The CU2.0 Podcast

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Steve Winninger is the man to talk with about credit union boards and governance.

A longtime credit union CEO - 20 years at Lake Trust - now a $1.6 billion institution based in Michigan - plus he also served as CEO at IBM Lexington and since retiring from Lake Trust he has put in stints as CEO at four credit unions (only one of which merged out of existence).

But Steve is a rare CEO.  He loves talking about the role of the board and - done right - a board should be crucial in a credit union's prosperity.

But many CEOs grumble about board meddling. In other credit unions - mainly larger ones - it's the board that grumbles that they are ignored.

Sigh.

Hear Winninger's views on that dichotomy in this podcast.

In this podcast Winninger spells out the four steps a good board must take. Must. No exceptions.

We also talk about whether boards are ready and able to help in the immensely difficult decisions that loom as credit unions wrestle with the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Yet another show about AI but this conversation with Chris Cox, COO at Apiture, a North Carolina based digital banking company, covers the gamut from small, practical AI powered steps a credit union can take now to truly big ideas that just might revolutionize how we bank.  Such as?

Cox tosses out this idea: what if a digital banking app could become like Chat GPT. that is, the user logs in, sees a bar for asking a question, and the resulting session is highly tailored to this consumer’s concern today?  How cool would that be?

Another Cox idea: using AI to suggest next steps to members, maybe everything from “Isn’t your rent overdue?” to “Your car is now seven years old. Time to trade it in?”

Along the way Cox says that a hurdle many credit unions face in implementing AI is that a lot of their data is in formats that AI finds difficult to digest. He offers tips on cleaning up that data to make it a valuable depository of information about members and prospective members.

Listen up.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Call this show all you never wanted to know about the fraudemic that credit unions today are fighting - but you have to know about it because knowledge is a key to beating the armies ff criminals who are besieging FIs across America.

Who are they? What weapons do they have?  On the show is Rene Perez, a financial crime expert who works with Jack Henry, who tells us what the fraudsters are doing.

But he also is very upbeat that the tide is turning against the criminals as more FIs share more information about fraud and Perez is optimistic that there will be more sharing and more wins for credit unions in their daily battles with cyber criminals.

Listen up.

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Can credit unions help eradicate racism in America?

Renee Sattiewhite says so in this 2020 podcast that is our greatest hit #20.

But ask her if there is racism in US financial institutions and the answer is yes.

Renee Sattiewhite is CEO of the African American Credit Union Coalition and in this show she expresses optimism that the US can rid itself of its racist demons.

The time for change is here, she believes.

Sattiewhite is keenly interested in job opportunities in credit unions for people of color and she has numbers: there were in 2020 15 African American CEOs of credit unions, including 6 at billion dollar institutions.

Could there be more?  "I look at this and see a glass half full," said Sattiewhite, who added that credit union can do more, better in hiring minority professionals, promoting them, and - this is key - recruiting minority board members.

Sattiewhite also offers a shout out to Jim Blaine, a past podcast guest for his support of AACUC.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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Literally a couple days before I recorded this podcast with Siva Narendra, CEO and founder of Tyfone and now Payfinia, a story moved over the wire with this headline: Payfinia Launches CUSO with Star One Credit Union.

The story added that Star One - a Silicon Valley behemoth - had invested $4.5 million in the CUSO. That money, by the way, moved in a series of $500,000 instant payments into Payfinia’s coffers.  

At its end Payfinia has built in layers of controls to guard against fraud but to allow real time transfers.

That Star One commitment tells you Payfinia is for real, and Narendra is on the show to tell about Payfinia, which he says is the opportunity for community financial institutions - that means credit unions too - to own an instant payments system that has shown its losses to fraud are dramatically lower than with instant ACH and at the same time overhead costs are dramatically lower.

Instant payments are real and increasing numbers of consumers and businesses - perhaps small businesses especially - want instant payments.  The time is now.

Listen up.

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AI - it’s the word on every lip in credit union land as most institutions scramble to find ways to usefully harness AI.

And then there is Glia, the company known for contact center tools that are at work in many credit unions and now Glia has debuted a suite of AI powered contact management tools that are ready to use now.

If you’ve been wondering when AI would get real for credit unions, know it already is real at many Glia customers.

Glia unveiled its AI collection at its Interact 2024 user conference in October and on the show today is Jake Tyler, founder of Finn AI which Glia bought a few years ago and Tyler joined Glia in that transaction.

Glia’s approach to AI is shaped by the company’s focus on contact centers in FIs.  In the show Tyler explains how that focus impacts Glia’s AI development and in that vein he stressed that Glia is committed to delivering “responsible AI.”

Listen up.

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Latino Community Credit Union was founded in 2000 in Durham NC when the community was rocked by a wave of robberies - even murders - of Latino workers who were paid in cash and were believed to walk around with their pockets stuffed with cash because they were unbanked.

Enter John Herrera - whom you know from CU 2.0 Podcast 142 - and a handful more helpers and visionaries who founded the credit union which at the time of this recording four years had about $600 million in assets.

Among the early volunteers was Luis Pastor who was in the US from his native Spain because his wife was pursuing graduate school and he had time on his hands. But soon he was offered the job of CEO and he took the offer.

Pastor tells of borrowers who have been deported who are still paying their loans - that seems unthinkable but it is a reality in Durham because this is a credit union that engages in helping people who have been ignored by traditional financial institutions. Extend a helping hand to them and these are people who remember that and value the relationship.

Pastor has a word of advice: "If credit unions are trying to steal members from Bank of America we are going to lose this battle."

Focus instead on the people who really need the services you offer and aren't getting them elsewhere,

Update: Pastor now is retired.  

Listen up.

Along the way, many mentions are made of Jim Blaine, the retired CEO of State Employees' Credit Union of North Carolina. Hear the Blaine podcast here. Read more of Blaine's thinking in this CUInsight blog.  

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Open banking - two words that just may change your life and this change is coming at you, ready or not.

In late October the CFPB finalized a rule that made open banking a must have for the nation’s biggest financial institutions by April 1 2026  - and by April 1 2030 the bigger credit unions will have to comply too.

Don’t ask me to explain the choice of April 1. It’s a rather infelicitous choice but open banking is  nonetheless a good thing, for FIs and their customers/members.

Here’s what CFPB has to say about it: “Too many Americans are stuck in financial products with lousy rates and service,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Today’s action will give people more power to get better rates and service on bank accounts, credit cards, and more.”

The Bureau goes on: “Today’s rule ensures consumers will be able to access and share data associated with bank accounts, credit cards, mobile wallets, payment apps, and other financial products. It aims to address market concentration that limits consumer choice over financial products and services. Consumers will be able to access, or authorize a third party to access, data such as transaction information, account balance information, information needed to initiate payments, upcoming bill information, and basic account verification information. Financial providers must make this information available without charging fees.”

Right now, radio silence about open banking prevails in credit union land - AI has sucked up almost all of the industry’s tech energy - but that will change as calendar pages flip us closer to the deadline for compliance.

Yes, it’s true that the vast majority of credit unions will never have to comply.  FIs with assets under $850 million are exempt.

But choosing to ignore open banking may be signing an institution’s death certificate as members and prospective members grasp how open banking is in their best interest.

But here’s the deal: on the show today is Lisa Arthur who tells why embracing open banking is in the best interests of just about every credit union.  She also tells how open banking already is well established in many countries - the US is a laggard - and what’s involved in climbing aboard this train.

Listen up.

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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The United States is awash in medical debt.  How much is there? Hard to say but Kaiser Family Foundation has an estimate of $220 billion and, yes, that’s billion with a b.

Enter CFPB, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which believes there is a lot of double billing, inflated charges and downright illegal medical debt collection tactics.  

CFPB is looking at banning reporting of medical debt to credit bureaus which the agency says unjustly lowers the credit scores of some 15 million Americans.

Which is why we brought Jeff Grobaski back on the show. CEO of Fort Collins CO based Epic River, a lending as a service provider that helps medical practitioners and hospitals place their unpaid debts at credit unions which pay no fees for the paper and, even better, the credit union assumes little risk.

Nada.

Grobaski was on the show a year ago but the question now is how do the CFPB proposals impact what Epic River is doing?

The other question is why are hospitals and doctors happily turning that paper over to Epic River.  Grobaski explains in the show. It really is a win-win-win, for the patient with debts, for the medical provider with bad paper on his books, and for the credit union that can turn that loan into performing paper and in the process acquire a new member.  

This sounds too good to be true? Listen to Grobaski - he gives the nuts and bolts in the show.

Grobaski, incidentally, is a finalist in this year’s credit union luminaries sweepstakes. As the pub said, “Under Grobaski's leadership, Epic River has been able to connect credit unions with local health care providers to improve patients' ability to pay through low- or no-interest loans. Epic River's program accelerates patient payment, minimizes collection expenses and enhances cash flow for participating health care providers.”

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [email protected]

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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

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What magic pill can help keep hundreds, indeed thousands of credit unions from vanishing over the next decade?

Vim Anand, CEO of Member Support Services, says his CUSO can create operational efficiency and cost savings through economies of scale and standardization.  The focus is on backoffice technologies and, says Anand, MSS’s tools deliver 20+ % cost savings.

But don’t take his word for all of this. Also on the show is John Bissell, CEO of $1.6 billion Greylock Federal Credit Union in Pittsfield MA. Bissell is a new MSS member-owner and he explains that the credit union took this step because he sees this as a way to stay independent and local and both of those are crucial to Bissell who believes they are a big part of the credit union special sauce.

Greylock, by the way, is the biggest credit union in MSS - the two other member owners are >$400 million apiece - and MSS is actively seeking new member owners because Anand’s goal is $8 to $10 billion in total assets.

And the payoff, says Anand, will be helping more credit unions stay independent.

As for why Bissell is set on keeping Greylock independent understand that he grew up in a Greylock family. His dad logged 30 years at GE which was the SEG that powered the birth of the credit union.

Listen to the show to hear Bissell’s story of how an Amherst College grad with an English degree migrated to Seattle but after 10 years he felt the call to return to western Mass, as locals call the region.

Do you want more credit unions to stay independent? Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [email protected]

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto