Digital Banking Podcast

Chances are, you’ve heard of Star One Credit Union. It’s one of Silicon Valley’s largest member-owned financial institutions.

And because it’s surrounded by the Facebooks, Googles and Apples of this world, it has more than $10 billion in assets with less than 115,000 members. (Psstt… That’s pretty impressive.) It also has a 90% retention rate, thanks to its efforts to serve its members. (Psstt… Also pretty impressive.)

One of the leading forces behind this customer-centric culture is Margarete Mucker. She’s been with Star One Credit Union for more than 28 years. As the Executive Vice President of Operations, Margarete is constantly exploring new ways to meet member needs through remote services and digital banking channels.

Because Star One understands its clients have large amounts of money with multiple institutions — sometimes around the world — the credit union has focused its efforts on optimizing money movement. In fact, Star One was one of the first financial institutions to partner with Zelle, the digital payments network.

In this episode of the Digital Banking podcast, Margarete explains the importance of Star One’s member-centric approach and how it balances that with profitability. She also dives deep into the money-movement ecosystem and even gives us a glimpse at what initiatives she and the Star One team plan to focus on next. 

You might not immediately associate credit unions with fintech startups, but this intersection is Austin Wentzlaff’s passion — so much so he started his own business.

As the founder of FinTech Accelerator, Austin works with early-stage startups that provide tech solutions for credit unions. For instance, he’s working with a company called Illuma Labs, a voice-authentication solution built for credit unions. The idea is for credit unions to bypass those annoying security questions and better serve the needs — and wants — of customers.

He also works with a company called RenoFi, what he describes as a “HELOC on steroids.” It’s a lending solution that allows homeowners to borrow money based on the value of their post-renovation home.

In this episode of the Digital Banking podcast, Austin shares his insights into the world of credit unions and tech. He explains how voice authentication solutions could change the way credit unions interact with customers, and he emphasizes the important role technology plays in this space — and how it could help credit unions reclaim thousands of hours a year.

The abrupt cancellation of in-person industry gatherings has resulted in “a year of lost connections,” says Natasha Chilingerian, Credit Union Times’ Executive Editor.

A self-proclaimed grammar nerd who deals with words daily, Natasha has managed the news site’s print magazine and website content for the past five years. Even though she’s worked remotely for seven years, there are plenty of new learning curves to navigate in light of COVID-19 — namely, the inability to connect with a community. 

While the number of virtual events this year has increased to simulate the connectedness of in-person learning and networking, Natasha says it’s not the same. The chance to travel and explore new places with others “creates bonding and builds relationships with different colleagues you work with.”

Without that, what connects us now is how much more human we allow each other to be. 

In this episode of the Digital Banking podcast, Natasha shares her thoughts on the sustainability of virtual events — plus, what we’ve learned about them since the onset of COVID-19. She provides insight on the post-pandemic future of remote work for credit unions, how we can balance schedules and availability (hint: flexibility is key!) and how to create boundaries between work and home. 

Hear Natasha’s thoughts on these topics and more, like the actual timeline of converting to digital banking and her take on the role of physical credit union branches in a digitized landscape.

Of the many important lessons the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, don’t overlook this one: Digital marketing and communication strategies are key for any business, even those in the financial services industry.

On this episode of the Digital Banking podcast, Prisma Campaign’s Chief Revenue Officer Ianai Urwicz discusses how critical it is for financial institutions to keep up with the ever-evolving marketing landscape.

Ianai’s perspective is rich with culture and experience.  

Though born in Israel, Ianai moved to Latin America as a child and grew up mostly in Uruguay. He began his career in the telecom industry and worked for companies like AT&T and T-Mobile before eventually venturing into mobile payments and the FinTech ecosystem.

Now, Ianai serves as Chief Revenue Officer at Prisma Campaigns, the startup behind an agile omnichannel marketing tool specifically designed and engineered for financial institutions. Part of his work includes helping the company achieve its goal of creating the “Amazon experience while banking.” In other words, he works to leverage user data to create targeted campaigns across different marketing channels. 

Ideally, all financial institutions, including credit unions, should use data and modern marketing technology to predict and support their members — but creating personalized marketing campaigns comes with its fair share of challenges.  

Still, nothing is impossible.

Learn what approach financial institutions should lead with and how to create continuity across your digital and face-to-face messaging. Bonus: Find out how artificial intelligence can take your marketing campaigns to the next level. 

Credit unions are uniquely able to create intimate relationships with members, especially in rural towns where access to critical resources is limited. 

A passionate advocate and CEO of CUProdigy, Amber Harsin understands that better than most. She’s committed much of her career to credit unions — she credits working in branch after high school with providing unique opportunities to discover her full potential.  

Now, she ensures CUProdigy, a core data processor vendor, can help credit unions empower the financial stability of their members through seamless multi-channel user experiences. 

Between navigating a global pandemic and a series of earthquakes, Amber’s first six months of her latest role with the Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) have been a rollercoaster. 

Still, in this episode of the Digital Banking podcast with host and Tyfone’s VP of Sales and Marketing Josh DeTar, Amber shares her enthusiasm to help credit unions help others. 

Technology plays a significant role in supporting credit unions to change business models, so it’s important that providers modernize their core infrastructure and architecture.

And to get ahead of 2020’s ripple effects, credit unions should apply these tools to offer digital financial services in creative ways, like placing kiosks in local hubs to give the people-first experience they’re known for. 

During our conversation, Amber also tells the CUProdigy origin story, how the CUSO approaches servicing credit unions and what would happen if community banks disappeared from small towns.

Plus, how can credit unions differentiate themselves from competing conglomerates that cash in on convenience?

As the digital space rapidly evolves, can credit unions access technology providers to fortify the journey forward? 

In the premiere episode of the Digital Banking podcast, host and Tyfone’s VP of Sales and Marketing Josh DeTar welcomes Mitch Rosenbaum and Lisa Mixon from the Credit Union of Colorado.

As the credit union's Director of Project Management, Lisa has enjoyed learning everything about the industry over the last 10 years, especially the parts where she gets to connect with people and hear about their sides of the business. 

While her role is to assure everyone’s voice is heard and communication is clear across teams, Mitch, on the other hand, helps the credit union create messaging — and ensures they deliver on it.

Though new to the credit union business, Mitch’s background in engineering psychology and marketing is useful as the Credit Union of Colorado aims to meet the developments of technology to create smoother digital banking experiences through artificial intelligence (AI). 

In this discussion about credit unions in the digital space, Lisa and Mitch provide insight into their process of pivoting their online experience, which Mitch says is partly, “measurement and understanding what our members are doing on those systems and where their pain points are.”

Plus, they explain what it’s like to maintain company culture remotely (and during a pandemic), the middleware that will allow them to implement new technologies, the four phases of sophistication of AI and much more.