Cooperatives

 The inaugural CU2VIP-Live event will become a Woodstock like meeting in this sense: yes, hundreds of thousands went to Woodstock but if you  asked for a show of hands of those who were there be ready to count well into the millions.

Five years from now many will say, yes, I was there at the first CU2VIP-Live event.

We were actually there and what you will be hearing this week are snippets of short talks with participants – who also were there.

The first episode: Martin Walker with NextLevel Ventures with its $250 million-plus venture fund for investments in fintech oriented CUSOs that will bring next gen tech to the credit union industry.

The big idea: to stay competitive with mega banks and fintechs credit unions have to up their technology game.

The better idea: by investing in early stage fintechs credit unions can get a sizable jump on the market and just maybe will gain competitive advantages.

Sound good?

You bet.

Keep listening and you will also hear why Walker attended CU2VIP-Live and what he got out of it.

Listen up.

by Robert McGarvey

 Be bold.

That is the loud message from Cameron Madill, CEO of PixelSpoke, an Oregon headquartered marketing agency that primarily serves credit unions.  He also hosts “The Remarkable Credit Union” podcast.  

Too many credit unions simply want to fit in, he says.  

Dare to be different and that just may get you noticed.

That’s just one take-away from this podcast – there are many more.

Want to know if your website is good? Madill tells us the main way credit union websites go bad. Use it as a checklist to judge your own.

Do you do member testing of your site? You probably will want to after listening to ths podcas because Madill tells the enormous benefits of testing with even a handful of members.

He also tells why credit unions need to embrace storytelling in their marketing, a topic he has written about for CUInsight.  

Buckle up because he also tells why PixelSpoke is a worker owned cooperative and why it is a certified B Corp. The latter is a credentialing program that designated businesses that put greater emphasis on purpose, not just profit.

As for worker owned cooperatives. that’s a comparatively small slice of the cooperative pie in the US but it also is fast growing. Hear why PixelSpoke now is owned by its workers.  

Listen up.

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

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

 by Robert McGarvey

Early in this podcast you will realize that  Alexey Krasnoriadtsev is a different kind of tech CEO.  For starters, this is a podcast where you will not hear much – probably nothing – that sends you to Google to look up words you don’t understand. But the bigger difference is that this is a tech CEO who talks about why it’s important that users of technology feel loved by their tech, that credit unions and other financial institutions do right by their users (and Alexey backs that up by refusing to help efforts that don’t align with that philosophy), and who admits a lot of FI tech is blah – and he tells why that is so.

You know his work.  In podcast 172 you heard about Bank Dora, the innovative neo-bank birthed by a credit union.  BankingON worked on that project.

The core BankingON pursuit is creating new mobile banking apps and that means tools that do what the users want (rather than what the vendors and FIs want which is the norm).

Be prepared to be surprised, often in this podcast.  Especially if you are a CIO or CTO who knows how fintech execs talk.   

Alexey talks about his frustrations, his hopes, his dreams and why at day’s end he is a happy guy.

You didn’t expect to hear that, did you?

Listen up.

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

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

by Robert McGarvey

 

Meet Dora.  She just may change all that you think about mobile banking.

A product of USAlliance – a $2 billion credit union based in Rye, NY that happens to be the legacy IBM employees credit union – Dora is the first credit union attempt to create a so-called neo bank, that is a branchless institution with no bricks and mortar.

USAlliance has been joined in this effort by three other credit unions: Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union ($3.5B in assets) headquartered in St. Paul, Minn.; Digital Federal Credit Union ($9.8B in assets) in Marlborough, Mass.; Service Credit Union ($5B in assets) in Portsmouth, N.H.

It may be seeking others to join in helping to spread Dora which, presently, is aimed at low to moderate income Americans who may be underserved or unserved by traditional financial institutions.

Can Dora survive in a marketplace where there are heavily funded, venture backed competitors – Chime for instance? 

In this podcast USAlliance CEO Kris VanBeek offers candid, honest history about how and why Dora got birthed and how he sees it succeeding.

He is candid that he does not see Dora as a big money maker for USAlliance. But he believes it will generate a little profit.

He also indicates that Dora is going after different consumers than a Chime, say.  He anticipates that many of Dora’s accounts will carry low balances and the economics of running Dora will be unlike a Chime.

Want to find out about Dora? The app is available in the Apple App Store, also Google Play. Signing up for an account is shockingly fast and easy.  And Dora’s checking is free.

In this podcast VanBeek gives a shout out to BankingOn which played a significant part in creating the app.  Tune in to next week’s podcast which will be with BankingOn and how it sees the future of mobile banking (think better, slicker, easier to use apps and be ready to toss existing apps in the dustbin).

Listen up.

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

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

by Robert McGarvey

 You know Renee Sattiewhite. She’s CEO of the African American Credit Union Coalition (AACUC), has been a past guest on this podcast (episode 101), she is a co-star in DCUC’s Tony Hernandez’s recent podcast (155) and she is the person to see if you want to know how African Americans are faring in credit union c-suites, in boardrooms, and as they stand in teller lines.

But, lately. in the DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) universe, her interests are broadening and she is pondering how many minorities (Latinos and women for instance) are succeeding in credit unions.

DEI, she says, is not a minute, it’s a movement.  Indeed.  Started amid the despair of last summer – George Floyd RIP – a year into it and the question has to be, what’s been accomplished.  Sattiewhite tells her opinion in this podcast.

Know that progress is getting made. But this is hard, continuing work.

A recent project is CCEP – cross-cultural exchange program – where credit union people are pared with another, typically of a different race, possibly a different gender – for a 90 day dialog.   

A talk with Sattiewhite is lively. She laughs.  She mentions people you should know (Pete Crear, Victor Corro — both past CU 2.0 podcast guests by the way).  

She also expresses fundamental optimism because, she says, talk with young people (Millennials and Gen X) and “they are not playing around.”  These young people want change and are unprepared to accept less.  For them real racial and gender equality is non negotiable.

Listen up.

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

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

by Robert McGarvey

Now don’t you wish you had a magic decoder ring?

There’s an alphabet soup in the podcast title. Let me decipher.

DCUC – Defense Credit Union Council, the trade group for some 181 military themed credit unions (and many are behemoths – Navy Fed, Pen Fed, you get the picture).

Tony Hernandez is the DCUC CEO, after logging 25 years in the Air Force where he finished as a colonel.

AACUC is the African American Credit Union Coalition.  You know AACUC because last year the CEO Renee Sattiewhite was a guest on the show.  Remember that name because you will hear it frequently in this podcast.

As for CCEP that’s a new AACUC initiative that has paired people of different backgrounds and often different races for a 90 day interaction.

Hernandez is on the steering committee, and he has authored CUInsight blogs explaining the why of CCEP.  

The first CCEP round comes to a close in July, but the hunt already is on for participants in a new round.  

Experts debate when the US will become minority majority, meaning whites will no longer be in the majority, but one fact is certain: that day is coming and now is the time to focus on efforts to produce more harmonious race relations,  And a big part of that just is talking with people not like us.  (Whatever we are.)

Along the way in this Hernandez podcast you will hear a great deal about why defense credit unions matter, why they have an ideal membership mix, and how a 25 year Air Force veteran transitioned into the credit union world.

Hernandez’ personal story is something you didn’t expect, from how his wife was instrumental in his getting the DCUC job (never sneer at being a plus one!) to musings about the difficulties in ascending the military ranks ladder.

Listen up.

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

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

 by Robert McGarvey

The building still stands at 420 Notre Dame Avenue in Manchester NH.  That’s where the nation’s first credit union – St. Mary’s Bank – opened its doors in 1908, to serve founding French American mill workers (and, yes, much of the original paperwork was written in French).

St. Mary’s Bank outgrew that space, moved into other facilities, but some years later it recognized that it wanted to preserve its original history and an attempt to buy it from its then owner was made.

It did not succeed.

As for how therefore the building now houses the America’s Credit Museum you want to listen to this podcast with Stephanie Smith, executive director of the museum.

The museum now is deep into an effort to capture and preserve the memories of a generation of credit union leaders who are entering retirement.

Words of advice: don’t throw away your archives without first contacting the museum.  You may well have pieces that the museum will covet as it seeks to document the how of the rise of America’s credit union movement. You’ll hear more about this process in the podcast.

 You will also hear how and why you want to visit the museum – which is about an hour north of Boston. Of course the pandemic has impacted the museum – it is presently open only by appointment. But that will change and, even better, the pandemic has prompted the museum to step up its efforts to digitize its collections which will put them within reach of us wherever we are.

Ultimately, said Smith, the mission of the museum is to capture the credit union difference – and that happens through the histories of the many in the movement who have shaped today’s credit unions.

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.  

Also mentioned is Bucky Sebastian. His podcast is here. 

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

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

by Robert McGarvey

Before logging into this call, I studied up on who John Herrera is.  He was born in Costa Rica, then came to the US to go to college at the University of Delaware and one thing led to another and instead of going back to Costa Rica to build a better society he stayed in the US and has worked on building a better society for all of us but with a special focus on Hispanic immigrants such as himself.

My first question to him, off mike, is how did he get from there to here.  The podcast starts off with him telling that saga.  

Today Herrera is a senior vice president at Self-Help in North Carolina, where his focus is on Hispanic relations and he has been busy building banking relationships with immigrant communities in North Carolina but also Illinois, Florida and California.

Also on is resume is that he is a co-founder of the very successful Latino Community Credit Union in North Carolina.  That credit union got its start some 20 years ago when there was a wave of robberies and murders of immigrant workers who got paid in cash and often carried large sums.

He is the founder of El Pueblo in North Carolina which focuses on civil rights for immigrants.

He was named an immigrant innovator by President Barack Obama.  

He was the first Hispanic immigrant elected to a North Carolina municipal office. He served as an alderman in Carrboro NC.

He was named by Time Magazine as one of 31 people who are changing the South.

In this podcast he offers rich and deep insights into how to serve immigrants – especially Hispanics – and he muses on how the United States is soon to become a minority majority nation (by 2045 according to many demographers).  This is smart, sensitive commentary.  Take notes. It’s a primer in how to serve a crucial US demographic.

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.  

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

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

 by Robert McGarvey

CUNA is still at its “Open Your Eyes” to a credit union campaign and Teresa Freeborn is still heading the effort.  Regular listeners will remember Freeborn from her podcast two years ago, episode 29, and when she asked for a return we gladly said yes.

You probably heard that CUNA paused the campaign last year for what was called a re-set. Freeborn tells what happened.   

Along the way, CUNA spun the campaign off as a separate company January 1, 2020. The campaign now is led by CU Awareness, LLC

Freeborn also tells what is happening now where about half the nation’s states are on board with supporting the campaign and more are on tap to go online this year.

Freeborn stresses in the podcast that this is a critical chance for credit unions to join together in lifting what has been a long stagnant market share.  The big banks keep getting bigger.  Credit unions need to fight the trend.

Freeborn’s belief is that the cooperative structure and nature of credit unions is a huge advantage – but it is not always cleverly deployed. The “Open Your Eyes” campaign is a step in that direction.

(On that note, do read the CUInsight blog “Credit unions, Quo Vadis,” which draws on a conversation with retired credit union CEO Jim Blaine to develop the theme that the cooperative foundation is the key to success in credit unions.)

In this podcast Freeborn clearly discusses her disappointments in leading this campaign and at the top of the list, there is meager participation among credit unions with over $1 billion in assets.  By her count just 98 of the biggest 320 credit unions are supporting “Open Your Eyes” – and their maximum annual contribution is capped at $500,000. Freeborn does not know why the biggest are holding back and she is plain in her unhappiness about this.

“We are trying to build the credit union brand,” said Freeborn and her point is that a rising tide lifts all ships.  The campaign will benefit all credit unions.

Why don’t more people join and make real use of credit unions? They don’t believe they can join one and if they can, they don’t believe it could have the national reach of the biggest banks.  The facts are different – but many in the consuming public just don’t know.  Thus the need for a continuing campaign to put credit unions on the minds of many of us.  

By the way, “Open Your Eyes” is an entirely digital campaign and you may think, I have never seen an ad.  Freeborn says she too has never seen an ad but she is happy about that because the campaign  is targeted – specifically at Millennials – and she is not in that group.

So if you are not seeing ads just maybe that means the campaign is functioning as designed.

Just coincidentally, on the day we talked for this podcast, Xceed, where Freeborn had been CEO, voted to merge with Kinecta. 83% of voting Xceed members approved the merger, which has created a $6 billion credit union, the nations 35th largest.  Freeborn is staying on as president and has promised a return visit to discus in detail the merger and what it may mean for credit unions.

This podcast is only about “Open Your Eyes.”  That’s a huge topic on its own.  Listen up.

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

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

Jim Blaine on how credit unions can win…

by Robert McGarvey

In a wide ranging, 90 minute interview, retired State Employees’ Credit Union CEO Jim Blaine offered up a provocative look at possible tomorrows for the credit union movement.

The throughline is simply: Quō vādis? – Where are you going?

In 2000 there were over 10,000 credit unions. Now there’s a smidge over 5,000. That math is brutal. But it is fact. 

This is where Blaine’s insights come in. His views are ultimately optimistic because what he sees is how a credit union can win. He knows a lot about that.

Blaine, who served as CEO from 1979 to 2016  of what became the nation’s second biggest credit union, grew the institution’s assets from $300 million to $33 billion. He left a strong foundation; SECU now has over $47 billion in assets.

And nowadays, when Blaine looks around the credit union universe, what he sees is a highly talented, youthful pool of c-suite credit union executives. They have a lot of tech smarts. That is good news. The bad news is this: “I wonder if many are looking at a credit union more as a business than as a cooperative.”

A commercial bank, bluntly put, is in business to profit its shareholders. Period. A cooperative, by virtue of that status, commits to seven cooperative principles that date back to the 1844 Rochdale cooperative. Among the principles: democratic member control; cooperation among cooperatives; concern for community.

Every US credit union is a cooperative, those principles are its principles. And they are also non-profits. Credit unions exist to benefit their members and their communities.

Nothing could be more different from those principles than a commercial bank’s bedrock purpose and, says Blaine, those differences are the building blocks that pave the way to credit union success.

Continued at CUInsight.com

Hear the CU2.0 podcast with Blaine here.