan Legacy Credit Union just may be a unique $220 million institution - it's the product of five mergers in five years, said Carma Peters, the CEO. And now she said the institution is on a huge digital push, an initiative that had been in the works but Covid-19 has intensified the effort.
One Michigan Legacy employee has died from Covid-19. So did a former member of the board.
All this hits Peters hard and, she said, she tells employees and also members that there is no rush to re-open the credit union's six branches
“We sent out a strong message from the start of the pandemic that the safest way to bank was for members to use online and mobile banking and webchat, rather than coming into the branch,” Peters said. “While we were hopeful that members would comply, the shift to online banking has been dramatic, with 50,000 more online transactions in April than we had in March. That’s a 38% increase.”
Peters thinks that shift is permanent and she is deep into a total revamp of the branches. The remodeled ones will be around 1200 sq. ft apiece. "We are downsizing 35,000 sq. ft." said Peters.
There won't be a teller line. There will be a couple ATMs, also a drive-through teller. And Michigan First will provide members with video banking (and she tells about a much more affordable option that she is installing in her credit union).
The big question: can credit unions the size of Michigan Legacy survive?
You bet, said Peters. And she goes a step farther - she helps smaller credit unions survive by helping them with tasks that may be beyond their staff's skills. Why? It's the credit union way: helping others.
This is an optimistic podcast about small credit union survival.
In this podcast, there's mention of Jim Blaine (podcast here), also Randy Karnes (podcast here), and a video tool named Popi/o (linked here).
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Cybersecurity starts with you.
"It's about people," said Nabil Hannan, managing director at cybersecurity firm NetSPI when asked when cybersecurity goes right and when it goes wrong. He added in this podcast that Covid-19 and credit union responses have triggered their own cybersecurity issues that are very particular to today.
But they also need timely responses to thwart hackers.
Case in point: some workers are instructed to take their desktop computer home to work. Question: does that box have full disk encryption set up? Many office computers do not. But what if it is stolen from the home?
Maybe even worse, some organizations sent workers home with older machines running old versions of Windows - including XP - and the bad news is that hackers already have bots scouring the net looking for XP machines because there are readily available hacking scripts that effectively automate an attack. No computer skill is needed by the hacker who has found an XP machine.
Hannan also has worked on cybersecurity issues that arise when two institutions merge - something many experts believe will happen with accelerated frequency among credit unions dealing with the fallout of the Covid-19 impacts on the economy.
In one case he worked for 2-1/2 to 3 years sorting out cybersecurity issues that arose when two large financial institutions merged.
Two credit unions probably won't have that much complexity. But even a merger of small credit unions raises cybersecurity complexities because generally the two institutions will have divergent approaches and a common ground has to be found and implemented. ASAP. Because hackers hunt for gaps and exploit the ones they find.
A bottomline problem: too many credit unions see cybersecurity as a cost. Period. It does cost. That's a fact. But think of the enormous costs of a security failure. What hurts more?
Don't think this is a techie podcast. It's not. It's an enjoyable - intelligent - look a what a credit union executive needs to know about cybersecurity in today's Covid-19 world. It's not just for propellerheads. It's news you need to know.
Listen up.
Fyi: Hannan has his own podcast, Agent of Influence. Hear it here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
America's housing stock is old - often over 50 years of age in much of the nation and owners want, need, improvements to live in the home they want.
The problem: many buyers stretch to buy their home and they do not have that much equity built up, even after five or perhaps even ten years in the house. But now there are two more children, maybe a grandparent, added to the family and where does everybody sleep.
Historically, home improvement loans have ignored an obvious reality: many projects significantly increase the value of the home,
Sure, some do not - pools usually, saunas, a green house.
But add a bedroom,or a bathroom, or update a kitchen and that house is worth more money.
TV watchers know that from HGTV's long-running "Love It Or List It" where after every reno, the realtor tells how much more the house is worth. Similar happens on "Fixer Upper."
So why can't a loan be created around the probable higher value of a home post renovation?
Why not indeed. That's what the founders of Renofi asked and they now have created a fintech to help credit unions make loans based on that calculation.
In the process, Renofi has processes for calculating what value in fact a particular renovation will add in a specific market and also conducts due diligence on the contractor associated with the project.
Renofi already works with several credit unions - you will hear specifics in the podcast - and wants to hear from more.
Here's what Renofi tells credit unions about itself: "RenoFi is a turn-key, end-to-end growth channel. We help our partner Credit Unions grow their loan portfolio by delivering highly-qualified new members seeking home renovation loans that meet your institution's specific underwriting criteria."
Sound good?
Listen to the podcast to learn more specifics.
And check out Renofi's website.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What will blow your mind as you listen to this podcast is how savvy and smart the guest is. That's Sahil Pankhaniya, a 20 year old student at George Washington University in Washington DC who is pursuing the launch of a wholly new, student run credit union credit union at the Washington DC institution.
How cool is that.
The effort has been written up in Credit Union Times, and here Mr. Pankhaniya talks for himself.
Know this: he thinks very big. What if, he asks, if they can roll out credit unions at universities across the nation? What if indeed. Not only would that get students familiar with credit unions it also would provide a stream of trained potential hires for credit unions.
The hope is to launch the credit union in the fall, a date that had been May but the coronavirus epidemic has pushed that back.
Pankhaniya and his fellow students also need to raise around $55,000 more to meet NCUA's capital requirements.
It's an exciting story.
Along the way, we discuss CUNA's "Open Your Eyes" campaign - hear our podcast with Teresa Freeborn on this.
Know too that a recent podcast guest, Bill Kennedy, is a booster of this effort. Hear him on students and their need for mentors here.
And to learn more about start up Maine Harvest - now successfully chartered - listen here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
How could we build a lending tool that anybody could use?
That is the driving thought that led Sherif Hassan to form fintech Capiform and the timing could not be better.
That's because, with the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing recession, suddenly credit unions are awash with savings deposits (as investors flee equity markets) and they also see a rush of loan applicants, for everything from Covid-19 triggered SBA loans through equipment leases.
How to efficiently handle the volume?
Know that right now deposits are arriving at much large volume than are loans at credit unions - despite the member needs.
Remember, too, mega banks, for the most part, have scant interest in "small" loans which to them often means under $250,000. But to a typical credit union that size loan is ideal and even smaller may be better.
But the mega banks shy away from those loans because they don't see how to make money on them.
How could a credit union hope to? That's where Capiform's tools come in, where the borrower does much of the work and that's augmented by computer tools (that verify income, check identity, etc). Much of the process is automated. According to Hassan, using his tools, a credit union could easily process 10X more loans, maybe 20X, daily without stressing staff who would engage only in higher level tasks such as verification and loan approval.
Adds Capiform, "Capiform’s Lending-as-a-Platform empowers you to scale your lending portfolio immediately, configure underwriting instantly and deploy new compliance & product guidelines."
Sound good?
You bet and the timing is so right.
In this podcast you will hear about how the Capiform tools were developed, what they do and how, and the real benefits they could bring your credit union.
Listen up.
Want more info? Contact Capiform at its website.
In this podcast there's mention of the David Chang podcast. Listen here. Note: Chang uses many four letter words. Not for delicate ears.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Bill Kennedy has spent a credit union career moving from institution to institution. He has worked at 11 - "6 or 7 were turnarounds, 1 was a startup," said Kennedy.
Often he's been CFO, and he has also served as CEO. He's seen a lot in his years at and near the top.
Know this about this podcast: Kennedy speaks his mind and he doesn't soften his opinions.
And he has a very strong opinion about how many credit unions will close in the next year, mainly as a consequence of coronavirus. It's a big number. You want to hear it.
Along the way he says a huge credit union problem is poor board quality - and he does not mince words about that.
He also is worried about the industry's comparative inability to attract smart young professionals as employees - the industry is aging out at a time when communicating with young consumers is paramount.
He asks as well how many young professionals you have mentored. He says he has mentored 80+ in the past 25 years.
That will be critical because he predicts around half of senior credit union executives will retire in the next few years. Who is on deck to fill their jobs? At many credit unions the answer is nobody - and that, by the way, is another reason many credit unions will close. There will be a shortage of qualified senior executives.
Think this is a bleak podcast? It's not a cheerful one. But Kennedy's are provocative ideas you need to hear.
Hear the Kennedy podcast here.
Mentioned in this podcast is retired SECU CEO Jim Blaine - his podcast is here.
For a different perspective on boards, there's the John Pembroke, CUES, podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
From the future of branches (maybe brighter than you fear) to the profound impacts Covid-19 may have on your credit union, this conversation with longtime banking analyst Bob Meara, now a senior analyst with consulting firm Celent, will get you thinking.
For starters, accept that very probably Covid-19 will work lasting changes on how your credit union does business - and very probably there will be growing acceptance of digital tools that will last beyond the pandemic.
Face to face as a primary interaction will lessen as a result of the virus, he said.
But Meara also is something of a branch optimist, especially regarding credit unions. Some mega banks are unquestionably over branched, he admits, but few credit unions are. What he sees is that many credit unions need to make progress in deploying branches more effectively as tools for relationship building.
Members don't need branches for transactions.
But many still want them for relationships, advice, help.
Along the way, Meara tells why video tellers have been something of a failure, and also why digital only banks mainly have sputtered.
But he also talks about where credit unions need to play catch up - think digital transformation and, especially, digital account origination (opening a new account needn't necessitate a branch visit!).
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Bob Fisher, recently retired longtime CEO of $2.8 billion Grow Credit Union in Tampa, opens this podcast by relating a call he had a few weeks ago with the present CEO. Bob said he told him, "I'm calling you with glee. I am so glad I am not in your chair now" and that's because of coronavirus, the global recession, and the upheaval that has remade the world.
And yet you can hear this in Fisher's voice: he truly believes smart credit union CEOs will see opportunities, even amid this chaos, they will seize it and their institutions will prosper.
"CEOs need to be dreamers," said Fisher. Think big. Think how you can do it better. Think how you can invent the next way to bank before the others see it.
That's success.
Fisher's philosophy is plain: basically you grow or you die. When he took over Grow it was in NCUA's doghouse and it had around $240 million in assets.
Now it is a star even in the competitive Florida environment.
You will hear how he did that in this podcast and you will also hear why he views NCUA as a credit union's friend.
You'll also hear why you cannot build a credit union around Baby Boomers, not one that will thrive.
There is a long, provocative discussion about the board and governance and how management needs to work with its board.
Want to know how to make indirect lending work? Listen to this podcast. Fisher tells how.
He also explains the institution's expansion into South Carolina (go Clemson!).
There's a lot to unpack in this podcast and it's all inspiring.
You will hear mention of prior CU2.0 Podcast guests - Bucky Sebastian, longtime BECU CEO Gary Oakland, and SECU CEO Jim Blaine. Listen to the quartet and get an education from four of the industry's best leaders in the past quarter century.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You have never heard a CU2.0 Podcast like this one. This is a podcast where sacred cows are roasted on an open spit, criticisms are hurled at regulators, huge questions are raised about the wisdom of credit unions emulating bankers, and then there is the giant question about the industry's future.
Welcome to the CU2.0 Podcast. This is your host, Robert McGarvey. Today's guest, Bill Brooks, presently serving as a credit union doctor who is helping to save an institution in Maryland. Earlier he worked as an NCUA examiner.
Brooks knows where the bodies are buried and here he draws us a map.
He also talks abut the why of the 2008-2010 mortgage meltdown, the looming meltdown in car loans, and why many credit unions have betrayed their core mission of focusing on members of modest means.
Double whew.
Hear the Brooks podcast here.
In this podcast there are references to multiple guests on earlier podcasts including Jim Blaine, Bucky Sebastian, Maine Harvest, Bill Bynum, and Cliff Rosenthal.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Do what you do best and let us do the rest.
That's the one sentence pitch for Exclamation Services, a Wisconsin CUSO that sees its mission as helping smaller credit unions - under $500 million in assets - thrive.
Every year hundreds of credit unions, mainly small, vanish - typically in mergers.
But what if those credit unions could hire a la carte services such as marketing, HR, IT, and back office - and in fact get higher quality workforces, at lower cost, because these are shared services via Exclamation.
Remember that: Exclamation is offering an alternative pathway to merger. A path that will let smaller credit unions survive.
Alan Bergstrom is CEO of Exclamation and, he said, Exclamation presently serves around a dozen credit unions, including one as small as $28 million and some as large as $500 million.
Geographic reach is mainly Wisconsin but the plan is to go broader because the Exclamation services adapt well to remote delivery.
This is an exciting option that just may help thousands of credit unions survive. Sharing is baked into credit union DNA and this is real sharing.
Hear the Exclamation podcast here.
Mentioned in this show is CUNA's "Open Your Eyes" campaign. Listen to our podcast with Teresa Freeborn on that effort.
Also mentioned is a Ron Shevlin podcast where he said that community banks are making a new push into retail banking - hear the details here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Shane Butcher is a security guru at CUSO Ongoing Operations and lately has been busy helping numerous credit unions safely transition their employees to working from home.
The good news: credit unions that approach this methodically, carefully will probably be able to mitigate risks.
The bad news: credit unions that rush into this, haphazardly, with inadequate employee training may not.
One key: stress to employees working from home that they need to practice the very same security awareness as they do in the office. No shortcuts.
Butcher also warned that very probably cyber criminals are preparing to attempt to feast on remote credit union workers. The risks are real.
Note, too, that Butcher's OGO experience entails working with credit unions with assets under $100 million to ones with substantially over $1 billion. It's a diverse customer mix but that gives him perspective on what is realistic, what is needed, what can happen.
"A lot of our customers are asking for help getting their remote workers online."
His three word cure for a lot of today's credit union security worries: training, training, training.
Butcher has significant concerns about BYOD access to the institution's network - listen up find out why. But it starts with this: "we don't know what's on home devices" and that can range from malware to spyware to worse.
Hear the companion podcast on credit union remote workers with Kevin Langford of Georgetown Kraft Credit Union in South Carolina here.
Hear the Butcher podcast here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Suddenly credit unions across the nation are ordering employees home, as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic. And that is triggering a tidal wave of worries about the possible cyber insecurities that will result as newly empowered employees log into the credit union networks.
Hitherto, at many credit unions, the workers who had home access to the network were mainly senior, experienced, and both well trained and well equipped.
Today's newly drafted home workers often lack the right equipment and their training may have been brisk.
Global cyber criminals are said to be eyeing these workers the way a hungry lioness eyes a slow wildebeest in the Serengeti.
That's why you want to hear from Kevin Langford, chief information officer at $140 million Georgetown Kraft Credit Union in South Carolina.
Langford has trained many workers in the secrets of safe cyber work at home and here he tells what every credit union needs to be doing.
This topic is so big that next week we will post another podcast on the same theme with Shane Butcher, senior solutions and security architect at CUSO Ongoing Operations.
You need to listen to both. The risks are extraordinary today and here are solid suggestions for navigating turbulence securely.
The UPS scam info is here.
The dropped USB drive info is here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Who will win: community banks or credit unions?
War on.
A keen observer is Ron Shevlin, diretor of research at Cornerstone Advisors and author of a new report, What's Going on in Banking 2020. It's a data rich report. Download it, read it.
Shevlin was an early guest on the CU2.0 Podcast - Episode 21 - and he's back in this wide ranging conversation about credit unions, technology, and ways to win.
For instance: can community banks regain a hold on retail banking, a niche they ceded to credit unions some years ago?
Can credit unions succeed at taking business banking from community banks?
A growing trend, per Shevlin, is that consumers have multiple checking account relationships that they seek to optimize - and a key is how easy it is to quickly move money around today. What does your institution know about this?
A credit union failing is a persistent belief that "our success is our people," said Shevlin.
Millennials are more focused on technology.
"It is not about people, it's about meeting members' needs," said Shevlin.
He also gives a formula for succeeding in financial services today. It comes near the end of the podcast. Listen up.
There's a reference to Bill Bynum, CEO of Hope Credit Union. Hear his podcast here.
Listen to the Shevlin 2 podcast here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Talking About the Real Credit Union Mission with Bill Bynum, CEO of Hope CU
By Robert McGarvey
Hope. That one word powerfully sums up the mission of Hope Credit Union, a Mississippi delta based community development credit union with more than $280 million in assets. And Hope is bringing financial hope to people across the deep south who may not have had a lot of that.
How does Hope do this and stay solvent? Listen up to what Bill Bynum, Hope’s CEO, has to say on that, as well as his provocative views about the real mission of credit unions in today’s America, the CFPB, and a lot more.
Note: there is a bit of ambient noise in this recording. But it does not hinder listening or comprehension. A small annoyance at worst.
The CU2.0 podcast. About credit unions for tomorrow.
This is a conversation that will rock you.
Does your credit union have a future?
There's the blunt question.
Welcome to the CU2.0 Podcast with your host Robert McGarvey. Today's guest Jon Ogden, head of strategic content at digital firm MX which has recently released two provocative reports, The Ultimate Guide to the Future of Banking and the Ultimate Guide to Digital Transformation.
Read them, they are free.
But know they may keep you up at night.
That's because many, many institutions - thousands of credit union among them - just don't get it. They cling to an analog, physical world where consumers - most of them and more daily - crave better digital experiences.
The MX reports - filled with consumer research - prove this. Today 86% of us say our primary contacts with our FI are mobile and online. Just 14% say it's via branch or ATM.
59% of us say we would take a loan from a tech company.
49% of us predict "far fewer branches."
This is a fast ride through lots of numbers but the bracing take away from the numbers is that now is the time to transform - or perish.
In this podcast Ogden talks about work MX has done for credit union giant BECU. Hear our podcast with retired CEO Gary Oakland.
Know that some of the opinions in the reports come from banking futurist Chris Skinner. Hear our podcast with Skinner.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
When a credit union buys a community bank is that dancing with the devil?
Welcome to the CU2.0 podcast with your host Robert McGarvey. Today's guest Keith Leggett, now retired Chief Economist with the American Bankers Association who still actively writes his blog, Credit Union Watch.
The topic of the talk: bank - credit union mergers.
Some banking experts are up in arms about these mergers. Not Leggett. He says community banks that are up for sale generally are looking for the best valuation and credit unions, in some cases, are exactly that as they seek to add new business capabilities - especially in business lending - and a fast route to that capability is buying the right community bank and retaining key staff.
On that note. listen to the CU 2.0 podcast with retired SECU CEO Jim Blaine, whose ideas are referenced by Leggett. We also discuss Maine Harvest, a new charter, and Leggett points to research on credit union bank mergers via Filene, also the St. Louis Fed.
Numbers to remember. In the past two years there have been around 400 bank - bank mergers. There have been around 20 bank - credit union deals.
Meantime, Leggett tempers his positive perspective on bank - credit union deals by saying there needs to be a two way street, that is, the regulator needs to lighten up about credit unions selling out to banks.
Why do bankers so often loudly scream about bank mergers with credit unions? A lot has to do with association politics, says Leggett, who adds that there's always a stronger response when a wolf is said to be at the door.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
They just don't talk well together.
That's the surprising conclusion in a report entitled "Surprising Disconnect Over Compliance and Secure Web Use at Financial Firms," research sponsored by IT security company Authentic8. (Download the report here.)
Inside many banks and credit unions IT, compliance, and legal just don't talk the same language and often do not see the same problems, according to this report.
Read the related CUInsight article about the report here.
Today's guest, Scott Petry, CEO of Authentic8 who will tell is about this internal Tower of Babel.
Here's why it matters: "this disconnect creates the potential for sizable gaps in compliance and data protection approaches in these organizations."
Credit unions may have even tougher going because in many cases some of these tasks are outsourced and often the vendors simply do not talk together. Ever.
Often, said the report, compliance focuses on reducing risks, legal relies on security policies, and IT is more attuned to attack vectors and keeping users content.
And those three orientations may collide.
The report explores how to get the three competing tribes on the same page, thus improving the institution's digital security.
The report also looks at how to maximize web use while maintaining optimal security. Increasingly a tool of choice is remote browser isolation and Petry tells why this solution is gaining favor inside many financial institutions.
The conversation starts off with an attention grabber: why the ordinary URL is IT's nightmare. And know that Authentic8's Silo web browser has built in protections that anticipate - and solve for - user errors, pages they should not have clicked on, and still worse. It's protection for the Age of the Web and it consumes the first half of the podcast.
From there, we turn back to the question of the three tribes - and how to get them cooperating for the security of the organization.
Be prepared to hear realities you haven't thought about - and the result may be heightened internal security.
Read the report. It’s short, it’s free, but it’s provocative: Get it here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to Up in Smoke, Part 4 - credit unions and weed.
Buckle up. Dan Mayfield, public affairs director at LeveragePoint, a strategic communications firm in Albuquerque NM, will be our guide in this podcast to the cannabis business in New Mexico.
Cash, public safety, and a $130 million dollar annual business take. That's legal marijuana in New Mexico -- and right now credit unions are scrambling to help serve this market.
LeveragePoint has a ringside seat and that's because it is wholly owned by the Credit Union Association of New Mexico.
You heard that right.
That also means it's playing a key role in setting up the CU Cannabiz show in Chicago in April and Mayfield offers more details on that in this podcast.
Up in Smoke Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here.
Part 3 is a podcast with Paul Stull, CEO of the Credit Union Association of New Mexico.
What's important here is that cannabis is a potentially huge market for credit unions. It has risks, sure.
But it has a grand upside.
Here all about all sides in this podcast. It's a fast ride.
Listen here
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Toke up - the CU2.0 Podcast is back with another look at cannabis and credit unions, a topic we last looked at a year ago in a two part podcast. Part 1 here, Part 2 here.
Welcome to Part 3, 2020 edition of Up in Smoke, credit union style.
This is your host Robert McGarvey
Today's guest Paul Stull CEO of the Credit Union Association of New Mexico, which is sponsoring the Credit Union Cannabiz Conference, April 5-8 in Chicago.
What this is about is the business of banking cannabis companies, said Stull. And he fervently believes that cannabis - so far an untouchable for the big national banks - is a prime opportunity for credit unions to build dynamic and profitable business account relationships that involve both deposits and lending.
And this is business that right now the national banks won't take on.
About two in every three states presently has legal marijuana in some form (medical, recreational or both).
Said Stull: "Most credit unions are involved in banking marijuana money whether they know it or not."
His argument: do this openly, consciously, charge accordingly and it's a win win, for the credit union, also for the marijuana business.
In the podcast, Stull offers a deep dive into why cannabis banking also benefits local communities - meaning this is a solid credit union business direction.
The opportunities with cannabis for credit unions right now looks immense.
Stay tuned because in a few weeks another cannabis themed podcast will drop.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Want to grow your member base? Want to target particular kinds of members?
Content is your friend, says Shondell Varcianna, a financial services veteran who nowadays focuses on providing select financial institutions with finely targeted digital content - blog posts - for distribution via the credit union website, also social media.
Her driving point: content works when it is written to meet the specific needs of a targeted group. It can't be all things to all people.
She especially recommends financial education content. Millennials, for instance, want info on home buying. Give it to them and you just may get the mortgage.
The key: have a strategy about what groups you want and what you want to sell them. The content will follow.
This is an informative podcast about a topic that usually is treated superficially. This is a deeper dive and it's worth it because this is how to supercharge member growth.
Listen here
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
It just may be topic one in credit union c suites - how do we make more profitable loans?
Matt Johnner of BankLabs - a developer of cloud based technology solutions for financial institutions - has a suggestion: Go after lending to two of the country's biggest industrial segments, agriculture and construction.
And fast track this by using your present member base to segue into commercial lending into those segments.
A good car loan experience for a farmer's wife, or a home builder's husband, just may lead to a 7 figure commercial loan - for the credit union that is thinking that way.
So Johnner likes the "law of attraction," which essentially says that what we focus on comes into our life.
Start thinking on construction and ag loans and they just may happen for you.
His company also is a provider of mobile tools that automate lending and loan management and, he says, many lenders are still rooted in legacy technology (spreadsheets). A newcomer to the field who has the right technology in place just may start closing deals.
What will the regulator say? Johnner addresses that in this podcast.
He also talks about buying a community bank to accelerate success in commercial lending - but stresses there are other ways.
If you want more high profit loans this is a must podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Passwords are broken. You know that.
But do you know call centers are heading that way?
Call centers are under attack by criminals. Smart criminals. And they are targeting credit unions.
Credit unions are responding by asking more members ever harder questions. Just one problem. As the questions get more obscure - what was the make of the second car you owned - more members give wrong answers.
Fraudsters incidentally often can perform quite well on these tests because they have amassed data via the dark web.
They probably know the name of that kindergarten teacher that you have forgotten.
Tough questions are no cure.
The better solution is to implement biometric authentication that eliminates the need for answering a series of obscure questions. Enter Illuma Labs which is focused on helping small and mid sized financial institutions - that means you, credit unions - implement passive voice recognition.
As for what passive recognition means it's that it happens in the background, the member needs do nothing special. In a matter of quick seconds he/she is authenticated and you can get down to business.
That means quicker call times, lower costs, happier members and happier call center staff.
This podcast is a guided tour into how voice rec works, how to implement it quickly and at low costs, and why this is the 21st century solution to a lot of the fraud credit union call centers are experiencing.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Every day people - maybe thousands of them - are turned away by financial institutions, credit unions included. These people, by necessity, utilize the periphery of financial services such as payday lenders and bill pay via pricey money orders.
It's expensive to be poor.
Wouldn't it be nice if credit unions could do more to help these people get back on a healthy financial path?
It could in fact be life changing.
CU2.0
Enter Cambio, an app that gamifies finance and, along the way, gives its users a debit card and also rewards them for their smart financial behaviors such as paying an electric bill on time.
Along the way, Cambio is working with the Illinois Credit Union League and Cambio founder Blesson Abraham said that he envisions significant roles for credit unions with Cambio. Case in point: credit unions may want to get dibs on Cambio users that have successfully turned around their financial behavior.
Just that is exactly what Cambio is about: helping consumers change their behavior around money.
Many credit unions want to do more on that theme in their community. So check out Cambio.
Listen to the podcast here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Joseph Cooper calls it "the justice gap" and what he is pinpointing is the avalanche of unfiled lawsuits and the unpursued legal matters that the middle class often just lets go untended.
The rich pay lawyers. The poor, in many cases, can access free legal assistance. The middle class is out in the cold.
Enter Cooper's Justice for Me, where he is creating a system that helps attorneys find clients, helps those clients borrow money to pay for their legal assistance, and just may also help credit unions add a powerful new loan product to their portfolio.
Wake up, smell the vanishing auto loan. Legal loans just may be a great new product and it also is a product that aligns well with the core credit union mission of helping the middle class.
Justice for Me avoids most criminal law, will not do contingency fee cases (personal injury), but there are many, many other matters such as wills, adoptions, divorces, contract law, bill disputes and much more.
Lawyers need the work - we are over lawyered these days - but they also want to be paid. Enter Justice for Me.
It's a novel idea.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
The tagline of the website Edmit says a lot: Treat college like an investment.
Four years at Arizona State - tuition, room, board - will run over $110,000.
Four years at MIT will run over $300,000.
Big money is at stake and this is why so many students graduate with immense debt loads. The average approaches $40,000.
That's a lot of dough and it's a huge burden.
Enter Edmit, which aims to show a student and his/her family the real cost of a college and that's a factor of this school, its financial resources, this student, and the family's financial resources. A lot of variables come into play.
But the right college choice can produce a manageable debt load. Often the school with the best package for this student isn't the one that seems obvious.
Seth Brecher, head of partnerships and customer success at Edmit, tells us how the program works.
He also tells about the special relationships Edmit forms with participating credit unions, and he says helping families plan their higher education expenses is a good way to strengthen relationships.
Listen here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
If Kasasa were a bank branch network, it would be the nation’s fourth largest and it says that some time this year it will overtake Bank of America and be the 3rd biggest.
Surprised? You bet. Probably you know that Kasasa has been building up its customer base for digital banking products - checking in particular - but now it is big enough where it's tooting its horn.
This"branch network" isn’t a consumer facing product - CO-OP Shared Branching it is not - but what’s interesting is that lots of FIs, some 907 community banks and credit unions, now have joined together to offer Kasasa products, particularly the free, rewards based checking.
And that’s also where Kasasa has a real plus - according to company CEO Gabe Krajicek, Kasasa consumers have free access to essentially every ATM in the US. When fees are imposed, the consumer is reimbursed.
And that’s an enormous perk for credit union members when many institutions have ATM fleets that can be counted on one hand.
Think about the enormity of that plus for credit union members in Kasasa institutions.
Kasasa also aims to put high quality digital products in the hands of consumers because, said Krajicek, often consumers say they couldn’t belong to a credit union because the digital is no good.
But what if it in fact is good? With the right digital products, community institutions can and will survive, said Krajicek.
Along the way, Krajicek- whose company serves both community banks and credit unions - says community institutions would better serve their interests if they recognized that they have more in common and in particular they have in common a shared enemy and that’s the money center banks.
It’s an interesting thesis. So often community banks and credit unions are reflexively Hatfield and McCoy. But what if they joined together to oppose a shared foe?
What if?
What if cooperation flourished?
It's a big vs. small battle, he said.
And nowadays it's becoming a life or death struggle where many community institutions are vanishing.
Krajicek tosses out big ideas. Come along for the ride in this CU.0 podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
What do you think when you get an alert from your credit union offering you a 2.9% car loan - and you already have a 1.9% car loan that you got two years ago from the same institution?
Duh, right?
Lou Grilli, an executive at payments CUSO Trellance, thinks a lot about exactly those kinds of questions and he believes that for credit unions the solution will come through smarter, faster data analytics.
His opinions are rooted in information gleaned from the experiences of the roughly 2000 credit unions that own Trellance.
What your member will do, or need, tomorrow already is known in today’s data. You just have to look at it.
And Grilli thinks data analytics can unlock tactics for encouraging more member use of your institution's cards - which is a goal of just about every credit union.
Along the way, Grilli also talks about the future of contactless cards, also what to expect from digital wallets such as Apple Pay.
Payments in the past five years have changed much more dramatically than they had in the preceding 25 and Grilli has a ringside seat. That’s why he is worth a long listen in this podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Quick now, how long have passwords been around?
How many credit union members want never to use one again?
What are the three must have biometrics modalities?
When will biometrics effectively supplant passwords in financial services?
Flashback time: when did Apple introduce Touch ID, a tool that thrust biometrics into everyday use for tens of millions of consumers?
Consider the above your pop quiz. How did you score?
Al Pascual, a researcher with Javelin, who recently co-authored a report on biometrics and financial services, knows the answers to these questions and he tells all in this CU2.0 podcast.
It moves fast, you'll want to hear it.
A sliver of good/bad news: it's the biggest financial institutions that are carrying the weight of persuading regulators about the efficacy of biometrics and that just may be a blessing for smaller institutions - credit unions included - who can follow behind.
Hear the full podcast here.
Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Welcome to AI, Part 1 in the CU2.0 Podcast series. Next week we'll post AI, Part 2, an exploration of voice and AI. This week looks at a company focused on text and AI. Both are products of the DCU Fintech Innovation Lab in Boston - podcast about that here.
Either way, great stuff is happening that you need to know about to stay current.
Why? It's because a lot of credit union work is mundane, tedious, boring really. It needs doing, no question, but how best?
Enter Coalesce. The company's tagline says it all: "AI software that automates tedious work for financial services."
You're not interested because credit unions are special? Coalesce is in the DCU Fintech Innovation Lab in Boston - hear the podcast about the lab here - and it is already working with Digital Federal Credit Union, BECU,and the NASA credit union, among other financial institutions (including some mega banks). It has a good credit union pedigree.
The Coalesce focus is on automating monotonous, rote work, particularly around handling incoming member emails (70% it turns out can be answered by machines) and also auto loan applications. Hunting for fraud is another, promising avenue for AI. AI, it turns out, is good doing these jobs faster and cheaper than people.
Are the machines taking over? Greg Woolf, the Coalesce founder and CEO, laughed at that. For good reason. The Coalesce version of AI is built around input from people who also are in charge.
Put away those Matrix fears and come for a ride into tomorrow where machines do a lot of the work people honestly don't want to do and the machines are good at it.
The CU2.0 podcast. About credit unions for tomorrow.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to AI, Part 2 in the CU2.0 Podcast series. Last week our podcast explored email and AI through the eyes of Coalesce, a DCU Fintech Innovation Lab company. This week, in Part 2, we explore voice and AI through Posh Development, another DCU Fintech Innovation Lab company - podcast about that here.
Either way, great stuff is happening that you need to know about to stay current.
B of A is pushing its AI bot Erica hard. But just maybe you can fight back with your own voice bot. That's part of the Posh promise.
It's a good, practical podcast. Listen up here.
This is a podcast you can't miss. AI definitely is the future. It's up to you to understand and control it.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Quick, how does a company get named Pinkaloo?
Meet Gideon Taub, CEO of Pinkaloo, a company focused on modernizing charitable giving for the 99% - that means us - and now it also is helping credit unions find a way to claim a central place in guiding members to more effective giving.
With Pinkaloo, a use can set up a budget for giving, access tools to help find organizations of particular interest, get gifts sorted for tax purposes, and - this is huge - do research without falling victim to the insecurity of some charity websites.
It's win-win-win, for the member, the credit union, the charities.
Pinkaloo is about bringing efficiencies to something that for many of us has been haphazard.
Note: Pinkaloo does not require core access.
Also note: credit unions may find that Pinkaloo helps them know much better what their members want to support and this may help steer credit union charitable giving in a much more precise direction. Just sayin'.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Buckle up. In episode 2 of the CU2.0 Podcast South Bay Credit Union CEO Jennifer Oliver dishes on the hard work of staying alive at a $100 million institution - and in fact she's prospering. Want to know how she works this miracle? So did we which is why sat for a special 30 minute podcast that is worth every minute.
The CU2.0 podcast. About credit unions for tomorrow.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
"We are facing a global talent shortage," said Tommy Marshall, executive director of the new Georgia Fintech Academy, by way of an an answer to the question: why was your organization formed.
It's an ambitious undertaking. The idea is to pull together resources from 26 Georgia public universities - including Georgia Tech, Georgia State, and Georgia Southern - and to offer students the opportunity to earn a degree focused on fintech.
Right now, the emphasis is on a bachelors degree program but there are plans for an advanced degree as well as professional development courses.
Understand this: Georgia has gotten a jump on other states. Nowhere else is there such a sweeping program that draws upon a wide range of institutions, all joining together to produce grads with degrees that will help them get good, well paying, interesting work.
Marshall of course is looking for companies that want to hire grads - FIS is already a primary program sponsor - and he specifically saus in this podcast that he wants to hear from credit unions. If you have needs for fintech grads and you are in Georgia, shout it out because this might become an answered prayer.
In the program, Marshall tells exactly why Georgia started the Academy, how he got his job, and why this all just may be very important to economic development in Georgia.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Do you dream of being in control of your credit union's digital presence?
Stop dreaming, start doing. Find out how in this podcast as Ent vice president Tanan Miles explains how the Colorado institution has full control of the UI of its digital presence.
How cool is that when the most important branch for most credit unions is online and mobile access?
Ent, by the way, has compelling numbers to show the emerging dominance of mobile. 34% of its members are mobile exclusive - that is their only way to access the institution. And 75% of the online sessions now are mobile.
Which means you want to start controlling your institution's digital presence.
Like right now.
Find out how in this podcast, in the CU2.0 Podcast series.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What are people saying about your credit union?
That means members, staff, and community members?
And how does a nasty hack impact your reputation?
Meet Casy Boggs of ReputationUS, where the business is in fact reputation management and a primary emphasis is work with credit unions.
You think you have a great reputation? Don't guess. Know. Get a reputation audit done and be prepared to be surprised by the results.
Particularly interesting is how a hack impacts a credit union's reputation, a topic Boggs has studied in depth.
Among his findings: 48% of us are very unlikely to remain a member if their data has been hacked and then used to set up a bogus credit card account.
Good news, per the survey, is the vast majority of us hold credit unions in high reputational esteem.
But don't take it for granted.
Boggs says in this podcast that too many institutions are unprepared to deal with events that involve a reputational hit - they lack a plan and a plan can smooth the path to recovery.
Bad stuff happens. Are you prepared?
Find out what's involved in this podcast. Listen here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
.Welcome to the CU2.0 Podcast with your host Robert McGarvey.
In every episode we probe the massive digital transformation that now is remaking the nation’s credit unions and today’s guest is Amy Downs, CEO of Allegiance Credit Union in Oklahoma.
This is a very special episode. The conversation with Amy opens with her remembrance of the 1995 bombing of the Murrah federal office building in Oklahoma. Many of her co-workers lost their lives that day; some 168 people died that day. Amy survived but was hospitalized. She also talks about her determination to remake Allegiance to be a thriving 21st century institution, a credit union that honors and remembers its past but also is focused on staying relevant.
It’s a great credit union story. Told the CU2.0 way.
One more thing: tune into the last bit of this podcast to learn about special sponsorship opportunities. You’ll want to hear about this.
Welcome to the CU2.0 Podcast with your host Robert McGarvey. In every episode we probe the massive digital transformation that now is remaking the nation’s credit unions and today’s guest is Trudy Soucoup, a member of the board of directors at Washing State Employees Credit Union, a top 100 institution with about $2.8 billion in assets.
Trudy’s day job is as CEO of Homes First!, a non profit focused on low income housing in Washington.
The focus of this podcast: what’s it like to be a board member in 2018, a time of enormous flux for most credit unions.
Hint: it’s a lot of work.
You’ll hear about that and also a slightly embarrassing introduction to MRDC in this podcast.
Board members are critical to the success of credit unions. But rarely are they heard from. So listen up.
One more thing: tune into the last bit of this podcast to learn about special sponsorship opportunities. You’ll want to hear about this.
The CU2.0 podcast. About credit unions for tomorrow.
Teach them when they are young.
That's the approach to financial education taken by John Lanza of the Money Mammals, where the focus is on financial education for children 11 and under.
A key: the education becomes a family project. That means credit unions - and credit unions can sign up with the Money Mammals to access its library of teaching materials and workbooks - will be attracting younger adults with small children.
The material also is branded with the credit union name.
And the financial education itself of course is a key credit union mission.
Lanza stresses that good as it is for kids to get financial education in school, it's crucial that they also get it at home because they need some money to learn with. Call it allowance and know it can be small. But that money becomes a teaching tool.
Lanza said he presently is working with 15 credit unions and he wants more. Some are under $200 million, one is bigger than $3 billion. So the program will work in just about any size institution.
Give a listen and just maybe you will be persuaded to focus on financial ed and children, the Money Mammals way.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Biophilic.
That's your word for today and it is complements of Jesse Boyer, COO of the $600 million NIH Federal Credit Union in Maryland which is moving at a high speed to open a new branch in Silver Spring that is biophilic in design - meaning it puts you in touch with nature and, in this case, there's a living moss wall.
Of course you want to hear more about this.
What this podcast is about is a search for a new, more welcoming branch format and, at the new NIH FCU location, ITMs - interactive teller machines - replace ATMs and oldfashioned tellers.
The idea is to produce a comfortable setting that is both warm and techie.
Some balancing act but the NIH FCU folks think they have the roadmap and in this podcast you will hear about it.
You will also hear candid musing about what a $600 million credit union has to do to insure longterm survival. Think acquisitions.
This podcast revolves around extremely candid and frank assessments of what needs to be done - in terms of branch reinvention and credit union survival.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Kirk Drake literally wrote the book on the digital transformation of credit unions and here he sits down for a brisk, rich 15 minute podcast about what digital transformation really means and what he has learned about the process in more than a year of working with credit unions on transformation.
Spoiler alert: it ain't easy.
Second spoiler: but if you try real hard you just may get what you need.
The CU2.0 podcast. About credit unions for tomorrow.
Here's a terrifying number: Total outstanding student loan debt is $1.5 trillion. With a t. Trillion.
The average student leaves college owing north of $28,000.
Talk about dream crushing.
Talking about downscaling.
Enter ChangEd. It’s an app that says it can help graduates pay off debts faster by harnessing their pocket change. Automatically. Pretty much painlessly.
Tropical Financial, the Florida credit union, is in a pilot program to show the power of pocket change.
That’s what Tropical Financial vice president Amy McGraw tells us about in this podcast.
Student loans already are impacting the ability of many credit unions to make loans to debt burdened would be borrowers. That can put home purchases on hold. Ditto cars.
So finding a way out is critical.
ChangEd just may be the path.
At Tropical Financial, the hope is that by helping student loan holders pay off their debts faster, and with little pain, the credit union will gain visibility with Millennials in particular.
But, mainly, it's also just about walking the credit union talk which means helping members live better financial lives.
The CU2.0 podcast. About credit unions for tomorrow.
Listen in to this uplifting podcast here.
Do you want to talk about money - or would you prefer to talk about sex?
Many of us today would choose the sex conversation, mainly because we know we don't know much about personal finance and we also know we don't anybody to ask for advice.
Enter Tropical Financial in Florida which has introduced a new website Get Beyond Money where the purpose is to provide people (target audience: older millennials) with the financial education they need and want so that they can make smarter, shrewder financial decisions.
The website has plenty of blogs, quizzes, and even offers a free appointment with a financial counselor.
This podcast offers an insider's view of how this campaign was created - and know it was three years in the making. There were stumbles along the way but that enriches this story.
Also know that Tropical Financial is willing to share its content with non competitive credit unions. Don't be shy about asking.
Today's guest is Amy McGraw, the first repeat podcast guest. Last year she starred in episode 10 on the student loan crisis and what Tropical Financial is doing to help.
Now she's leading the charge in bringing meaningful financial education to older millennials who - in many cases - really don't know who to ask for advice. Tropical Financial wants to step into that role.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to the CU2.0 Podcast, regular interviews with credit union leaders, thinkers, movers, shakers and more.
This is not about the status quo.
It's about tomorrow. The tomorrow you can join in shaping, or the tomorrow that will shape you.
Which do you please?
Credit unions are buying so many banks the Wall Street Journal refers to this as a "spree."
Just in the first eight months of 2018 there were 21 transactions, compared to 12 in the prior five years, by the WSJ count.
What is going on here?
We put that question to John Weinkowitz, Head of Product Strategy, Community
Markets, Finastra, and himself an m and a expert.
Is this doing business with the devil?
Should this put into jeopardy the credit union tax exemption - as many bankers are insisting?
What drives the transactions? The need to grow, said Weinkowitz. FIs below a certain size find it more difficult to compete. So some put themselves up for sale. And others go hunting for acquisition partners.
The allure for credit union execs is an immediate increase in members, deposits, and also - in many cases - branches.
But are they factoring in predictable attrition?
Do they have a strategy for employee retention - which may be critical to making an acquisition work?
Before buying a community bank listen to this podcast. You don't want to ignore that advice.
The podcast is here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Can small credit unions survive?
Carla Bienz is CEO of Partners 1st Credit Union in Fort Wayne IN - an institution where she has worked since she graduated from college and where she now is CEO. And she has keen insights into the plight of smaller credit unions and what they need to do to survive and prosper.
Partners 1st, by the way, now is approaching $400 million in assets after multiple mergers. It also has 24 branches in seven states.
One reality Bienz accepts: to stay relevant Partners 1st has to continue to grow.
Another reality: it needs a lot of help from fintechs but, says Bienz, the right fintechs level the playing field for smaller credit unions.
Along the way Bienz talks about why she is exploring CDFI status and she ponders the existential question: how can credit unions with under $100 million in assets survive.
She is exceptionally candid. Soft spoken but thoughtful. Listen and learn.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What would it be like to go from being Head, Digital Customer Experience at Lloyds Bank in the United Kingdom - a trillion dollar institution - to being the VP for digital innovation at Colorado-based Canvas Credit Union, with assets around $2.5 billion?
Ask Lucy Donaldson, this week's guest at the CU 2.0 Podcast.
She made exactly that journey and she candidly talks about what a money center bank can do that a credit union usually can't - but she also talks about the huge advantages a credit union has, from much better agility to strong, genuine community ties.
She's seen both sides and she says what she likes about credit unions.
A key point Donaldson makes in this podcast is that it's time to stop talking about a credit union's digital transformation - and time to accept that has become its business transformation. A credit union is its bits and bytes and knowing that makes the job of plotting institutional success that much easier.
Here's a related podcast with Tanan Miles of ENT, Colorado's biggest credit union.
This is one of a half dozen podcasts recorded at Finastra Community Markets in Chicago, October 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
There was a time when community financial institutions owned the home mortgage market. No more. Fintechs dominate and mega banks aren't far behind. Most credit unions are left to squabble over crumbs.
But just maybe there's hope. At Finastra, Steve Hoke, Vice President, Product Management, Consumer and SME Lending, says the company's Fusion Motgagebot Data Insights puts the power of data analytics in the hands of a community financial institution and the upshot is just maybe it can compete - successfully - against the fintechs and mega banks when it has data at its command.
What percentage of your mortgages actually close? How does that compare with competitors? Don't guess. Know. That's the promise of this data.
Understand, the data is anonymized. You cannot ask it to tell you how you fare against a specific competitor. But if you want to see how you do against others, it has the answer.
This is powerful stuff. Hoke said Finastra is adding capabilities and hopes to extend it to more types of lending (auto loans for instance).
"We are giving community institutions insight into data that before they were flying blind about," said Hoke.
This is one of a half dozen podcasts recorded at Finastra Community Markets in Chicago, October 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
It has taken some years but finally Maine Harvest may be in the final lap before gaining an official credit union charter. That's because it's met its fundraising goal, $2.4 million, with last monies ponied up by the Maine Credit Union League and what's remarkable is that just about the whole credit union movement in the state has supported formation of this novel credit union.
So, too, do the states two U.S. Senators and two House members.
Maybe 30 credit unions have been chartered by NCUA in the past decade. So this is a big deal.
We first covered the Maine Harvest story in 2015.
We picked it up again in 2017.
And in 2019 we may be covering the official opening.
What's special about Maine Harvest is that it intends to follow a specific, narrow business plan where it makes loans to small farmers - for land purchase, equipment purchase, and similar.
No checking. In fact no cash in the till.
No other institutions crave that loan business. But small farming is seen as very important to Maine's future.
Also essential to the business plan is that essentially all the back office will be provided by Synergent, a subsidiary of the Maine League.
That lets the start up focus on finding borrowers and making sound loans.
Why do many credit unions fail? They don't serve a clear need.
This one knows its need and has a plan for filling it.
Other states would do well to look into similar efforts.
Hear the podcast with Budde about the history, present and future of Maine Harvest here.
The CU2.0 podcast. About credit unions for tomorrow.
UPDATE: MAINE HARVEST GO ITS CHARTER. BRAVO
Ask Allan Brown - a VP and GM, Digital Community Markets at Finastra - what keeps him up at night and his answer is simple: it's trying to stay on top of the digital revolution that is transforming credit unions and community banks. Brown also is very optimistic. His belief: community institutions that partner with the right fintechs can not only keep pace with the big banks digitally, they very well may be able to beat them at this game.
Along the way Brown discusses mega trends that are changing how financial services are delivered and two key trends, he says, are real time banking (it's coming!) and much shrewder use of data to deliver better and smarter services to consumers.
"The future of financial services is going to be phenomenal," says Brown.
This is one of a half dozen podcasts recorded at Finastra Community Markets in Chicago, October 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Name the single most important IT system in your credit union.
Spoiler alert: it's not your core. Not anymore.
Who says that? Mike Hatch, a VP and national sales manager at Finastra, and a core expert. Hatch knows the core is crucial but he also believes that it's the institution's digital orientation that will shape its future.
Core is part of that.
But it is not the end all.
Another question: is your core system holding your institution back? Can you easily - and inexpensively - integrate cool fintech technology into your core?
Say no and you are telling the truth.
But it's the wrong answer. You want an open core that lets you deliver the tech your members want.
Credit unions are looking for ways to be different, says Hatch. An open core helps there.
Think cores are boring? You won't think this podcast is boring - and you just may find yourself wondering if now is the time to initiate a core conversion.
Scary? You bet. But going out of business is scarier.
This is one of a half dozen podcasts recorded at Finastra Community Markets in Chicago, October 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Think corporate credit unions died? Think again. Jay Murray, CEO of Vizo,a large corporate that's the product of a merger between Mid Atlantic and First Carolina, is bullish on the future of corporate credit unions and he thinks they just may be essential to the survival of many thousands of small credit unions.
He's probably right.
But Jay has more to say. He talks about Vizo's push into offering cooperative backoffice technology solutions, at affordable rates, to hundreds of small credit unions. He's attacking the hegemony of for profit vendors and that just may be a very cool thing.
Murray also has profound thoughts about the importance of cooperatives cooperating with other cooperatives, for mutual benefit. That means looking for ways to work with, say, rural electric cooperatives, food cooperatives, and just about every other kind of cooperative. What cooperatives are you working with?
This is a good podcast with plenty of insights into what tomorrow might look like for small credit unions and it may be more cheerful than you think. Are small credit unions dead men walking? Murray says no way and he tells why he is optimistic
The CU2.0 podcast. About credit unions for tomorrow.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Can your cybersecurity keep hackers at bay?
Can cybersecurity be used as a marketing tool by a credit union?
Can a banker in fact become a credit union executive?
For answers, listen to this podcast with Daniel Ford, CIO at Jovia, a $3+ billion credit union on Long Island that you probably know as NEFCU. The rebranding occurred a month ago.
Ford joined NEFCU via First Source Bank in South Bend (IN), where he was the chief information officer, responsible for infrastructure, cybersecurity, and application development. We asked him bluntly: can a banker in fact fit into a credit union's philosophy? You can guess his answer but give it a full listen. He makes points to remember.
Podcasts in this series that explore bankers and credit unions include Jim Blaine, Bucky Sebastian, Gary Oakland, and Marc Schaefer.
Ford also talks, at length, about what a CIO needs to do to stay on top of cybersecurity and also how to work with vendors.
As for using cybersecurity as a marketing tool, don't be too quick to say no way. Ford offers a tactic that just might work. Of course you want to hear that.
Listen to the Ford podcast here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
It's a war for talent. That's the flat out statement of John Pembroke, CEO of CUES, the organization that probably knows the most about senior level and board level recruitment at credit unions.
The good news: Pembroke in this podcast offers up plentiful tips to help credit unions win the talent war.
The bad news: the war is real and many credit unions just aren't winning, in the war for talent, in efforts to diversify the board, in efforts to field a board that is suited to leading an organization that increasingly is tech centric.
That's why you must listen to this podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Talk to Cathie Mahon and it's a fast ride into what mission makes a credit union special, distinctive and in her mind the answer is clear: serving the underserved and usually that means economically disadvantaged.
She has tantalizing insights too. For instance: she tells why the business model of community development credit unions may in fact be primed for greater success than the model followed by most credit unions.
She also tells how the NCUA handcuffs newly chartered credit unions and this may set some up for failure.
And she has advice on designing a mobile banking app that betters serves the economically disadvantaged.
Listen up, it's a good podcast that just may persuade some struggling conventional credit unions to investigate tweaking their business model and to embrace more community development outreach.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
One site to rule them all.
This is the banking version of the Tolkien quest for the one ring that rules them all.
Call this open banking and remember that phrase. It's about to get much buzzier and louder over the next year as open banking transforms how US financial institutions interact.
Scott Anderson, brand evangelist at Diebold Nixdorf, sat down at the company's DN Intersect event to tell us why open banking - a big issue in Europe - is heading your way.
Imagine one site where your member sees everything financial. Inside the credit union and outside. Imagine a site where the consumer can decide what to use to pay for this purchase in this moment.
How cool is that?
It's also potentially frightening to financial institutions. The institution ceases to be a walled garden and becomes instead an open transit point. Won't consumers flee?
Why should they? If their needs are getting served.
In many ways Anderson is optimistic about the impacts of open banking - which definitely is coming our way - on smaller FIs such as credit unions.
One hitch however. How do credit unions get enough data to play meaningfully in this universe? Anderson sees credit unions working in alliances with fintechs - CUSOs perhaps - to create an even playing field with big banks when it comes to open banking.
Just maybe it's the biggest FIs that have the most to lose in an open banking universe.
Think on that and think about how to win your institution's share.
This podcast is one of a group of four recorded on site at the Diebold Nixdorf DN Intersect conference in Las Vegas, September 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Will your superior teller experiences guarantee your future?
Believe that and - probably - you won't want to hear this podcast on the rise of the digital first member. That member may occasionally step into a branch but usually they are unhappy. They would rather interact online.
And their numbers are growing.
Smart institutions know this. A Chase - in its heart - is now a technology company. Are you?
In this podcast, Jeff Bender - vice president, digital solutions at Diebold Nixdorf - tells about the future of banking as he sees it. And he sees a lot of digital.
Word of advice: bet now on cardless ATM access. That, says Bender, is the next must offer.
Bender also warns about offering a generic, off the peg digital experience. Do all your competitors offer the same mobile banking app as you? Think again if that's true. "Find ways to personalize, to differentiate," says Bender.
And keep thinking digitally. It is the future and it is now.
Listen to Bender here.
This podcast Bender mentions Partners FCU and its digital journey. For my take on Partners FCU, read this.
This podcast is one of a group of four recorded on site at the Diebold Nixdorf DN Intersect conference in Las Vegas, September 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You have a successful product that puts small dollar loans in the hands of consumers who may have tattered credit but they need the money and you want to save them from predatory lenders who may charge interest upwards of 100% APR.
Your product usually involves loan rates of 24 to 36% APR.
Much better for the consumer.
And you have 11 other credit unions offering your loans.
That's the story of QCash, a subsidiary of WSECU in Washington State. And now QCash's CEO Ben Morales is launching a new tool that just may blow up QCash's market.
And that's ok.
The new QCash tool is a financial wellness product that - in its simplest understanding - is designed to heal struggling consumers by offering access to liquidity but also financial counseling and teaching that turns that consumer into a person who deserves an 8% loan. Not a 36% loan.
How cool is that.
This is an upbeat podcast about how credit unions can generally help members in an era where more of us struggle to pay our bills.
An underlying QCash belief is that the path is in the data and it's just a matter of understanding the consumer and his/her data. In that data the way to financial wellness lies.
Related podcasts include Trudy Soupcoup, a board member at WSECU; and Bill Bynum, CEO at Hope.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
How does a credit union get heard in the marketing wars with Bank of America, Chase, and the other money center bruisers?
Face an ugly reality: You can't win.
No way, no how.
Unless you change the rules of engagement.
That's what West Community Credit Union in Missouri is doing. A $280 million credit union, it's nonetheless active in SixThirty, a St Louis fintech incubator, and in this podcast West Community vp of marketing Koren Greubel tells about the institution's adoption of Plinqit, a mobile first app that gamifies savings and financial education - and just may be helping West Community connect with new consumers that otherwise would never have looked at a credit union.
The trigger for this podcast was this line in a press release: "West Community Credit Union selected Plinqit as a better way to introduce themselves to potential members rather than relying on traditional marketing channels."
You can't win at traditional marketing. Especially not to generations that may ignore a lot of that.
Think different and you just maybe can win.
The podcast also has a special appearance by West Community CEO Jason Peach who got on the phone to explain - with passion and a keen sense of reality - why the institution is getting into the SixThirty incubator and how it matters.
Doing similar just may matter to your institution too. If it can happen in St. Louis, why can't it happen where you are?
A related podcast is about the DCU Fintech Incubator in Boston. Listen here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
What are your members thinking about you? Say you don't know and you are setting yourself up for failure. Say you do know and, no, you haven't asked them because you, well, just know and you are on the fast track to extinction.
If you want to know what your members think and need, ask them.
That's where LiveSurvey comes in. A credit union owned CUSO - developed by MAPS Credit Union in Oregon - LiveSurvey's mission is providing realtime, instant feedback from members that lets credit unions better chart their next actions to better serve members.
When is the last time your credit union surveyed members? How many responded? Did you get anything useful?
LiveSurvey grew out of MAPS own needs. The credit union faced the horns of a dilemma. On one side were very pricey, consultant driven survey products. On the other side, there are inexpensive - even free - Internet tools. Neither gave MAPS the solution it wanted and out of that grew LiveSurvey.
About 25 credit unions now use LiveSurvey which gives them the ability to query members as they wish and on whatever topic they choose.
Prices range from $500 to $1000 monthly.
Who better to help you take the next steps to grow your credit union than existing members - who when asked right will tell you what they like and what they don't.
MAPS make it easy and inexpensive to know.
Every credit union needs to be doing this or similar. It's a competitive world out there and this is crucial intel. And it's yours to gather if you just ask for it.
LiveSurvey CEO David Deckelmann tells all abut it in this brisk podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Can a credit union serve more than one employer group? You know what today's answer is of course. But to know the history you need to talk with Marc Schafer, CEO of Truliant, a Winston Salem credit union.
That's because Truliant was sued by a banker's group in the mid 1990s that claimed it was illegal for a credit union to serve more than one employer group. And the bankers won in the Supreme Court!
So how is it now legal? Listen to Schaefer and his tale of how HR 1151 became law - that's the legislation that made multiple SEGs legal.
Along the way you will hear a great personal credit union success story. Schafer became CEO of the tiny FDIC credit union when he was 34 in 1986. In 1995 he moved to Truliant which then was a $400 million credit union.
Truliant now is a $2.5 billion credit union.
That's a remarkable growth story and of course you want to hear it.
Why is Schafer telling his story now? He retires at year end.
His is a terrific story of how to make credit unions work better, for more people.
Related podcasts in this series include Bucky Sebastian (who tells his take on HR 1151), Gary Oakland, Jim Blaine, and Teresa Freeborn.
As for Blaine, the retired CEO of SECU in North Carolina, he too has a story of being sued over multiple SEGs. In an email he wrote this: "few know that the "original" FOM law suit was filed against SECU in state court (SECU is state-chartered) in 1977 by the NC Bankers Association when SECU added small city/county local govts to our FOM. The bankers beat us in the NC Supreme Court (on a split decision with the Chief Justice writing an 'icy' dissent!) and we had to divest about 9,000 local govt employees who had joined. We did so - being the ornery, stubborn folks we were! - by forming a federal credit union (today's Local Government FCU @$2.5 billion) which immediately contracted for all services through SECU. LGFCU had a board and staff of 1, but immediately had a full array of services and about 50 branches at that time! Needless to say our state bankers were 'not pleased' and sued in federal court (we forced it out of our state courts since LGFCU was federally chartered!). LGFCU/SECU won on appeal in the 3rd District (Richmond) and the bankers decided not to appeal to the US Supreme Court. When they later came gunning for Marc, the bankers made sure it got heard in the 4th District (DC) which is far more 'business friendly' - the 4th ruled in favor of the banks, which led to the adverse Supreme Court decision, the Campaign for Consumer Choice, and HR 1151."
You have your eye on new ATMs for your credit union - but you are given pause by the price tags that can quickly jump above $50,000 apiece.
Here's a reality: most credit union ATMs that I see are old, creaky, lacking functions, sometimes with screens so weathered and scratched they are barely readable.
Then there are the ATMs that I see at nearby Chase's. Cardless access. Sleek.
Enough to make you drool?
Enter Tellerex and a possible answer to your desires. An ATM lifecycle management company, Tellerex works with financial institutions both large and small.
There's magic in that formula. A handful of big banks are dueling over who has the best ATM fleet and they are in constant upgrade campaigns. What happens to the 1500 and more ATMs they replace every year - typically after five to seven years of use?
When Tellerex is the player, what happens is that discarded ATM is given new life - often new software, sometimes even a new processor. A new top of the line ATM might cost $50,000 to $75,000. A refurbished five year old ATM might cost half that.
You life that math? Of course. And your members will like the upgraded user experience.
Listen in to a podcast that tells you all you wanted to know about ATMs but didn't know who to ask.
Giving answers here are Tellerex's chairman and co-founder James Kilkelly, CEO Christian Ranke, and chief operations officer Brian Lechlitner.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Buckle up for big, explosive ideas. That's what Douglas Hartung - senior director, business development & alliances at Diebold Nixdorf - specializes in and in this podcast he discusses Libra, bringing financial services to the globe's underbanked and unbanked, and the exciting idea that just maybe all a person needs to send money anywhere on the planet is a smart phone.
How cool is that?
Know that just may be Libra's promise.
While some scoff at the prospects of Libra - the Facebook backed new-style currency - Hartung believes that the sheer magnitude of the Facebook family of properties user base makes this a financial play that demands attention.
He also likes the idea of in-app payments - so in Facebook, for instance, what if you can without friction send $10 to a friend in Bali. With just a click. Without leaving the Facebook app.
Is Libra just another Bitcoin variant? Hartung says nope. He tells why in the podcast.
A bottomline here is: pay attention to Libra. You may regret it if you don't.
Incidentally you will hear some taps interspersed throughout the podcast. That's Hartung animatedly tapping on a table to emphasize his point. Get into his spirit, let the taps animate you too.
This podcast is one of a group of four recorded on site at the Diebold Nixdorf DN Intersect conference in Las Vegas, September 2019.
Don't miss a related podcast with industry analyst Richard Crone, also on Libra.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Richard Crone is a longtime payments geek and when it comes to Libra, he has a particular spin. It boils down to this: forget the talk about crypto currency. Libra fundamentally is a pre-paid account and because it is a Facebook effort, it has reach into some 2.1 billion daily users of Facebook tools (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, etc.).
"It's a prepaid network with global reach - there are also 90 million businesses on Facebook properties," said Crone.
His blunt message: every credit union needs a Libra strategy and you need it now.
Understand this: Facebook may not be looking to profit off Libra per se. Its strategy seems instead to be to use Libra to drive traffic to Facebook sites and thereby increase advertising revenues.
Which may make Libra yet more attractive to financial institutions.
The conversation includes Heidi Liebenguth, managing partner at Crone Consulting, and it took place in a public space at Caesars Palace, where Crone and Liebenguth were speakers at DN Intersect, the Diebold Nixdorf meeting. There's minor ambient noise but audio quality of the podcast is good.
Crone finds it "bizarre" that not one FDIC insured institution joined in the launch of Libra.
He also is not deterred by the regulatory scrutiny Libra has won. In fact he sees it as a competitive advantage because it may deter competitors from plunging in with their own similar products.
Listen to this podcast and you definitely will want to dig into Libra and reach the decisions that are right for your credit union. Inaction is not a strategy.
Don't miss a related podcast with Diebold Nixdorf executive Douglas Hartung, also on Libra.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Take a guess. How many recurring payments does a typical consumer have set up, for how much money monthly?
Alain Glanzman, CEO of fintech WalletFi is focused on exactly that issue - and also on the huge potential it represents for credit unions
The answers are 10 to 15 recurring payments totaling $857 per month.
Surprised? Think Netflix, T-Mobile, the NY Times, Cox Cable, maybe an electric bill, and the list goes on. We have moved from a society that paid via bill pay, or perhaps writing a check, to one where many of us have set up multiple vendors to in effect pay themselves monthly via our debit or credit cards.
Enter WalletFi. The company says of itself: "WalletFi was founded to solve a problem our co-founders personally felt: the pain that comes from a lost or reissued card. Focused on the customer experience first, WalletFi grew to provide technology that helps users manage their subscriptions and recurring charges, and bounce back from a lost, stolen, or reissued card.
Financial institutions identified these pain points in their customer’s life cycles as well, and now rely on WalletFi to provide a subscription management platform that will increase interchange revenue, offer an unbeatable user experience, and win the battle for top-of-wallet."
WalletFi now is looking for credit unions to partner with.
In this podcast, Glanzman offers intriguing insights into how fintechs and credit unions can work together, how they have different definitions of a "quick deal," and - above all - he expresses confidence that many credit unions, with their focus on the member experience, are ideally positioned to champion bringing more control to consumers over their recurring payments.
On which note: do you know how many recurring payments you have set up?
Don't be surprised if you stumble. That's where WalletFi comes in. It gives the member visibility into payments many of us have forgotten about.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Circle the date, October 26. Las Vegas. That's when Susan Mitchell, a longtime credit union consultant, is convening another meeting of the Credit Union Underground, this time in parallel with Money 20/20, probably the meeting of the best and brightest in the disruptive quadrant of financial services.
The point of each Underground is collision with disruptors. A lot - maybe most - credit union executives cling to their individual comfort zones. But get with reality. Maybe half of today's 5500 credit unions will go poof in the next decade.
Bye bye.
At the Undergrounds, attendees get exposed to disruptive thought - but they also see they aren't required to face the challenges alone, a lot of credit union people are in the same boat.
A Mitchell belief is that widespread cooperation helped build the credit union industry. And a renewed commitment to cooperation just may be its salvation.
Ask yourself this: what's your institution's purpose? Who did you help today? Whose life did you change?
Credit unions were created to help community members, to change lives. Are they still doing that?
And know that that is a path to survival. Purpose fuels existence.
This is a wide ranging podcast. Listen and you just may find your path to survival.
For Ramones, go here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Randy Karnes just may be the poster boy for the cooperative entrepreneur. In the process he may also have come upon the formula that will enable many hundreds - perhaps thousands - of small credit unions to thrive in the 21st century.
How can they? Aren't they technology deserts in an era of digital banking? Nope. Not with CUAnswers, the CUSO Karnes helms, at their side. CUAnswers once was simply a core system provider but as the technology needs of credit unions have evolved, so has CU*Answers. It now offers online banking, mobile banking, and more; you want to hear why in this podcast.
178 credit unions own CUAnswers and they range in size from microscopic to over $1 billion in assets. The typical CUAnswers credit union is $80 to $100 million in assets and, say many pundits, that's an endangered species.
Karnes dissents. "I don't think they will be gone."
He adds, "Credit unions will survive to the extent they stay creative and disruptive."
Remember that. The point of a credit union is not to be staid and conservative. It's to rock the boat. That's why they were founded, to be different.
The ones that prosper today will do likewise
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Can a credit union double in size in five years? You bet, says Kirk Kordeleski, a senior consultant with Best Innovation Group and before that, CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union on Long Island where he did exactly that.
Kordeleski points to Navy and also BECU as examples of other credit unions that have also experienced exponential growth.
How? That is why you want to listen to this podcast. He gives the recipe, in some detail, here. Boiled down it's think competitively and believe - really believe - you can use inherent credit union advantages such as tax exemption to take a billion or more in dollars of business away from money center banks who very probably won't even notice it is gone.
There's more in this podcast. Kordeleski also tells why this is a time of immense, perhaps unprecedented opportunity for credit unions. Use digital and use data to allow your institution to expand in ways that a generation ago would have been unimaginable.
The bad news: a decade from now the number of credit unions may be about half what it is today. Expect 2000 credit unions to vanish in the next decade. You don't want to be among them? There are plenty of survival tips in this podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Call this the credit union oral history sequence - Blaine, Bucky Sebastian, now Gary Oakland who took over BECU, with around $700 million in assets, in the mid 1980s and when he left in 2012 it had become a $10 billion+ credit union, one of the nation's very biggest.
How did Oakland do it? In this podcast you will hear his recipe for credit union success which, put simply, is make the member the center of this universe. When the member is served, the credit union will thrive.
"It's all about the member," said Oakland.
Oakland sees a bright credit union future - but he wonders about the arrival of bank trained executives and how that background will impact credit unions.
A break that came BECU's way was when the big bank in Washington State, Seafirst nearly went belly up in the 1980s - and was saved from that only when Bank of America took it over. That gave BECU smoother sailing in its quest to be dominant in its state.
Oakland says he is proud that he left BECU with a small credit union attitude in a big credit union body.
It's an inspiring credit union tale.
Listen up here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
A state regulator in Illinois. General counsel at NCUA. A co-founder of Callahan Associates. Longtime CEO at GTE Financial. Head of the National Credit Union Foundation. Guess who.
Meet Wendell Sebastian, call him Bucky.
His has been an extraordinary career and you will like him. For two reasons. He is a vocal credit union cheerleader. And he deeply believes that credit unions - because they serve members, not shareholders - will triumph, that credit unions are absolutely the best financial institution for just about all of us.
Bucky doesn't shy away from a fight. Suggest to him that it is high tech credit unions that will prevail and he is quick to argue that in point of fact it is high touch institutions that have been winning. Of course they feature needed tech but what puts a credit union in the winner's circle is high touch. He cites Navy Federal as a classic for instance and in this podcast reviews the numbers to make his case.
He is a walking history book too. Why did credit unions shrink in number from 23,000 40 years ago to maybe 5500 today? Because it was in the plan, says Bucky, and in large part a result of policies put into place when he worked at NCUA in the early 1980s.
Isn't a shrinking number of institutions a sign credit unions are dying? "Never focus on the institutions, it's about the members," says Bucky who points to the extraordinary growth in member numbers.
In this podcast you'll hear what killed off savings and loans and why credit unions escaped their fate, why community banks may be next to expire (and what may keep them alive), and the big advantage credit union CEOs have over their peers at banks.
What advantage? That they can manage the institution with a eye on the horizon, not on the present quarter, says Bucky. Managing to the quarter, he insists, is a recipe for disaster.
You want a feel good podcast? You want this one - and you definitely will learn a lot of history in the process. Related podcasts include the Jim Blaine Marathon and Cliff Rosenthal on CDFIs.
Listen here to the Bucky podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Cannabis banking. Data breaches. Taxation of credit unions. The disappearance of small credit unions. The rise of $10 billion+ credit union behemoths. Welcome to the world of Caroline Willard, CEO of the Cornerstone League and, before that, she spent a decade at Co-Op in senior marketing slots.
What do credit unions need to do to survive? What do leagues need to do? Willard offers candid and also optimistic thoughts about these life and death questions.
She also offers insights into what leagues can do to help small credit unions survive in an age of ever more complex and expensive compliance requirements.
And she challenges credit unions to be a bit more like Rocket Mortgage - and if you want to continue to write home loans you will pay heed.
Pay heed too to her thoughts on how taxation of credit unions just might be an existential threat to the industry.
Related podcasts in this series include the two-pack on cannabis banking, Teresa Freeborn on CUNA's $100 million credit union awareness campaign, and Joe Bergeron of the Vermont League and Pat Conway of the Pennsylvania - NJ league
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Elder fraud is big business. The FBI calculates last year's losses at over $700 million and involving two million seniors.
That's a lot of pain.
The scams are predictable. “Your grandson has been arrested. He’s in jail in Memphis. You need to bail him out. It’s dangerous. Send $5000 in gift cards.”
There are variations. But the usual drill is that a relative has fallen into trouble and the senior can be the hero.
Horrible.
But now credit unions are entering this scene.
Here to tell us what credit unions are doing is Walt Laskos, senior vice president, strategic communications at the Cooperative Credit Union Association, a multi state league covering Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Delaware.
Leagues - usually - spend the bulk of their time lobbying.
But CCUA is putting a lot of energy into fighting elder fraud and helping credit unions to do likewise.
It’s also very, very good PR for credit unions, says Laskos. That’s not why CCUA does it but the side benefit is real.
Listen up as he talks about what CCUA is doing, with whom, and what the community reaction has been.
Hint: think very very positive
Listen up here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Put phishing emails in front of credit union employees and how many will fall for them and cough up sensitive info? 20 to 60% will get conned.
And that can be costly to a credit union, both in terms of money and reputation.
Enter BrightWise, a Des Moines Iowa cyber training company created by Sherri Davidoff, CEO of LMG Security, and the Iowa Credit Union League’s holding company Affiliates Management Company (AMC).
After training, said Davidoff, the number of employees who fall for the phishing con tumbles below 10%.
What BrightWise will focus on, said Davidoff, are fun, short videos - think maybe five minutes - than an employee can absorb at his/her leisure.
Smarter employees are critical because how hackers work has changed, said Davidoff. “It’s no longer 13-year-olds in their moms’ basements that are hacking us; it’s organized crime groups all over the world,” Davidoff shared with NBC’s Today Show.
“People tend to think cybersecurity happens in the IT department,” added Davidoff. “Front-line staff are under constant assault from crooks and their automated robots, look-alike communications and other crafty tricks. We have to arm employees with knowledge, but also give them the tactics they need to sidestep cyber sneak attacks.”
Want more details on the Paul Allen scam? Read this.
Listen up to this podcast for a fast overview of the cyber threats credit unions face - and what they can, indeed must, do to protect themselves and their membe
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to the CU2.0 Podcast with your host Robert McGarvey. In every episode we probe the massive digital transformation that now is remaking the nation’s credit unions and today’s guest is Vasilios Roussos, executive director of the DCU Fintech Innovation Center in Boston.
The what? You're right: this is a major departure for a credit union and in this podcast you'll find out why DCU launched a fintech incubator, how this is very cool for the industry and what other credit unions can do to achieve similar outcomes.
How can credit unions level the technology playing field with mega banks and giant fintechs? DCU may well be showing the way in Boston.
One more thing: tune into the last bit of this podcast to learn about special sponsorship opportunities. You’ll want to hear about this.
Find out more about CU2.0 here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
At 30 he took over as CEO of State Employees' Credit Union in North Carolina. That was 1979. Come 2016 and he retired. SECU had grown to $33 billion - and it had 256 branches and 5800 employees.
That's the Jim Blaine story and here he sits for a marathon interview, the longest in this podcast's history.
It's worth the hour. Make time.
Blaine starts out by questioning the wave of mergers that is now rocking the world of credit unions. Why not just liquidate the institution and give every member $1000?
Keep listening and you realize he's not exactly for doing that. In fact he denounces the loss of a few hundred credit union charters yearly.
What he is actually doing is highlighting a reality that, typically, those mergers accomplish just about nothing. The resulting institution, a bit bigger, is in fact no more competitive.
Blaine also worries about the loss of local institutions, where nowadays in many credit unions all decisions - including the trivial - get made at corporate HQ.
Is there in fact a future for credit unions?
Maybe. Maybe not. Blaine highlights a strategy for keeping credit unions relevant. But he frets that many may not heed the message.
Are you listening?
Related podcasts mention in this interview include Bill Bynum, Maine Harvest. Teresa Freeborn, and Cliff Rosenthal.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Consumers don't want a digital bank. They want digital banking. That's a building block belief of futurist-blogger Chris Skinner who has become a regular on the conference speaking circuit.
Even though what he has to say will upset many financial services executives.
That's because he thinks many are going about becoming a digital banking prover all wrong.
It's not about offering a mobile banking app. It's about a reconfiguration of the whole service delivery system.
That system was created to distribute paper (think checks).
What's needed today is a system to distribute data (bits and bytes).
Skinner relates that one FI that gets it often asks itself before embarking on a project, what would Jeff do?
Jeff who?
Bezos, said Skinner.
And that's a step closer to really thinking digitally.
Here's the money question: Can credit unions keep up with the big money center banks when it comes to the race to digitalization?
Skinner has good news here. His answer is yes. His answer also is that the comparatively small size of credit unions is a plus. A lean institution is that much easier to put on a different course.
In this podcast Skinner tells how. He also tells a lot about what China has done to create a digital country - and it's inspiring stuff.
Listen up.
Related podcasts include Ron Shevlin, Brett King and Thomas Frey - for more doses of futurist thought.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Will your credit union be in business in 2029?
The question is not academic and it's exactly the kind of question futurist Thomas Frey chews on.
We first heard him at Co-Op's Think '18 (video here) and the conversation picks up where that presentation left off: what's the future of the car business?
And know that the answer directly impacts credit unions.
Know too that Frey in this conversation explores the future shape of banking - by 2025, he says, the biggest banks will be tech companies.
He also delves into the vanishing branch and what this means for financial institutions. There now are 90,000 branches. But they are disappearing at a rate of 1000 per year. And then what?
The emergence of "banking deserts" - and the opportunities that may create for financial institutions - is another Frey topic.
So is the emergence of autonomous cars and what that may mean for credit unions.
One fact emerges from this conversation: the banking industry tomorrow will look very, very different from today's.
Will you still be in the picture?
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You want to know about community development financial institutions? Cliff Rosenthal is the man you want to talk to. He literally wrote the book on CDFIs and also the longstanding credit union initiative to serve the unbanked: Democratizing Finance: Origins of the Community Development Financial Institutions Movement.
Have CDFIs lived up to their potential?
Have credit unions changed the shape of financial services in America?
Rosenthal has opinions and he shares them in this podcast.
Along the way he talks about his stint at the CFPB - and the ingrained credit union executive distrust of that institution. Which may not be entirely warranted.
Rosenthal pulls no punches. He said, "It dismays me that 100 years after the birth of credit unions we still have a significant problem of the underbanked and unbanked." And, note, about 25% of households falls into the category.
Rosenthal also said that in 1990 there were around 13,500 banks and thrifts and a like number of credit unions. There now are about 5500 of each. "The number of credit unions falls by 200 to 300 each year. Ten years from now there will be 3000, 3500 credit unions."
That math is flawless. And it has to scare you.
In this podcast, you'll hear a discussion of the successes of a Mississippi credit union executive Bill Bynum. He told his own story in this podcast.
You'll also hear about Jim Blaine, the charismatic, longtime CEO of State Employees' Credit Union in North Carolina, one of the country's biggest.
And you'll also hear Rosental insist that many credit unions that focus on serving the underserved do better financially than those that focus on fighting with banks for more affluent consumers.
If you enjoy this podcast, listen in to the podcast with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusive, a trade group for institutions that focus on community development.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions
You want more Millennial members. You need them. Born between 1981 and 1996, Millennials are a prime age cohort for financial services - they are getting mortgages, buying cars, taking vacations. And yet many of them know squat about credit unions and do not belong to them even though in many respects credit unions line up perfectly with what Millennials want: free checking, non profit status, they are local businesses, and they put people and community first, not shareholders.
So why don't more Millennials belong to credit unions? That's why we brought together three to talk about credit unions, what their friends think about credit unions, and why they use them (or don't).
This podcast is a companion to the Gen Z podcast which explored the same issues with a younger cohort.
It's also a companion podcast to the podcast with Teresa Freeborn on the CUNA awareness campaign.
A takeaway from this talk is that credit unions have a lot of work to do. A lot. They are doing a wretched job of communicating their differences and why they are the better choice over a bank.
But the messages are there, they are strong, and credit unions can win. If they do the hard work.
It's a tough fight. But a winnable fight.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Ask Victor Corro, of Coopera, the Hispanic focused consulting firm for credit unions, on why Hispanics matter to credit unions and he gets impassioned. Hispanics need credit unions, he says, just as credit unions need Hispanics. He tells in detail exactly why that is so in this edition of the CU2.0 podcast.
Note: the audio quality has imperfections in parts of this podcast. We live in a world of imperfect telephony. But the audio is understandable. So give a hard listen and you will be rewarded.
Corro also tells exactly what a credit union needs to do to really pursue the Hispanic demographic. It's a multi-step process and he spells it out.
And he explains why many Hispanics are cellphone first consumers - and savvy credit unions need to truly get that if they hope to prosper in their pursuit of Hispanics.
Just remember: you need each other. And that makes this a perfect scenario for doing credit union good.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Do you want the good news first or the bad?
In this podcast we bring together three Gen Zers to tell the good, the bad, and the ugly about credit unions.
The ugliest news: the woeful job credit unions have done in communicating their profound and manifold advantages.
Do Gen Zs know about the free checking, the vast shared ATM network, that CUs are non profit?
Nope.
There are cures for these ills however and the Gen Zs tell what.
It's a lively podcast.
Listen up.
And tune in next week when we post the companion podcast where Millennials tell their verdicts on credit unions. Spoiler alert: don't expect dramatically better news.
The bottomline verdict: credit unions have a lot of work to do to persuade the young among us to join.
And they are the future.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Quick now, how much did financial institutions collect in overdraft fees in 2017? The answer is $34.3 billion. That's right, billion.
A lot of us are getting soaked by high bank fees and thus TrueFees, founded by Ben Premo whose intent is to shine a light on the actual fees charged by financial institutions.
Premo told me that maybe one in two FIs are opaque about their fees. That is, the info isn't clearly and readily available online.
But this is a fight credit unions are primed to win. Thousands of credit unions offer free checking and many also have low costs for other common bank charges.
Premo's intent at TrueFees is to let consumers easily find which institutions in their region charge low fees.
TrueFees is looking for the right credit unions to partner with and this is a fight credit unions ought to win.
He tells what it's all about in this podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
How long does it takes your credit union to respond to a mortgage application with a verdict? Anything longer than 10 minutes just may be too long. Are you still in the game?
At Filene, Erin Coleman, senior impact director, mulls just that kind of question as she hunts for ways for credit unions to stay competitive in a landscape that is ever more perilous.
She also discusses the need for credit unions to involve more young people - as members, sure, but also as employees and as volunteers, even board members.
Then there's the question of how far in the future you are thinking. A year or two isn't good enough. Can you think five years out? Ten? Okay, what impacts do you think autonomous cars will have on credit unions - and know they are coming and they will impact you. Are you ready? Coleman talks about exactly that question here.
This is a wide ranging podcast but it just may help light a path to a successful tomorrow. Listen up!
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Welcome to Up in Smoke, Part 2 - more formally, Credit Unions and Cannabis, Part 2.
In last week's episode, we heard from lawyers, a lobbyist and two credit union consultants in a no holds barred exploration of the potential, and pitfalls, of cannabis accounts in credit unions. Catch up with that podcast here.
This week we are digging deeper in a pair of interviews. One is with Judy Britt Cavanaugh, VP of Compliance with the Connecticut Credit Union which is actively attempting to educate its members about the realities of cannabis and credit unions. The Connecticut League also is working with Green Check Verified - which talks at length in Part 1 - to establish safe, compliant procedures for handing marijuana accounts.
Also in this podcast is Katrina Skinner, interim president of Safe Harbor Services, a CUSO set up by Sundie Seefried. It also is working to provide credit unions with the tools needed to stay compliant when servicing marijuana businesses.
Listen here.
Marijuana business just may be the answer for some credit unions.
But it could also be the ruin of some.
That's why you need to listen to the podcasts.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Quick now, what country has the highest participation in credit unions? Say the US and you are wong. According to Mike Edwards, senior vice president for advocacy at the World Council of Credit Unions, it's Ireland, north and south, where 70% belong.
In this podcast he tells why that participation is so high.
He also tells why many regulatory matters in the US in fact originate overseas - risk based capital, Bank Secrecy Act requirements, AML, and more got their start overseas and that is why Edwards spends much of his time monitoring and attempting to influence regulations overseas.
What happens in Basel does not stay in Basel. It may and probably will wind up in the US.
Listen in to this informative podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
From the Ukraine to Ireland and Dominica, this podcast travels the globe with Mike Reuter, executive director of the Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions, as he shares stories of the challenges faced by credit unions and also the generous willingness of other credit unions executives to help. Exhibit one may be the rebuilding of the Dominica credit union sector after that island's economy was flattened in a 2017 hurricane. Credit union execs want to help and they do. It's an inspiring podcast that shines a light on what's special about credit unions.
Stay tuned. In a week or two a second podcast will post with another WOCCU executive as we travel around the world to see the challenges internationally and how the US fits in.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You don't want to listen to this podcast.
But you need to.
What banking futurist Brett King paints is a dystopian picture of financial services tomorrow where, increasingly, consumers want frictionless money transactions, they don't give a hoot about banks vs. non banks, and they have no interest in a relationship with a one stop financial services provider.
Credit unions still think they are special. Think again, warns King.
What matters today is digital. Period. Sure, King, as the founder of digital bank Moven, has a bias.
But he very probably is right.
Financial institutions are getting left behind as the biggest banks get bigger - lots bigger - and fintechs gobble up profitable slices of the financial services pie.
Along the way in this provocative conversation, King talks about the new Apple credit card, why Apple Pay has stalled, and the inevitability of real time banking.
It's a look into tomorrow.
And, yes, it may sound like a horror film.
But at least when you know what's ahead you can start preparing for it.
Find the full CU2.0 Podcast archives here -- Blogger: The McGarvey Credit Union Podcast - All posts http://bit.ly/2UhZd1H
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
$100 million. That's the projected three year budget for the CUNA "Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union" campaign.
Teresa Freeborn, CEO of Xceed Financial Credit Union, chairs the CUNA effort which she - make no mistake - sees as crucial in the longterm survival and prosperity of credit unions.
The campaigns blends research with marketing - much of it online - to reach out to a generation of consumers that simply may not even consider credit unions as a financial services option.
Ouch. It hurts to be ignored. But that is a credit union reality and that also is the why of the CUNA campaign.
A central mission of the campaign: raising consumer awareness of the benefits of credit unions as a different, better category of financial services providers. That's ambitious. But it just may be critical in the industry's survival.
In this podcast Freeborn tells the story of the campaign's launch, it's current status, and it's hoped for future. She also blends in her perspective as the longtime CEO of a large credit union.
Listen up - your survival may depend on it.
Find the full CU2.0 Podcast archives here -- Blogger: The McGarvey Credit Union Podcast - All posts http://bit.ly/2UhZd1H
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Consider this podcast a crash course on credit union lobbying, 2019 style. Our instructor: Patrick Conway, CEO of the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association, a very large league with upwards of 370 members.
PCUA lobbies both in Harrisburg, the state capital, and in Washington, DC.
A lot of what PCUA does however could be considered credit union education. For instance, PCUA has played a lead role in the new Philadelphia ID card - designed to give Philadelphia residents a low cost ID card. Will it be adequate for opening a new account at a credit union? That's still being sorted out and PCUA is in the mix, offering education and counsel to its members.
PCUA is doing likewise with cannabis banking, a topic of significant interest to Pennsylvania credit unions.
Along the way we also talk about credit unions haves and the have nots and, in Pennsylvania, assured Conway, the big credit unions offer plenty of assistance to smaller institutions.
Other topics on the agenda: credit union tax exemption, the CUNA-league relationship, and what credit union can do to win greater consumer acceptance.
This is a rich podcast. Give it several listens.
Find the full CU2.0 Podcast archives here -- Blogger: The McGarvey Credit Union Podcast - All posts http://bit.ly/2UhZd1H
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Just say no more to overdraft fees.
And make this decision good for your members and also good for your credit union.
You may even grab a few customers away from Chase and the other money center banks.
That's the promise of fintech startup Grain Technology.
In this podcast Grain co-founder and COO Carl Memnon tells about the company's proprietary algorithm that lets it devise strategies for making fast loans to users who are about to trigger an overdraft charge and to also help those users find easy ways to start saving.
The latter is the why behind the company's name - users will see their assets and their credit score grow "grain by grain," said Memnon.
Memnon also talks about being in the Arizona fintech sandbox and the benefits for a small startup in playing in this sandbox.
Grain is actively seeking to align with credit unions that want to offer its overdraft protection service to members. In the podcast Memnon tells about the benefits to credit unions but a big plus is having cool technology that in effect let's the member know they will see no more overdraft fees.
Listen up, you'll find plenty of interest in this podcast.
BTW, the sirens you'll hear are ambient noise in New York where Memnon was during the call. If you've spent any time in New York you won't even hear the siren. I couldn't scrub it out so decided just to enjoy the New York moments.
Like what you are hearing in this podcast? Find out how you can help sponsor the podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
You want to make new account opening easy and fraudsters want to exploit that loophole to rob your credit union.
That is the gist of today's podcast with Hakan Nordfjell, head of digital banking at Gemalto. He tells about fraudster tricks and also the way financial institutions are fighting back.
He also warns that all your personal information is on the dark web and ready for fraudsters to exploit. PII - personally identifiable information - just isn't enough to open new accounts securely today. You need more weapons. Nordfjell tells what.
This is information you need to know to protect your institution in what could be called the New Account Opening Wars.
Who's winning?
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Cornerstone Advisors' Ron Shevlin's report on "What's Going On in Banking 2019. Is the Party Over?" is out and he's in the CU2.0 Podcast to share some of his findings.
Read the report here. It's free.
To compile the report Shevlin surveyed some 300+ senior executives in financial institutions - around 120 in credit unions - and they spill their views of their tomorrows.
Has the Trump bump become the Trump slump, asked Shevlin.
A lot of the report focused on technology and what financial execs see as musts.
Some 63% of credit union executives describe their digital banking as future ready - which prompted this reporter to choke and then ask, are they doing marijuana related banking and smoking too many samples?
Listen to the podcast to hear Shevlin's views.
As always, Shevlin is an independent, sometimes quirky viewer of financial services. That's why his viewpoint matters.
Listen up and learn. Here's the podcast.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Call this podcast Up In Smoke, Credit Union Style.
The more formal moniker: Cannabis and Credit Unions: The Opportunities and Risks, Part 1.
That’s right. There is also a Part 2 because there just is so much to report about cannabis and financial institutions.
In Part 1, you will hear from a couple lawyers, a cannabis lobbyist, a pair of credit union consultants, and more.
Why the hubbub about a little weed? For one, a commonly tossed around market size estimate is $50 billion in the US and much of that is unbanked cash.
For two, there are big differences between state laws regarding cannabis and federal.
In two thirds of the states cannabis is legal - either for medical uses or, in some cases such as California and Colorado, for any use. That’s right. Recreational use is legal in some states.
And yet marijuana remains illegal in federal law.
There’s the sticking point.
Pragmatically speaking, few oppose medical use of marijuana. But many still oppose recreational use of it.
So what happens if the federal government comes in and arrests a bunch of credit union employees for drug trafficking?
Don’t say it can’t happen because it could.
Is it probable?
Right now credit union executives are wrestling with exactly such questions.
Answers don’t come easily.
Know this however: around 110 credit unions now have marijuana related businesses as members.
The core argument for doing this is that it’s good for the community. It takes cash off the streets and it also helps small, local businesses stabilize.
The only downside is that marijuana remains illegal in federal law.
Uggh.
There’s the dilemma. A credit union can do a lot of good by plunging into the marijuana business. But it also may be risking all.
Thus this podcast series. There may be no knottier problem for credit unions than marijuana.
There is information to know and that’s what we are delivering. In a two part series.
In Part 1, you will hear a range of viewpoints. Listen to the end so you hear all the perspectives. It's a 45 minute podcast but the content is rich
In Part 2 you will hear in some depth from the Connecticut Credit Union League, which is helping its members serve marijuana businesses, and also Safe Harbor, started by credit union veteran Sundie Seefried to help financial institutions serve the needs of marijuana businesses.
And then what will you decide to do? Listen up to make smart choices.
Listen to Part 1, the must hear podcast on cannabis and credit unions.
Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.
Hear the full podcast here.
Say congratulations to Joe Bergeron - he's in his 40th year of service to Vermont credit unions and he presently serves as CEO of the Association of Vermont Credit Unions where he has a close up view of the issues and ideas that rock his state's 19 credit unions, which vary in size from a $1billion+ institution to tiny ones.
In this podcast Bergeron also talks about the relationship between the state leagues and CUNA, state government and the federal, and how small credit unions sometimes matter way beyond their size.
For a topical hook he also talks about CUNA's GAC and what Vermont credit unions get from that confab.
It's a wide ranging talk with an eye always planted on the future.
Listen to this podcast here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto.