CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 150 Vince Bezemer on Self-Directed Banking

 File this under trends that will rock the ground beneath your feet.  The next wave in financial services will be self-direction, says Vince Bezemer, head of strategy at Backbase, whom you know from CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 110 (and the companion, 111, with Wildfire Credit Union, a Backbase customer).

Now Bezemer is back with a big message: members no longer want you to tell them how to do what they want to do.  You can't offer 90% account origination online but in the last mile insist a branch visit is key.

In a similar vein, the money centers banks no longer will be able to bully customers into using digital solutions when what they want is high touch analog.

There's a revolution coming, warns Bezemer, and the FIs that thrive will be the ones that get the message that today's member calls the shots.

And for the FIs that resist this, there's the reality that at least some FIs already have heard this message and are charging ahead.

For credit unions, Bezemer's message is that it's not enough the digitize, say, 25% of your products and tell members that for the rest, come to the branch.,

It's something of a different challenge from that facing the mega banks, where cost cutting and branch closures are accelerating a drive to push digital.

Wherever you are on the digital-analog continuum, there are warnings to be had in this podcast - and action steps to take.  But this isn't a stern lecture, it's a breezy, fast, fun talk about what financial services need to look like soon, like tomorrow.

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 148 Cathi Kim on Capitalizing Your Small Credit Union

 Cathi Kim's job title at Inclusiv, a trade association for community development credit unions, tells you why you need to listen to her. She's Director of Inclusiv/Capital which means her focus is on finding ways for community development credit unions, often very small, to bring in new capital, which can come from a range of places - government programs, big credit unions, foundations, the list goes on.

How can the CEO of a small CDCU find out about these capital sources? Probably she/he can't because there are only so many hours in the day and usually leadership in a CDCU wears many hats and a chunk of time to research funding possibilities just is hard to come by.

That's why Cathi Kim has to be in your contact list. Here's how Inclusiv describes her job duties: "Her role includes leading underwriting, market analysis and strategy development, advising on credit union regulations, business planning, and impact design to help credit unions strengthen their double bottom line of financial growth and community impact."

Understand, too, that Kim believes there's increasing interest in - and support for - purpose driven institutions and that, definitionally, is what a CDCU is. It's there to make a difference in its community and, according to Kim, there are many organizations that want to lend a helping hand.

Some have been writing the obituaries for America's small credit unions. Cathi Kim is about proving those notices are, shall we say, premature. There is plenty of life in front of the nation's small CDCUs - if they grab the helping hands that are out there.

For a broader view of Inclusiv, listen to CU 2.0 Podcast #15 with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv. 

Also listen to CU 2.0 Podcast #37 with Cliff Rosenthal, a pioneer in the CDFI world.

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 147 Luis Pastor Latino Community Credit Union

 Latino Community Credit Union was founded in 2000 in Durham NC when the community was rocked by a wave of robberies - even murders - of Latino workers who were paid in cash and were believed to walk around with their pockets stuffed with cash because they were unbanked.

Enter John Herrera - whom you know from CU 2.0 Podcast 142 - and a handful more helpers and visionaries who founded the credit union which now has about $600 million in assets.

Among the early volunteers was Luis Pastor who was in the US from his native Spain because his wife was pursuing graduate school and he had time on his hands. But soon he was offered the job of CEO and he took the offer. It's a job he is still in 21 years later and, he says, the fulfillment the job brings is what keeps him in it. 

Like what? Pastor tells of borrowers who have been deported who are still paying their loans - that seems unthinkable but it is a reality in Durham because this is a credit union that engages in helping people who have been ignored by traditional financial institutions. Extend a helping hand to them and these are people who remember that and value the relationship.

A proof is that in 2020 Latino Community had a lower delinquency rate on loans than it had had in 2019. Despite the pandemic. And despite the fact that few of its members got stimulus checks.

Another pandemic fact about Latino Community Credit Union is that it did not close any branches. "Our community needed us," said Pastor. He adds that the credit union is planning an expansion into South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia and it now has 15 branches but plans are afoot for adding three more.

Pastor has a word of advice: "If credit unions are trying to steal members from Bank of America we are going to lose this battle."

Focus instead on the people who really need the services you offer and aren't getting them elsewhere.

Along the way, you will hear about some truly out of the box thinking. For instance: the credit union has sponsored vaccination days, where - working with Duke University - it has put shots in the arms of some 7000 members. You'd heard that Latinos are vaccine skeptics? True enough. But when people trust a place where their money, they also trust that institution to get them vaccinated. 

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.  

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