CU2.0 Podcast Episode 122 Larry Nichols of CUSO Member Driven Technologies 2021 Trends Forecast 1

 

Ask Larry Nichols, CEO of Member Driven Technologies, a Michigan based CUSO, what's in the future for credit unions and he has a one word answer: Digital.

Actually, that oversimplifies the answer because in this podcast Nichols and I talk for about 40 minutes about what's next and he in fact ticks off four basic themes:

* Digital banking - by which he means many, many things besides mobile and online banking. E-signatures for instance. Also digital account opening.  Digital is the future of banking.

* The evolution of the branch

* The new need for business continuity planning

* The need to find new ways credit unions can support their communities in this time of need.

Along the way, Nichols evangelizes for cloud based core systems, the central MDT focus.  Around 106 credit unions are MDT core customers and, Nichols says, this is a way to have the latest technologies - but to leave the hefty lifting to professionals.

He's probably right. Many credit unions would benefit from turning their cores over to a third party to manage in the cloud.

There are explanations about why that is so in this podcast.

The podcast starts with the question: How many member owners are there for your CUSO? The answer will surprise you.

A technical matter: after the podcast was recorded, Nichols emailed to say he had misremembered the date when MDT first offered mobile banking.  That wrong date has been erased and, in my voice, you will hear the right date, 2008.  Larry's voice did not inexplicably change.  It's my voice.

Also for the record, the Apple iPhone was introduced in 2007.

Listen up.

Get your FREE ticket to the December 9th CU2.0 Fintech Mastermind Presents Showcase Day 2020.  This is the first of its kind event where CU 2.0 has brought together the industries' top leaders form well known Credit Unions and paired them up with top Fintech experts in one place! Our subject matter expert will help you and your organization tackle the top issues we face today with unique master classes, tailored for folks just like you.

Get your ticket at Eventbrite. Click 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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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 121 Inside the CU2.0 Mastermind Group

 This is a special CU 2.0 Podcast where the aim is to take listeners inside the CU2.0 Mastermind group where credit union executives and fintech executives join together to explore new ideas, to review problems, and together - by sharing wisdom and experiences - join in reaching higher levels of success.

In this episode Ray Crouse, CEO of Parsons Federal Credit Union and board chair of NACUSO, Darryl Hicks, CEO of fintech FlexPay, and Kirk Drake, founder of CU2.0 talk candidly about Mastermind groups and along the way you will get a sense of the flavor of what a Mastermind group really is and how it works.

Consider this a glimpse into how a group works.

In this podcast you will hear personal testimony from all three on what they are getting and have gotten out of Mastermind groups - and both Drake and Hicks, longtime members of Mastermind groups, offer vivid reports of exactly how Mastermind groups have benefited them, personally and professionally.

Listen here.

Read up to learn more about Mastermind groups here.  

Hear the first CU2.0 Mastermind podcast here.  In this episode Kirk Drake and Dr. Patty Ann Tublin, who facilitates the CU2.0 Mastermind groups, talk about why and how Mastermind groups work and who will benefit from them.

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

CU2.0 Podcast Episode 120 Nathan Rogers on Shared Branching and the Future of the Branch Network

 Branches are not going away.  That's a firm belief of Nathan Rogers, a longtime financial services executive who has spent many years in shared branching - a feature he calls a significant credit union strategic advantage.

Yet now, amid the pandemic, many credit union executives are talking. about pulling out of the shared branching networks.  Why bother with it if nobody is using the branch?

Ask Rogers and he sees that thinking as short-sighted and in fact now is the optimum time to offer shared branching and thereby provide more member service without the expense of opening and staffing a branch that may in fact have an uncertain future.

Back up a step. Know that there are around 1850 credit unions participating in the CO-OP shared branching network.  They have around 6000 branches collectively and that is bigger than any branch network in the US.  Feast on that. The credit union shared branch network is the biggest in the country.

Along the way in this conversation we also explored the credit union shared ATM network - another industry advantage that often is inadequately explained to members and prospective members. And we discuss new trends in digital banking and the branch of the future.

Listen up 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

CU2.0 Podcast Episode 119 Peter Duffy on the Coming Merger Wave

 Go big or go home.  That's the bold message from investment banker Peter Duffy of Piper Sandler and for some years he has been in the thick of credit union mergers.

And Duffy is here to say there's a new trend.  Used to be, most credit union mergers involved a shoebox credit union getting devoured by a bigger one.  You know why that played out. Usually the small credit union had reached a point where its viability was questionable and the regulator, with winks and nods and maybe a shove, engineered a shotgun marriage with a bigger, healthier institution.

According to Duffy, that is changing and now very big credit unions - some with well over $1 billion in assets and healthy balance sheets - are talking "mergers of equals" with like sized institutions.

Why? It just is getting tough to compete with the money center banks who control an ever expanding piece of the financial pie. Add in the competition of fintechs and, suddenly, institutions with assets under, pick a number, $500 million? $1 billion? $5 billion? Are finding it ever tougher to thrive.

And $5 billion, by the way, often is the number that survival oriented big credit unions have their eye on, says Duffy.

Duffy also posits that what he calls Covid fatigue is wearing out many credit union senior managers and lots of board members. A merger to them may appear to be a great exit strategy.

 Along the way in this podcast Duffy throws out lots of Piper Sandler research findings on what it takes to succeed today.  Take notes. This is excellent stuff.

You won't sleep well after listening to this - but you just may hear your path to institutional survival.

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