Do you want to talk about money - or would you prefer to talk about sex?
Many of us today would choose the sex conversation, mainly because we know we don't know much about personal finance and we also know we don't anybody to ask for advice.
Enter Tropical Financial in Florida which has introduced a new website Get Beyond Money where the purpose is to provide people (target audience: older millennials) with the financial education they need and want so that they can make smarter, shrewder financial decisions.
The website has plenty of blogs, quizzes, and even offers a free appointment with a financial counselor.
This podcast offers an insider's view of how this campaign was created - and know it was three years in the making. There were stumbles along the way but that enriches this story.
Also know that Tropical Financial is willing to share its content with non competitive credit unions. Don't be shy about asking.
Today's guest is Amy McGraw, the first repeat podcast guest. Last year she starred in episode 10 on the student loan crisis and what Tropical Financial is doing to help.
Now she's leading the charge in bringing meaningful financial education to older millennials who - in many cases - really don't know who to ask for advice. Tropical Financial wants to step into that role.
Listen to the Get Beyond Money podcast here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 65 John Weinkowitz on Credit Unions Buying Banks, Live from Finastra Community Markets
Credit unions are buying so many banks the Wall Street Journal refers to this as a "spree."
Just in the first eight months of 2018 there were 21 transactions, compared to 12 in the prior five years, by the WSJ count.
What is going on here?
We put that question to John Weinkowitz, Head of Product Strategy, Community
Markets, Finastra, and himself an m and a expert.
Is this doing business with the devil?
Should this put into jeopardy the credit union tax exemption - as many bankers are insisting?
What drives the transactions? The need to grow, said Weinkowitz. FIs below a certain size find it more difficult to compete. So some put themselves up for sale. And others go hunting for acquisition partners.
The allure for credit union execs is an immediate increase in members, deposits, and also - in many cases - branches.
But are they factoring in predictable attrition?
Do they have a strategy for employee retention - which may be critical to making an acquisition work?
Before buying a community bank listen to this podcast. You don't want to ignore that advice.
The podcast is here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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
Just in the first eight months of 2018 there were 21 transactions, compared to 12 in the prior five years, by the WSJ count.
What is going on here?
We put that question to John Weinkowitz, Head of Product Strategy, Community
Markets, Finastra, and himself an m and a expert.
Is this doing business with the devil?
Should this put into jeopardy the credit union tax exemption - as many bankers are insisting?
What drives the transactions? The need to grow, said Weinkowitz. FIs below a certain size find it more difficult to compete. So some put themselves up for sale. And others go hunting for acquisition partners.
The allure for credit union execs is an immediate increase in members, deposits, and also - in many cases - branches.
But are they factoring in predictable attrition?
Do they have a strategy for employee retention - which may be critical to making an acquisition work?
Before buying a community bank listen to this podcast. You don't want to ignore that advice.
The podcast is here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 64 Carla Bienz Partners 1st CU, Live from Finastra Community Markets
Can small credit unions survive?
Carla Bienz is CEO of Partners 1st Credit Union in Fort Wayne IN - an institution where she has worked since she graduated from college and where she now is CEO. And she has keen insights into the plight of smaller credit unions and what they need to do to survive and prosper.
Partners 1st, by the way, now is approaching $400 million in assets after multiple mergers. It also has 24 branches in seven states.
One reality Bienz accepts: to stay relevant Partners 1st has to continue to grow.
Another reality: it needs a lot of help from fintechs but, says Bienz, the right fintechs level the playing field for smaller credit unions.
Along the way Bienz talks about why she is exploring CDFI status and she ponders the existential question: how can credit unions with under $100 million in assets survive.
She is exceptionally candid. Soft spoken but thoughtful. Listen and learn.
The podcast is here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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
Carla Bienz is CEO of Partners 1st Credit Union in Fort Wayne IN - an institution where she has worked since she graduated from college and where she now is CEO. And she has keen insights into the plight of smaller credit unions and what they need to do to survive and prosper.
Partners 1st, by the way, now is approaching $400 million in assets after multiple mergers. It also has 24 branches in seven states.
One reality Bienz accepts: to stay relevant Partners 1st has to continue to grow.
Another reality: it needs a lot of help from fintechs but, says Bienz, the right fintechs level the playing field for smaller credit unions.
Along the way Bienz talks about why she is exploring CDFI status and she ponders the existential question: how can credit unions with under $100 million in assets survive.
She is exceptionally candid. Soft spoken but thoughtful. Listen and learn.
The podcast is here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 63 Steve Hoke on Data and Mortgages, Live from Finastra Community Markets
There was a time when community financial institutions owned the home mortgage market. No more. Fintechs dominate and mega banks aren't far behind. Most credit unions are left to squabble over crumbs.
But just maybe there's hope. At Finastra, Steve Hoke, Vice President, Product Management, Consumer and SME Lending, says the company's Fusion Motgagebot Data Insights puts the power of data analytics in the hands of a community financial institution and the upshot is just maybe it can compete - successfully - against the fintechs and mega banks when it has data at its command.
What percentage of your mortgages actually close? How does that compare with competitors? Don't guess. Know. That's the promise of this data.
Understand, the data is anonymized. You cannot ask it to tell you how you fare against a specific competitor. But if you want to see how you do against others, it has the answer.
This is powerful stuff. Hoke said Finastra is adding capabilities and hopes to extend it to more types of lending (auto loans for instance).
"We are giving community institutions insight into data that before they were flying blind about," said Hoke.
Listen to the Hoke podcast here.
This is one of a half dozen podcasts recorded at Finastra Community Markets in Chicago, October 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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
But just maybe there's hope. At Finastra, Steve Hoke, Vice President, Product Management, Consumer and SME Lending, says the company's Fusion Motgagebot Data Insights puts the power of data analytics in the hands of a community financial institution and the upshot is just maybe it can compete - successfully - against the fintechs and mega banks when it has data at its command.
What percentage of your mortgages actually close? How does that compare with competitors? Don't guess. Know. That's the promise of this data.
Understand, the data is anonymized. You cannot ask it to tell you how you fare against a specific competitor. But if you want to see how you do against others, it has the answer.
This is powerful stuff. Hoke said Finastra is adding capabilities and hopes to extend it to more types of lending (auto loans for instance).
"We are giving community institutions insight into data that before they were flying blind about," said Hoke.
Listen to the Hoke podcast here.
This is one of a half dozen podcasts recorded at Finastra Community Markets in Chicago, October 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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
CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 62 Lucy Donaldson of Canvas Credit Union on Digital Banking, Live from Finastra Community Markets
What would it be like to go from being Head, Digital Customer Experience at Lloyds Bank in the United Kingdom - a trillion dollar institution - to being the VP for digital innovation at Colorado-based Canvas Credit Union, with assets around $2.5 billion?
Ask Lucy Donaldson, this week's guest at the CU 2.0 Podcast.
She made exactly that journey and she candidly talks about what a money center bank can do that a credit union usually can't - but she also talks about the huge advantages a credit union has, from much better agility to strong, genuine community ties.
She's seen both sides and she says what she likes about credit unions.
A key point Donaldson makes in this podcast is that it's time to stop talking about a credit union's digital transformation - and time to accept that has become its business transformation. A credit union is its bits and bytes and knowing that makes the job of plotting institutional success that much easier.
Listen to the Donaldson podcast here.
Here's a related podcast with Tanan Miles of ENT, Colorado's biggest credit union.
This is one of a half dozen podcasts recorded at Finastra Community Markets in Chicago, October 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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 Lucy Donaldson, this week's guest at the CU 2.0 Podcast.
She made exactly that journey and she candidly talks about what a money center bank can do that a credit union usually can't - but she also talks about the huge advantages a credit union has, from much better agility to strong, genuine community ties.
She's seen both sides and she says what she likes about credit unions.
A key point Donaldson makes in this podcast is that it's time to stop talking about a credit union's digital transformation - and time to accept that has become its business transformation. A credit union is its bits and bytes and knowing that makes the job of plotting institutional success that much easier.
Listen to the Donaldson podcast here.
Here's a related podcast with Tanan Miles of ENT, Colorado's biggest credit union.
This is one of a half dozen podcasts recorded at Finastra Community Markets in Chicago, October 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 61 Allan Brown on the Digital Revolution in Banking, Live from Finastra Community Markets
Ask Allan Brown - a VP and GM, Digital Community Markets at Finastra - what keeps him up at night and his answer is simple: it's trying to stay on top of the digital revolution that is transforming credit unions and community banks. Brown also is very optimistic. His belief: community institutions that partner with the right fintechs can not only keep pace with the big banks digitally, they very well may be able to beat them at this game.
Along the way Brown discusses mega trends that are changing how financial services are delivered and two key trends, he says, are real time banking (it's coming!) and much shrewder use of data to deliver better and smarter services to consumers.
"The future of financial services is going to be phenomenal," says Brown.
Listen to the Brown podcast here.
This is one of a half dozen podcasts recorded at Finastra Community Markets in Chicago, October 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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
Along the way Brown discusses mega trends that are changing how financial services are delivered and two key trends, he says, are real time banking (it's coming!) and much shrewder use of data to deliver better and smarter services to consumers.
"The future of financial services is going to be phenomenal," says Brown.
Listen to the Brown podcast here.
This is one of a half dozen podcasts recorded at Finastra Community Markets in Chicago, October 2019.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available.
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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