CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 80 Scott Petry Authentic8 on the Tower of Babel in Many FIs

They just don't talk well together.

That's the surprising conclusion in a report entitled "Surprising Disconnect Over Compliance and Secure Web Use at Financial Firms," research sponsored by IT security company Authentic8. (Download the report here.)

Inside many banks and credit unions IT, compliance, and legal just don't talk the same language and often do not see the same problems, according to this report.


Today's guest, Scott Petry, CEO of Authentic8 who will tell is about this internal Tower of Babel.

Read the related CUInsight article about the report here.  

Here's why it matters: "this disconnect creates the potential for sizable gaps in compliance and data protection approaches in these organizations."

Credit unions may have even tougher going because in many cases some of these tasks are outsourced and often the vendors simply do not talk together. Ever.

Often, said the report, compliance focuses on reducing risks, legal relies on security policies, and IT is more attuned to attack vectors and keeping users content.

And those three orientations may collide.

The report explores how to get the three competing tribes on the same page, thus improving the institution's digital security.

The report also looks at how to maximize web use while maintaining optimal security.  Increasingly a tool of choice is remote browser isolation and Petry tells why this solution is gaining favor inside many financial institutions.

The conversation starts off with an attention grabber: why the ordinary URL is IT's nightmare. And know that Authentic8's Silo web browser has built in protections that anticipate - and solve for - user errors, pages they should not have clicked on, and still worse. It's protection for the Age of the Web and it consumes the first half of the podcast.

From there, we turn back to the question of the three tribes - and how to get them cooperating for the security of the organization.

Be prepared to hear realities you haven't thought about - and the result may be heightened internal security.

Listen here


Read the report. It’s short, it’s free, but it’s provocative: Get it 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

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 79 Dan Mayfield LeveragePoint on Cannabis and Credit Unions

Welcome to Up in Smoke, Part 4 - credit unions and weed.

Buckle up. Dan Mayfield, public affairs director at LeveragePoint, a strategic communications firm in Albuquerque NM, will be our guide in this podcast to the cannabis business in New Mexico.

Cash, public safety, and a $130 million dollar annual business take. That's legal marijuana in New Mexico -- and right now credit unions are scrambling to help serve this market.

LeveragePoint has a ringside seat and that's because it is wholly owned by the Credit Union Association of New Mexico.

You heard that right.

That also means it's playing a key role in setting up the CU Cannabiz show in Chicago in April and Mayfield offers more details on that in this podcast.

Up in Smoke Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here.

Part 3 is a podcast with Paul Stull, CEO of the Credit Union Association of New Mexico.

What's important here is that cannabis is a potentially huge market for credit unions. It has risks, sure.

But it has a grand upside.

Here all about all sides in this podcast.  It's a fast ride.


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

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 78 Paul Stull on Cannabis and Credit Unions, Up in Smoke 3

Toke up - the CU2.0 Podcast is back with another look at cannabis and credit unions, a topic we last looked at a year ago in a two part podcast. Part 1 here, Part 2 here.

Welcome to Part 3, 2020 edition of Up in Smoke, credit union style.

Today's guest is Paul Stull CEO of the Credit Union Association of New Mexico, which is sponsoring the Credit Union Cannabiz Conference, April 5-8 in Chicago.

What this is about is the business of banking cannabis companies, said Stull.  And he fervently believes that cannabis - so far an untouchable for the big national banks - is a prime opportunity for credit unions to build dynamic and profitable business account relationships that involve both deposits and lending.

And this is business that right now the national banks won't take on.

About two in every three states presently has legal marijuana in some form (medical, recreational or both).

Said Stull: "Most credit unions are involved in banking marijuana money whether they know it or not."

His argument: do this openly, consciously, charge accordingly and it's a win win, for the credit union, also for the marijuana business.

In the podcast, Stull offers a deep dive into why cannabis banking also benefits local communities - meaning this is a solid credit union business direction.

The opportunities with cannabis for credit unions right now looks immense.

Stay tuned because in a few weeks another cannabis themed podcast will drop.


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

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

CU2.0 Podcast Episode 77 Shondell Varcianna on the Content You Need to Grow

Want to grow your member base? Want to target particular kinds of members?

Content is your friend, says Shondell Varcianna, a financial services veteran who nowadays focuses on providing select financial institutions with finely targeted digital content - blog posts - for distribution via the credit union website, also social media.

Her driving point: content works when it is written to meet the specific needs of a targeted group.  It can't be all things to all people.

She especially recommends financial education content.  Millennials, for instance, want info on home buying.  Give it to them and you just may get the mortgage.

The key: have a strategy about what groups you want and what you want to sell them. The content will follow.

This is an informative podcast about a topic that usually is treated superficially. This is a deeper dive and it's worth it because this is how to supercharge member growth.

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

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

CU2.0 Podcast Episode 76 Matt Johnner BankLabs on Commercial Lending and Your Credit Union

It just may be topic one in credit union c suites - how do we make more profitable loans?

Matt Johnner of BankLabs - a developer of cloud based technology solutions for financial institutions - has a suggestion: Go after lending to two of the country's biggest industrial segments, agriculture and construction.

And fast track this by using your present member base to segue into commercial lending into those segments.

A good car loan experience for a farmer's wife, or a home builder's husband, just may lead to a 7 figure commercial loan - for the credit union that is thinking that way.

So Johnner likes the "law of attraction," which essentially says that what we focus on comes into our life.

Start thinking on construction and ag loans and they just may happen for you.

His company also is a provider of mobile tools that automate lending and loan management and, he says, many lenders are still rooted in legacy technology (spreadsheets). A newcomer to the field who has the right technology in place just may start closing deals.

What will the regulator say? Johnner addresses that in this podcast.

He also talks about buying a community bank to accelerate success in commercial lending - but stresses there are other ways.

If you want more high profit loans this is a must podcast.

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