Podcasts about cu2

Send us a textIs 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 textNo 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 textThis 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 textPeter 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 textThis 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 textCredit 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 textOn 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 textI'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 textQuick 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 textHopeful.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 textOn 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 textWhat'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 textAbout 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 textThis 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 textCan 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 textHere'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 Bancgraphy press release.  But I knew when I read it I had to geet 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 textIf 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 textCould 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 textHere'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 textLive 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 textIf 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 textHere'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 textWhen 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 textBeware 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 textThank 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 textSteve 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.comFind 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 textYet 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 textCall 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 textCan 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.comAnd like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.Find 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 textLiterally 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 textAI - 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 textOpen 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 textThe 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.comAnd like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.Find 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 textWhat 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.comAnd like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.Find 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 textBet 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 textJust 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 textThe 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 textOn 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 textWhat'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 textEx 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 toolMetz 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 textThis 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 textBuckle 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 textNews 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 textTalking 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 textThe Fed just cut its interest rate by half a point and Happy Money CEO Ben 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 textThe 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 textJames 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 textThe 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 textWhat'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 textThis 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