CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 146 Fintech Meetup with Anil Aggarwal and Kirk Drake

 Anil Aggarwal is an entrepreneur who knows a thing or two about providing venues where executives come together and good things happen.  He was co-founder of Money 20/20, an event that redefined how financial services executives and fintech executives could profitably come together.  After that venture was sold, he co-founded Shoptalk, a meeting venue for retail execs and technologists. That was sold off. And now he is creating his next new thing, Fintech Meetup, and you want to know about this June 15-17 virtual event that will link financial services execs with fintech execs in double opt-in meetings that last 15 minutes.

Why 15 minutes? Aggarwal says he has found that's the optimal time.  If the two parties find they have more to talk about they can arrange it.  Or they can part with smiles on their faces because it was only 15 minutes.

And you did notice these are dual opt in meetings.  Both parties have to accept for the meeting to be scheduled.

And it's all virtual in our pandemic era.

Understand too that the tools and technologies are battle tested.  That's a big plus.

Joining Aggarwal in this podcast is CU 2.0 founder Kirk Drake who has thoughts about why this event is a must for credit unions and free admission is just one of the attractions for credit union execs. There's a link in the show notes to how to claim free admission.  

Know this. Your host is a grumpy, cynical veteran of too many financial services events to count, most of which were tedious.  I am a huge fan of the early Money 20/20 events so when I heard the guy behind Money 20/20 was the force behind Fintech Meetup my interest went from tepid to torrid.  

And credit union execs get in free.  

That is a great deal.

Listen up.

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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 145 Robert Siciliano on Ransomware and Who Do You Trust?

 PSCU called it a growing credit union threat.  CUNA Mutual called it one of the fastest growing malware threats. Security company Arctic Wolf has said there was a 520% increase in ransomware and phishing attacks in the banking sector between March and June 2020.  NCUA has even issued a punchlist of steps to take to protect against ransomware attacks.

Color me surprised.  I had thought ransomware - where hackers "lock" a site or a database and demand a ransom to unlock it - was a thing of the past.  Data redundancy in the cloud had eliminated the threat, I thought.

I was wrong.

Crooks are nimble and in today's iteration of ransomware, yes, the site still is locked - but before that happens the crook makes a point to copy key files.  Tell the crooks you won't play ball, or simply ignore their demands, and they up the ante by posting a sample of their data theft on publicly viewable sites. Imagine if the Social Security numbers of 10,000 of your members suddenly sprout up online. How ugly is that?

Would you pay to avoid that?

Crooks also know that increasing numbers of credit unions have what amounts to ransomware insurance coverage and they also know how much the insurers will pay.

Don't underestimate them.  Brilliant hackers they are not necessarily - some in fact simply use ransomware kits they buy online - but here is what it takes to defeat them: recognizing that security is a 24/7, 365 days a year job, says Robert Siciliano, a longtime cybersecurity expert who works with many organizations to help them raise their defenses.

It is not being paranoid, believing we are under continuing attacks, insists Siciliano in this podcast.  It is just being prudent

This is not a podcast overloaded with technical jargon.  What it is is a podcast intended to light a fire under all of us because we need that zeal if we intend to win, says Siciliano.

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.

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 144, Randy Icelow Rolling F Credit Union, From a Temp Gig to CEO

 At 29 Randy Icelow said he was a temp worker for a bus company in California's Central Valley and flashforward to now he is 38 and CEO of a $63 million credit union, Rolling F based in Turlock CA, where its SEG is Foster Farms, one of the biggest chicken companies in the country.

This podcast grew out of a post Icelow put up on the CU 2.0 Facebook group where he recounted his story. Reading his story we knew he had to be a podcast guest because his is an inspiration story of success in the face of failure. He graduated from college in 2008 with a finance degree and you remember how dismal the credit union and bank job markets were then. He bounced around a bit, took more classes, got a job as a school teacher in Stockton, which proceeded to file bankruptcy. He was back working as a temp and he lucked out. He got a gig at a credit union which liked him so much they hired him onto regular staff.

After a while he applied for a CEO job at a bank - didn't get it but learned a lot - and then applied for the CEO job at Rolling F which he did not get. A retired banker got the job but the board advised him to hire Icelow and train him up to be his successor, which came to pass in three years.

You like that story? Of course you do.

But there are other great stories in this podcast. For instance, Icelow says that a Rolling F specialty is refinancing car loans - and many come in with a loan that has a rate of maybe 29%, which Rolling F can in some cases get down to 5.5%. The monthly payment goes from $500 to half that and an extra $250 per month in that worker's pocket is big money.

Magic happened in Icelow's personal life but now he is making magic happen in the lives of the hard workers who are his members.

Can Rolling F survive with $60 million in assets? Listen to his answer - and as you hear it remember that $500 monthly note on a 10 year old Nissan Sentra, You just may be persuaded by his math and his passion.

Listen up.

Along the way, mention is made of the CU 2.0 podcast with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusive, the trade group for CDFis.  

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

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 143 Stephanie Smith America's Credit Union Museum

 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