Podcast

by Robert McGarvey

For how many years have you heard about omnichannel banking – and you also know not many institution have done this more than pay lip service to an idea of the digital first financial institution.

About 90% of financial institutions in the US in fact fall very short of really getting omnichannel, says Vince Bezemer, head of strategy at Backbase, a digital platform provider with the tagline “Become the Bank that People Love.”

That means about 10% of US FIs are in fact digital first and of course that includes many of the biggest.

But it does not mean that credit unions can’t succeed in embracing a digital first strategy.

In fact now, in the Covid-19 era, many are going forward at high speed to become digital first.

As for Backbase’s pedigree, know that its clients include Navy Federal, State Employees Credit Union of North Carolina, and Schools First.

But Bezemer in this podcast stresses that Backbase has tools and services for smaller institutions too. 

This podcast is Part 1 of a two part series on digital first.  In this podcast Bezemer talks at length about what digital first means, why it is important, what institutions need to really do it, and why you don’t want to define your credit union with cookie cutter tools and apps that literally hundreds of other credit unions use.

In Part 2, you will hear from Wildfire Credit Union, a Backbase client that is deep into its transformation into a digital first institution. It’s a rare, candid look at what the process really is.

You know digital first matters.  

Listen up.

Hear the Backbase podcast 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

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Paul Ablack knows big data and fintechs.  He served as CEO at OnApproach, a big data company aimed at credit unions that was acquired by Trellance.

Ablack left OnApproach after the acquisition and is now noodling new opportunities in fintechs and especially in commercial lending for deposit rich credit unions.  In that latter regard he is bullish on what he sees as major opportunities in lending for new senior care facilities and, yes, that industry has taken a beating in the Covid-19 era but that, too, may well fuel the need for new, more smartly designed senior care facilities.

The need for senior care will only grow for some years to come as Baby Boomers  age (and the oldest Boomers are now 74, the youngest 56).  

Throughout, Ablack sees unique opportunities for credit unions, in part because of their cooperative character. If enough credit unions share data, a powerful big data lake would be an industry asset that will help credit unions compete with the biggest banks.

If credit unions come together into what Ablack sees as a Venture Capital CUSO that manages many fintech investments, big successes could come to the movement, he said, where today’s piecemeal, every credit union for itself fintech investing produces scattershot successes.  

Bold thinking? You bet. That’s why Ablack is a fun podcast guest. He throws out a number of good ideas you may not have heard before.

Covid-19 is triggering huge changes in financial services. Tomorrow’s services won’t be today’s.  Think new, think fresh – and this Ablack podcast will nudge you in that direction.

From our archives, here’s a podcast with Lou Grilli of Trellance.  It predates the OnApproach acquisition.

Listen to the Paul Ablack podcast 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.

Before he was 40, Ralph Swoboda was named CEO of CUNA in Washington, DC.  That was in 1986 and he held the job until 1994.  That was when CUNA was a big association, with a head count upwards of 1400 because it provided a lot of assistance for credit unions with back office operations.

His next job after leaving CUNA was chairman of the management committee of the Association of British Credit Unions, based in Manchester, England.

Later, he moved to CUNA Mutual where he was head of international operations, directing operations in some 30 countries, from China to the Caribbean.

Now Swoboda is managing director of CUFA Ltd., a fintech based in Dublin, Ireland which creates lending analytics software running on big data for credit unions in Ireland but expansion into the United Kingdom and the United States is afoot.

Buckle your seatbelt for this wide ranging conversation that covers upwards of 35 years of high level involvement with credit unions, literally in dozens of countries. You will hear about differences between Irish credit unions and American credit unions, about the importance of community banks to US credit unions, and how the US payments system is something of a Third World embarrassment.

We wind up discussing the lending analytics tools Swoboda now is involved in and the timing could not be more ideal as many credit union executives awaken to the reality that lots of once solid loans on their books may be turning bad as Covid-19 takes its toll on many national economies.

Probably no podcast in this series covers so diverse a range of topics, countries, technologies.

You may not always agree with Swoboda. But you will definitely have fun listening in on this conversation.

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.

LISTEN TO SWOBODA HERE

When Bert Hash, Jr. took over as CEO of MECU in 1996 it was a $400 million institution with one branch that served municipal employees of Baltimore. In this podcast he tells about the institution he took charge of. It had exactly zero ATMs.  It did not dispense cash to members – if a member wanted a withdrawal, they were issued a check and most went across the street to a bank to cash it.  

Hash, who came to MECU after a long career with banks, knew there had to be changes.  Within his first six months he put cash in the branch, installed the first ATM, brought in computers and prepared the institution for the battles ahead of it.

When he retired in 2014, MECU had assets of $1.3 billion, a membership of 106,000, and it had grown from one branch to 11.

I knew I had to talk with him even before I heard that story and that was because retired SECU North Carolina CEO Jim Blaine and Renee Sattiewhite of AACUC  enthusiastically seconded the motion.

When I initially asked Bert, he momentary hesitated – did he belong in the company this podcast features? Of course I knew he did. But he is a decent, modest man and you will hear that personality throughout this podcast.  

In one section he tells of taking a call from an irate member who believed MECU had made a mistake with his account. Bert agreed with him but still the man went on and after 30 minutes, the man was still threatening to move his account to a bank.  Bert told him he was sure he would find at least one thing different at a bank. What, asked the man. “You won’t have a half hour conversation with the bank CEO trying to convince you to stay,” said Bert.

His is a credit union life and it is made all the special because, as an African American, he faced challenges in his career path and in his leadership of MECU.  He tells his story in this podcast which is an especially personal document.

At the end, you will hear a podcast paste on where a recording of a call Bert made to me is.  That’s because as he reflected overnight about what he had said when asked if he witnessed racism in financial services, he decided he had more to say. His perspective is thoughtful, nuanced, realistic. (Sound quality is different. But the recording is audible.)

He offers a brief summary of the 100+ year of African American credit unions, tells why he think them important in reaching out to the underserved, and offers a stirring perspective on the real credit union mission.

Along the way, you will hear mention of many past CU2.0 podcasts – Jim Blaine, Bucky Sebastian, Gary Oakland, Renee Sattiewhite, Bill Bynum, Cathie Mahon, and Marc Schaefer.

This podcast is recorded in Phoenix – thus the first remarks from Bert.

Listen here.

Tech note: this week the podcast switched to new software, Hindenburg Journalist.  Forgive any glitches – they are on me.

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.

Are you ready to jumpstart your credit union’s successes? 

How about your personal success?

You want to know about the new CU2.0 Mastermind group – which is specifically created to help credit union and fintech leaders come together in small, working groups to hash out problems, solutions, opportunities.

Listen up: we are in a crisis. A health crisis and a national, indeed global, financial crisis.  The impacts of what we now confront will be with us for years.  You remember 2008.  This is worse. And it will cause more disruption.

That’s why now is the time for a Mastermind group.  Because it’s time for a big rethink and a Mastermind group will put this process in overdrive for participants.

Mastermind groups work. They accelerate success. In this podcast you will hear personal testimony about the power of Mastermind groups from CU2.0 founder Kirk Drake.

You also will hear from Dr. Patty Ann Tublin who shares her psychological insights into what challenges credit union and fintech leaders face today and the barriers they face in succeeding.

And you will hear about how these Mastermind groups will work, mixing small group sessions with larger ones and all done virtually, at least for now.

You’ve heard of Mastermind groups? Indeed you have if you have read the great motivational writer Napoleon Hill who is credited with coining the term in his 1920s book The Law of Success.  He elaborated upon the idea in his later book, Think and Grow Rich.

In its simplest form a Mastermind group is for peer to peer mentoring – meaning the same folks get together, in person or virtually, on a regular basis and hash out what is gnawing on them.  In the CU2.0 version, sessions are facilitator led to add more focus to every session.

That will speed the results and, nowadays, who has time to wait?

Listen 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

Ask Angela Russell, Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at CUNA Mutual Group, a year from now what she would want to be able to tell us about progress made in the year and she did not hesitate with her answer.

On a personal level, she said, she hoped her son would be able to go for a run outside without fear.

Professionally, she said she hoped that the conversation about race and diversity and financial inclusion would be continuing and that credit unions would still be taking positive actions, rather than today’s focus on race simply fading away as just another fad.

Take a deep breath now. If you believe this will be a heavy podcast that challenges a lot of your beliefs you are right.

“We are doing better but we have a long way to go,” said Russell

But also know this: Angela Russell is an engaging conversationalist (hear her personal podcast, Black Oxygen, here) who laughs often but who also puts our attention on issues we might want to ignore – but nowadays we cannot.

The US is changing. We are fast on the way to becoming a minority majority nation. Credit unions that want to stay relevant need to adapt to this changing reality and that means, among other things, tuning into the changing demographics of their communities, seeking to engage minority board members, and seeking to improve representation of multiple races and nationalities on their workforces.

It’s a tall order. But now is the time.

Listen here.

There are many related podcasts in this series, including #100 with Victor Miguel Corro of Coopera, another CU DEI Collective member, 101 with Renee Sattiewhite of the African American Credit Union Coalition, and also Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, also a CU DEI Collective member. And a podcast with Cliff Rosenthal, a pioneer in the CDFI world. And there’s a podcast with Pablo DeFillipa, also of Inclusiv.

Another don’t miss is Bill Bynum of Hope CU.  

The podcast also mentions a book titled Evicted, by Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond.

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

The subtitle for this podcast should be All You Wanted to Know About Mortgage Servicing But Were Afraid to Ask.

Our guest is Andrew Wang, CEO of Peach Street, a new approach to mortgage servicing that just may be exactly what many credit unions want.

Most mortgages are passed off to third party servicers for two reasons. The servicers know the government regs and how to comply and they also are skilled at cutting costs.

Most see mortgage servicing as commoditized and the only difference between companies is price.

Enter Peach Street which puts a focus on consumer experience, customer experience, and technology.

Lost at many mortgage servicers is interest in the consumer experience, if only because the servicer’s customer is the financial institution that owns the paper.

Peach Street wants to win by offering a new model where experiences matter.

A lot of what the consumer needs will be delivered via self service online – but in most surveys that approach lowers consumer friction.

“This is about a 30 year relationship,” said Wang, who adds that, done right, mortgage servicing can become a vehicle where the financial institution cross sells products to a happy consumer.

“Mortgage servicers should think of themselves less as a collection agency and more as a financial adviser,” said Wang.

Along the way, Wang tells how Peach Tree has ended NSF fees for its consumers and also its innovative thinking about how to handle foreclosure in a way that benefits the homeowner, the lender and the community.

See what we meant: this is all you waned to know about mortgage servicers and didn’t know to ask.

Listen to the Wang podcast 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

Is there racism in US financial institutions?

Can credit unions make a difference in the fight to combat racism?

Yes is the answer to both, says Renee Sattiewhite, CEO of the African American Credit Union Coalition, a founding member of the CU DEI Collective which is centered around this belief: “We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion is good business and is fundamental to a vibrant, relevant and growing Credit Union Movement.”

That is the key: practicing DEI is both the right thing to do and good business.

The US increasingly is a minority majority country.

So is today’s DEI movement likely to result in real changes?

Or is it another well intended effort that results in little substantive?

Ask Sattiewhite and she will tell you she is optimistic. Maybe cautiously so. But optimistic nonetheless.

“This time is different,” she said.

The time for change is here, she believes, a reality dramatized by weeks of coast to coast protests against racism and police brutality.

“I believe credit unions can lead the way in helping America eradicate racism.”

Sattiewhite is keenly interested in job opportunities in credit unions for people of color and she has numbers: there now are 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.

Hear the Renee Sattiewhite podcast here.

There are many related podcasts in this series, including #100 with Victor Miguel Corro of Coopera, another CU DEI Collective member, and also Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, also a CU DEI Collective member.

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

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

Something is happening, something big, when it comes to the US and race relations and this is making itself felt in financial services.

That’s the strong opinion of Victor Miguel Corro, CEO of Coopera,  a consulting firm – started with support from the Iowa Credit Union League – that helps credit unions meet the needs of Hispanic consumers.

That market is huge.  In less than thirty years, one in three US consumers will be Hispanic, said Corro. Right now, Hispanics are about 15% of the US population.

But this conversation is about still more – the founding of the CU DEI Collective, by some 15 credit union related organizations, including CUNA, CUNA Mutual, Filene.  The organization explains its purpose: “The CU Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Collective is an expanding group being formed within the Credit Union Movement devoted to furthering DEI, a shared cooperative principle. We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion is good business and is fundamental to a vibrant, relevant and growing Credit Union Movement.”

Corro was in on the founding.  Several additional podcasts with other credit union people are in the works and will post as we continue our coverage of what may be the other huge issue now confronting credit unions (Covid-19 of course is the other).

A credit union disconnect, said Corro, is despite the expanding multicultural character of US society, 90% of credit union board and c-suite positions are filled by non Hispanic whites.

But the credit union board, and its executive team, to succeed have to look more like the communities they serve, said Corro.

This is an expansive conversation.  The foundation is Corro’s belief that, for a credit union, a multicultural tilt is not simpy a good thing to do, it also is good business. It’s a way to stay relevant in a society that is changing its face.

Regular listeners will recall Corro from an early podcast, #17. Catch up with it here.

A related podcast is with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, the association of community development credit unions. Hear her here.

Hear the new Corro podcast 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

Call it a sea change – a massive alteration of the US financial services landscape.  Everything seems different today and it is because of the pandemic.

What do you need to be thinking abut now to survive tomorrow?

An interview I did with Cornerstone consulting firm’s Brad Smith for a CUInsight article left me wanting more from Smith and here it is, a one-on-one podcast where we hear what smart credit unions are doing today.

Like what? Like recognizing that the mainstage role of the branch finally is over, probably forever. Smith is not saying he thinks branches are toast – he doesn’t – but he thinks their role is necessarily changing as many of us have gotten accustomed to not needing the branch and many of us also are simply fearful of places like branches.

Much financial services has shifted to digital and there it will stay.

“The challenge for credit unions now is learning to sell through the digital channel,” said Smith – and many institutions are playing catch up.  There’s no time to delay.

An unexpected problem, said Smith, is that the economy’s collapse has necessitated taking a new look at the FICO scores that used to enable confident and instant credit decisioning.  But that 800 score of May may be today’s 700 score and falling due to late pays, job loss, and worse.  

How can an institution provide the fast decisioning consumers now expect – but do it safely? Smith has thoughts.

Another big winner today: MRDC, said Smith. Even those who had scorned it are diving in.  

One more big winner: video chat.  We use it at work and we are now ready to use it in financial services. “Video conferencing will be another net winner,” said Smith.

An area where credit unions need to hop to it: credit card rewards programs need restructuring. The big players – Amex, Chase, Capital One – already are on the move.  Credit unions need to think fast and hard about this. But not many are, Smith admitted.

A last pandemic triggered push: a huge drive for cost savings and efficiencies. Many credit unions are looking to trim costs on commodity tech – think core systems – and redirect monies into strategic tech – such as true digital account opening.

Big changes are in motion.  Smith offers a road map in this podcast.  Take notes.

Hear the Smith podcast 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