This episode highlights the critical need for digital banking solutions that function as open platforms, allowing for seamless third-party integrations. It emphasizes that beyond standard features, financial institutions require the flexibility to incorporate new fintech offerings efficiently. The piece advises on crucial questions to ask potential vendors regarding their integration capabilities, API availability, and control over production releases, aiming to prevent long waits or vendor limitations after contract signing. The podcast hosts also suggest questions for vendor references to gauge real-world integration experiences, including who performed the work, its duration, and cost.

This podcast episode, "International Finance and Credit Unions," explores the implications of a global financial landscape increasingly shaped by economic coercion. The hosts discuss how the United States' use of its financial network for political influence is motivating other nations to seek alternative systems. They then consider how credit unions, despite their generally localized focus, will navigate these evolving international financial ties and the challenges posed by potential new networks, including considerations for Know Your Customer (KYC), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations. The discussion also touches on the potential role of cryptocurrency in these alternative systems and the involvement of countries like Russia, China, and Iran. Ultimately, the episode emphasizes the necessity for credit unions to anticipate and adapt to these significant future changes, viewing them as both risks and opportunities alongside other emerging trends like stablecoins and artificial intelligence.

This episode explores the critical role of member expectations in the success of new digital banking features for credit unions. It highlights that member adoption is significantly higher for services they already anticipate from their credit union, such as loans and transfers, compared to less traditional offerings like investments or cryptocurrency. The text challenges the notion of solely relying on member requests for new service development, arguing that this approach limits potential growth and innovation. Ultimately, the piece advocates for proactively managing and reshaping member expectations so that credit unions are perceived as comprehensive financial institutions for a wider range of services, despite the effort involved in this shift.

This episode focuses on innovative growth strategies for credit unions, specifically targeting individuals who have recently moved. It highlights that despite the rise of digital banking, people often seek local financial institution access when relocating, making new movers a prime demographic for membership expansion. This episode suggests various approaches for credit unions to connect with these individuals, such as partnering with moving companies, real estate agents, and apartment complexes, as well as utilizing targeted online advertisements. Conversely, the podcast hosts also advise credit unions to educate existing members who are moving on the ease of remote banking to aid in retention. Ultimately, the central theme of the discussion revolves around proactive and unique outreach to capture new members and retain existing ones during life transitions.

This podcast discusses the potential for major retailers like Walmart and Amazon to issue their own stablecoins, which could significantly disrupt the financial services sector. These companies collectively command a substantial portion of the retail market, and their entry into digital currencies would add to an already burgeoning stablecoin market that saw trillions in transactions last year. It can negative impact traditional financial institutions, particularly credit unions, as they stand to lose out on various revenue streams and member engagement. Ultimately, it suggests that credit unions must adapt to this evolving landscape or risk being marginalized by the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies.

This session examines the GENIUS Act, recently passed by the Senate, which aims to integrate payment stablecoins into the U.S. financial system. This legislation defines stablecoins as digital assets designed for payments and settlement, offering a step toward clearer regulation. However, there is a significant unresolved issue concerning the "Know Your Customer" (KYC) requirements for stablecoin recipients. The core problem is how to perform identity verification on an anonymous wallet address, contrasting this with traditional banking transactions where the recipient's identity is often unknown after withdrawal from an ATM. Despite this regulatory gap, the Act can be treated as a positive progress, though further work is necessary to address these complexities.

This discussion highlights a significant shift in the landscape of financial transactions, particularly noting a decline in checks and growth in digital payment methods like ACH, debit, and credit cards in the U.S. It draws a stark contrast with China, where internet companies dominate mobile payments, achieving 80% market share through platforms like Alipay and WeChat Pay, while U.S. transactions primarily flow through traditional financial institutions. A similar shift in the U.S. maylead to lost revenue, data, and crucial member attention for credit unions, potentially enabling competitors. Therefore, this podcast emphasizes the critical need for credit unions to focus not only on "wallet share" but also "mind share" by becoming comprehensive digital financial hubs to retain member engagement and secure future business, such as auto loans.

This podcast discusses the increasing challenge of auto loan delinquencies within credit unions, highlighting that nearly 5% of borrowers are significantly past due. It emphasizes the critical role of auto loans as a major source of revenue for these institutions, with credit unions holding a substantial portion of the nation's total auto debt. Convenient payment solutions are essential to address rising delinquencies, suggesting that making it easier for members to pay, particularly via digital and card options, can significantly improve repayment rates. With specific tools like Pay My Loan and Take a Payment from Access Softek, the credit unions can effectively facilitate payments and strengthen their financial stability and member relationships.

This episode discusses FedNow, highlighting its anticipated impact on the financial sector. It emphasizes how this new system will transform payments processing and reshape consumer and business expectations regarding financial transactions. A crucial aspect mentioned is the need for real-time fraud prevention to accompany the immediacy of these transfers, ensuring security in the face of quicker transactions.

In the next twenty years over 84 trillion in assets will be passed from the silent and boomer generations to their children and grandchildren. The largest wealth transfer inhistory.
If the recipients of the transfer are your members you win, and if not, you lose. The downside is of a magnitudethat is a potentially existential risk to your credit union.
What’s needed is simple. The children and grandchildren of your members must also be members.
Unfortunately, the average age of a member is 53. Even worse, surveys show adult children prefer not to have anaccount where their parents have an account.
Unless credit unions adopt a wealth transfer strategy today it will be a train wreck for the industry.
At Access Softek we believe one essential component of the right strategy is for every credit union to offerinvestment options such as a robo advisor, self-directed digital investing and a crypto solution.