The CU2.0 Podcast

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True or false: a credit union with assets well under $200 million offers crypto currencies to members.

Meet Becky Reed, the now former CEO of Lone Star Credit Union - assets now around $165 million - and, yep, Lone Star offers crypto to its members.  In the show Reed tells why Lone Star made this decision - mainly because it saw a lot of member assets exiting the credit union to buy crypto elsewhere  - and also how easy to was to do this for members.

Take away: no credit union is too small to explore offering crypto.

You probably know of Reed, she’s the chair of NACUSO,  the trade group for CUSOs, and in this show you will hear her passionate defense of CUSOs as part of what makes credit unions so special.

In the show Reed also explains why she left Lone Star and what she is doing now, namely helming BRaaS - Becky Reed as a Service - where she helps credit unions explore crypto, blockchain and a range of tech innovations.

This is an upbeat episode. If you worry about small credit unions you’ll find some real cheer 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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AI - you know it’s the big new thing that has won all the buzz in today’s tech world.

Does it deserve it?

Hear a loud “yes” in this podcast with Saroop Bharwani, CEO of Senso.ai and a co-creator of CU Copilot, a consortium of AI early adopter credit unions that are joining together to learn how to put AI to transformative uses in their institutions.

A half dozen credit unions already engage in CU Copilot and Bahrwani says more are coming and that is a good thing because credit unions are in a position to grab a dramatic lead in AI adoption and that will help the industry stay highly competitive through the years of change that are on the horizon.

Also on the show is Joey Rudisill, CIO at $500 million Central Willamette Credit Union which is already a consortium member. On the show Joey gives an incisive perspective on what AI adoption is like on the ground floor of a credit union.

Here is the link to CuCopilot: http://cucopilot.com/

You want to sign up for the consortium? Here’s a link.

You want to see the videos on AI that are mentioned in the show? Here’s another link.

Know this: you will be hearing more and more about AI and the plain truth is that it is triggering a revolution that will utterly change how a lot of work gets done.  You can’t close your eyes to this. At least you can’t if you want to stay relevant.

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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AI - it’s the word of the moment.

And many credit unions are rushing to familiarize themselves, even to implement pilots internally.

Stop right there.

Before taking actions, listen to this podcast with Kevin Farley, vice president of experience and engagement at United Heritage Credit Union in Austin TX

Farley popped up on my radar screen with a down to earth, practical article on generative AI at the Financial Brand.  

His pitch is that credit unions need to approach AI with a crawl, walk, run patience - and probably no credit unions are yet in a position to do brisk running in AI, if only because the necessary tools just aren’t ready yet.

But there is much useful a credit union can do to get comfortable crawling, then walking with AI.  Farley offers suggestions about areas where tangible benefits of AI are plentiful even in the early days of use.

For now most credit unions will satisfy their curiosity playing with the free versions of ChatGPT and Google’s Bard - and do note if a month ago you thought Bard was far inferior Google has made vast improvements in that tool.  Do try both.

But also know a credit union does not want to load any sensitive or personal data into either free tool.  Don’t even think about it.  Farley tells why in the show.

We are waiting for the new, improved paid AI tools that will take all this to the next level.

They’re coming.  Get ready.

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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There are three mind blowing facts in this podcast.

Number one: credit unions currently have a greater appetite for offering crypto currencies to members than do banks to their customers.  The source of that  is Kian Sarreshteh, CEO of CryptoFi, a crypto as a service company formed to help traditional FIs to offer digital assets.  His proof: CryptoFi has pivoted in the last year to focus on offering its products to credit unions.

Number two: NCUA is much more open to crypto than is FDIC, said Kian.  So just when you think NCUA is a Stone Age relic chew on that.

Number three: the first credit union install for CryptoFi isn’t at a credit union in San Jose or Cambridge Mass or Brooklyn.  It’s WeStreet, a $950 million institution headquartered in Tulsa OK.

On the show are Kian from CryptoFi and Eric Hilaire, chief digital officer at WeStreet.

Face reality: credit unions have to take steps to stop the outflow of member dollars into more contemporary asset classes, crypto definitely on the list.  

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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Real time. Dynamic. Personalized.

Accept this: what worked in combatting fraudsters 10 years ago is about as useful today as a 10 year old PC or cellphone.

Accept this too: it’s war on with fraudsters and smart financial institutions understand that very likely the criminals know a lot about the FI’s weaponry.

How to combat these criminals?

On the show today is Ravi Sandepudi, CEO of Effectiv.ai, a new-style anti fraud platform that has been built by a cyber team with deep histories at Google and PayPal - and know that PayPal is well known for how professional its anti fraud group is and Google is where much of today’s AI intellectual platform originated.

Go back a decade or two and much fraud prevention was built around hard wired rules which worked reasonably well but also true is that criminals learned the rules and then dreamed up workarounds.

What’s needed today is an intelligent, evolving fraud toolkit and that is what Effectiv seeks to provide its customers.

Know that credit unions are a particular target for Effectiv and in the show Sandepudi tells his own touching story about being an immigrant in the US who had come to go to school and of course he lacked a Social Security number because he had just arrived and banks, he said, showed him the exit door.

Then he went to a credit union affiliated with his school and a beautiful relationship blossomed.  They accepted his student ID and US issued visa as proof of identity and a credit union fan was made.

Nowadays too he also finds that credit unions quickly get why the Effectiv fraud fighting tools are better than the old tools they had been using and, said Sandepudi, adoptions are coming fast.

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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What if you could increase your retirement income by 40%?

Nope, you don’t have to invest in a new crypto currency and neither do have to skate on the wrong side of tax shenanigans.

What you do have to do is listen to this podcast with Doug English, a North Carolina based financial planner who has specialized in optimizing the after tax income flow from a credit union executive’s typical retirement package which involves tools that frankly are little known outside credit unions such as SERPs and 457Fs.  

The power of English’s approach is that withdrawals and payouts are structured around the recipient’s age and tax bracket.

Remember, some of a credit union executive’s retirement income is taxable. Some - via SERP for instance - usually isn’t.

What English does is create a time sequence for payouts that - legally - minimize tax consequences and of course optimize the retiree’s quality of life.

Understand, I went into this show certain that I would be bored to tears - tax talk usually does that to me - but with English this is a straightforward and, dare I say it, easy to grasp solution to tax issues.

This thinking is all the more important as life expectancy for many of us just seems to be continually increasing. But in an age of inflation money on hand may seem to be going the other direction.

English just may have a fix.

Note: English does not sell SERPs or similar retirement products. What he offers is analysis on how to make those plans work better.

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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Is a Greenlight card in your wallet?

If you have children – particularly school age kids – you want to know about Greenlight because this is a functioning debit card but it is designed for use by kids who are gaining financial skills as their parents guide them in the how to of using plastic.

Understand, too, that increasing numbers of retail venues are cashless – plastic is needed to transact.

Of course there also are online purchases that require plastic.

Greenlight solves those issues and it offers both a direct to consumer service (starting at $4.95 per month) and now it is fast signing up financial institutions who are offering Greenlight to their customers and members.

Already on board is Chase.

But know that Greenlight has already signed up credit unions and wants more because the company gets that the credit union mission syncs with Greenlight’s.

On the show today is Pete Steger, vice president of business development at Greenlight.

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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Are generous pension plans for credit union executives only for those who work in the biggest institutions, the ones at the billion dollar plus credit unions?

Do only the rich get richer? What about the many executives toiling in the thousands of smaller credit unions?

Much of the discussion in past shows in this Money Talks series with Kirk Kordeleski has in fact been focused on pension options for the senior most executives at the biggest credit unions.

Now for something completely different.  In this show Kordeleski muses on his hopes and plans for bringing meaningful pension options to credit union c-suite executives at much smaller institutions.

This is not pie in the sky. These are real, tangible plans that Kordeleski is hashing out.

He’s honest and realistic.  It’s not straightforward to plan meaningful retirement options for executives in credit unions smaller than $100 million. They typically do not have the capital.  But even in this case Kordeleski has thoughts on what could happen to bring solid retirement plans to executives in these institutions.

He has even more solid ideas about how to fund retirement plans for executives in institutions from $100 million to $500 million in assets.

And for those working at institutions in the $500 million to $1 billion range there are plenty of options, says Kordeleski.

Want to read Kordeleski's white paper on bringing SERPs to more and smaller credit unions? Click here

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.  

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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You want to make more commercial loans. Join the club. So do more other credit unions.

But that is why this show is a must listen.  In it Gary Lewis, managing director of lending and deposit solutions at Jack Henry, and Dennis Janikowski, senior vice president of lending at P1FCU, tell the secret sauce that is helping P1FCU, a northern Idaho  institution, enjoy significant growth in its commercial lending.  

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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Did you know that there are many, many loan programs available from the US Department of Agriculture – and many feature government guarantees?

Probably you didn’t know – these programs are something of a secret.

But over 100 credit unions – including Navy Federal – know about the programs and work with Greater Commercial Lending, a company that works with borrowers, USDA and also credit unions to get loans funded.

What kinds of loans? Don’t be misled by the word agriculture.  USDA makes all kinds of loans, funding everything from farm equipment to renewable energy.  And some loans even can fund projects in urban areas.

On the show is GCL executive vice president Jeremy Gilpin who explains how the program works and how credit unions can get involved.

He also tells that GCL is in the process from beginning to end.  It helps fill out the loan app, works with USDA, even helps syndicate many loans.

Now do you want to find out more from GCL?

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