The CU2.0 Podcast

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Fednow just may change your credit union’s entire approach to how money moves in and out.  

That is fact and the fact is all the realer because Fednow actually launched in July. Sure, real time money movement has been talked about for at least a decade bur that was just talk, now it is real.

Could you ignore it for the time being? That would be to your detriment, warns this podcast’s guest expert on Fednow, Richard Crone, a longtime payments guru.

Crone also tells a fast way to gain significant experience with instant money movement. You may not like this particular piece of advice - over 4000 credit unions currently are not following it. But give a listen to Crone’s argument and you just may be persuaded.

Crone also says that credit unions have a huge built-in advantage over community banks in regard to real time payments. This is a fight waiting to be won. If only you get involved.

Listen up.

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What’s in your fintech blueprint?

Wait, you say, what’s a fintech blueprint? Good question and if you didn’t ask it probably you should have because few credit unions have current blueprints or even old, dusty ones.

On that note, how often should you update a fintech blueprint? On the show today is  Prakash Natarajan, managing director for payments strategy for SRM and he says every three years. 

Ask me and I’d say every two years.

Either way the point is that the fintech landscape is fast morphing - who knew about generative AI 9 months ago - and an institution needs a blueprint that sets out fintech priorities and why they matter.

Otherwise you are at the mercy of the next fintech sales person in your office who waves a shiny object in your face and, yep, it’s cool…but do your members and institution really have to have it? That is why you need a blueprint.

Background reading for this show is the SRM report Why Every Financial Institution Needs a Fintech Blueprint. It’s free, click here

Listen up.

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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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How many zombie members are on your credit union’s books? You know who we mean - they sometimes also are called ghost members. They have a few bucks parked in the institution from back when they became members but, nowadays, they are mainly invisible. And worse: the credit union often charges no monthly fee but it may pay a monthly fee for that member’s access to online banking even though the member doesn’t use it.

You want to know Daniel Haisley.  He runs innovation at Apiture, a North Carolina based digital banking provider that serves some 300 credit unions and community banks.  It serves some mega institutions but Haisley  says Apiture’s sweet spot is serving mid sized and smaller institutions.

And Apiture has a tool for helping to activate those zombie members. In the show Haisley tells how it works and what kinds of results it delivers.

He also answers the big question: when a new credit union customer comes to you why are they leaving their existing digital provider.  

And before we close he offers Apiture’s take on AI and credit unions today.  In three words it’s optimistic but cautious.

Listen up.

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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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Consider this show all you want to know about credit union boards and gender and ethnic composition.

Know this: you probably will be surprised, and disappointed, about one statistic you will hear.

Also know: the source for this show is a 69 page report, Credit Union Boards of Directors: Board Size, Gender, Race and Institutional Performance, 2012-2021. Download the report, it’s free via consulting firm, CuCollaborate. 

The report is statistics rich and in this show we talk about the research methodology so you will hear how the report was created.

We also talk about possible future research projects involving boards.

And you know what, credit union boards are remarkably opaque.  Most members know very little about their board - indeed they may not even know there is a board and it is, theoretically, elected by the membership.

Speaking for me - not CuCollaborate - I think there is a great opportunity for dramatically enhanced board transparency.

Most credit unions complain about a lack of candidates for board seats - but just maybe there’d be more member interest in that service if more members had an inkling of what the board does and how this matters to member satisfaction.  A point to ponder.

Listen up.

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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’s in a name?

Shakespeare asked that question but right now lots of credit union leaders are doing likewise.  For good reason. The institution’s name may no longer suit the present realities as SEGs fade away, geographic bases shift and sometimes, just maybe, there’s a sense that a more timely name might well have greater appeal for millennials and Gen Z who are the future.

Enter Phil Davis and North Carolina based Tungsten, a branding company that has helped hundreds of businesses change their names including a number of credit unions.  Among Tungsten's clients are Additional Financial, a rebrand of the former Central Florida Educators Federal Credit Union, as well as Radiant Credit Union, a rebrand of the former SunState Federal Credit Union. 

Also on the list is Skyla, formed after Charlotte Metro Credit Union and Premier FCU joined and opted for a new name.

Davis says he expects more credit unions will knock on his door as they realize something has to change if they want to stay relevant..

Of course it’s not just the name - often the credit union has to also change how it does business and impose a more digital attitude - but now is a time when we are indeed likely to see a growing number of credit unions opting for a makeover.

In the show Davis tells what’s involved, how long it usually takes, how much it costs and what benefits typically result.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [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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Ask Kirk Kordesleski, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union where he pursued an extremely aggressive business strategy designed to double the size of the institution in five years, to mame a key challenge facing credit unions right now and he is blunt: a new generation of leaders has to be prepared and prepped and there is no time for delay.

The Baby Boomer generation of credit union CEOs is fast retiring.  The youngest are 58.  The oldest are 76.  

There is a booming job market for new CEOs. Opportunity is knocking.

Kordeleski is doing his part in empowering candidates. He’s mentoring a growing number of ambitious credit union executives.

In this show he shares some of the big lessons he imparts including big surprises that may come from the credit union board and senior leadership early in a new CEOs reign.

Listen to the very end and Kordeleski reveals an event he’s holding where wannabe CU CEOs  will get in-person training and pointers.

Hear episode one in Money Talks here.  Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here.  Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here.  11 is here. Episode 12 is here.  Episode 13 is here.  Episode 14 is here and that’s one you don’t want to miss because it is part 1 of So You Want to Be a Credit Union CEO?

Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski [email protected]

Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail

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Bill Partin, the recently retired CEO at nearly $2 billion Sharonview Federal Credit Union in the Carolinas,  went there after a long career at multiple Southern California credit unions where he ended in the c-suite at Partners, the Burbank based  institution created to serve Walt Disney Company employees.

At Partners he worked for then CEO John Janclaes and one day Partin asked his boss when he planned to retire.  He said in effect not soon.

Partin then told him he wanted to be a CEO and so he would be looking elsewhere.

His boss did the right thing: he supported him completely.

Soon Partin landed the job at Sharonview and, in the show, he tells about his journey there.

But there’s a lot more in this show. For instance: Partin started in credit unions as a part time teller when he was putting himself through a community college.  He kept working at credit unions as he proceeded to earn a bachelor’s degree - and he just stayed in the industry because he knew it was where he wanted to be.

Nowadays Partin has authored a book, The Leadership Bet, and he’s also on the speakers circuit talking up that topic.

What is the leadership bet? It’s the three pronged formula he implemented at Sharonview -

*Be disciplined

*Execute your plan

*Take risks

Wait: take risks! Isn’t risk a four letter word in a CU exec’s vocabulary?  You bet - well, maybe you don’t bet.  But, yes, risk is a tough concept for CU execs to embrace.  Partin explains why it’s essential, especially today.

Keep listening until the end because just maybe the meatiest points are served up last as Partin talks about the how to of creating a good credit union board - and why many boards aren’t what they need to be.  It’s hot stuff.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [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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CDA - three letters but, ask Matthew Butler, and he will tell you this is a potential huge win for credit unions and their communities.,

Butler is founder of Elite Capital where a chief product offering is the CDA - that’s a charitable donation account and, no, I hadn’t heard of it either.

Just a handful of credit unions currently use a charitable donation account and Butler is here to tell you that’s a costly mistake.

Here’s why: a CDA allows a credit union to make investments in otherwise impermissible vehicles where the kicker is that 51% of returns have to be distributed as charitable donations (that presently means a 501 C 3).  But the credit union can retain the remaining 49% for its own uses.

What’s an impermissible investment?  In the show Butler points particularly to investment grade corporate bonds.  There are other options too.  

Why don’t more credit unions use CDAs? We talk at some length in the show about that very point.

A lot simply haven’t heard of CDAs.

Also on the show is Fernando Arrue, portfolio manager at Elite Capital.

Listen up.

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

Send us Fan Mail

$200 billion. That is how much money is in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and one credit union voice that has been loud in seeking a share is Inclusiv, the trade group for community development credit unions that now has 470 members.

Just why is Inclusiv involved in this?

Exactly that question is why we invited Inclusiv CEO Cathie Mahon on the show.  She’s a past guest - in 2019 she was in episode 15.

In this show she offers an articulate explanation of why environmental issues are in fact central to the concerns of community development credit unions.

In June Mahon testified before the US Senate Climate Change Task Force where she said, “As credit unions invest in climate solutions, they find strong synergies between increasing

access to clean energy and improved financial stability. As community owned and controlled

financial institutions, community development credit unions see both a responsibility and

opportunity to make their communities greener and more resilient. These institutions serve

those located on the frontlines of climate change, specifically communities with the poorest air

quality, highest energy burden and most vulnerability to climate events such as hurricanes,

floods, drought, wildfires, and tornadoes.”

She has that very right. Often it is the poorest communities that deal with the harshest impacts of climate change.

What can credit unions do about this? Lots and lots, as you will hear in the show.  Everything from helping with loans to replace old appliances with energy efficient ones to encouraging job training for minority contractors who want to pursue opportunities in, for instance, installing solar arrays on homes and apartment buildings.

Mahon sees many, many ways for credit unions to have positive impacts on their communities.

Also in the show she offers comment on attempts in the US House to slash the federal funding for CDFIs - a genuinely dumb idea.

And she also talks about Inclusiv’s new ties to QCash, the small dollar loan company that has been birthed by the credit union movement to give members a far better alternative to predatory loans.

Listen up.

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

Send us Fan Mail

So you want to be a credit union CEO?

This is your must listen podcast.

In the show, Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union which he grew to be among the nation’s biggest, tells his path from starting as a part time teller at Bank-Fund Staff Credit Union in Washington DC (created for employees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) to rising to the top at a huge credit union.

Along the way Kordeleski also ponders what it means that many CEOs of his generation in fact started as tellers or similar entry level positions.  Nowadays many fast risers in credit unions come in the door as executives and never worked in a call center or as a teller. What does that mean?

Later, Kordeleski talks about the free - yes, free - consulting he now offers to a couple dozen young CU execs who say they want to become a CEO.  To qualify a candidate has to hold an SVP level job or a c-suite slot.  

In that consulting Kordeleski preaches his doctrine of running a highly aggressive credit union - which is how Bethpage grew.

Listen up.

This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled.  This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2023 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1993 comp plans, even 2013 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.

Hear episode one in Money Talks here.  Episode 2 is here. Episode 3 is here. Episode 4 is here. Episode 5 is here. Episode 6 is here. Episode 7 is here. Episode 8 is here.  Episode 9 is here. Episode 10 is here.  11 is here. Episode 12 is here.  Episode 13 is here.  

Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski [email protected]

Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail