CU2.0 Podcast Episode 210 Abrar Ahmed on id-go to prevent account takeover attacks

 There has to be a better way. A safer way. There has to be a way to swiftly let  a member re-set a password to gain entry to his/her accounts and to also defeat the account take-over criminals who specialize in seizing control of others' accounts and swiftly draining them.

Know this: the criminals who do this are an industry.  They are professional.  And they work fulltime at this.

Case in point: in the podcast Abrar Ahmed, CEO of Cozera Solutions, relates that criminal gangs will patiently call the same credit union, failing to win entry to the accounts they lust after but what they are doing is gathering intel. Pretty soon they know all the challenge questions and that means they also can know the answers.

A credit union needs to know how to fight back.  id-go, a Cozera Solutions' tool, is one such way.

Cozera Solutions explains how it works its magic: "id-go replaces discoverable secrets like passwords and one-time passcodes with strong passwordless biometric authentication so there are no secrets for attackers to steal. To protect privacy, authentication is executed with device based biometrics that never leave the consumer's device."

In the podcast, Ahmed says that deployment of this tool to members is fast and seamless and can proceed with essentially no tech heavy lifting on the credit union's part..

The company is still in start-up mode but has already implemented its tools at four credit unions, a sector Ahmed is focused on.

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 News Flash: Credit Mountain, a CUSO for Consumers Who Want to Improve Their Credit

 Tools, not tips, that's what those with damaged credit need to get themselves on the path to credit improvement.

Right there is the guiding credo of Credit Mountain, a new CUSO that Cornerstone Foundation, the charity wing of Cornerstone League, helped birth. 

Credit Mountain successfully ran a pilot with seven credit unions and now is looking to offer its app through more credit unions.

In this podcast, you will hear from two Credit Mountain founders. The first that you will hear from is Frank Santoni, chief product officer. In a recent CU Times piece he is quoted as saying, “Credit Mountain blends the member-focus of credit unions with emerging technologies to deliver a personalized credit-improvement experience."

The other voice is Nathan Pinto, CEO.

Both founders are strong in the belief that credit unions have a unique role in helping those with damaged credit heal themselves - and they believe their tool will help in that journey.

Listen up.

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 209 Landon Glenn, CEO of ASA, the New way for CUs and Fintechs to Connect

 You are going to want to listen to this podcast twice. That's because the first time you hear it you will think, this can't be so. It can't be that easy for a credit union to connect with fintechs and have all the compliance and integration and all that complex and expensive stuff just, well, handled by this Utah based open banking company I have never heard of.

Then you will focus on this: Asa now is in a BECU sponsored fintech incubator and two things are true about BECU: it's a savvy, shrewd credit union and it knows technology.  If BECU says Asa is worth a close look, count me as hunting for my spectacles.

In this podcast Asa founder and CEO Landon Glenn explains in considerable detail - but in a way friendly to non propeller heads - just how Asa works its magic act.

Note too: Glenn tells here about discounted pricing for credit unions that get in the Asa queue pronto.  It really is a sweet deal for early adopters.

He also tells the benefits for the credit union - it gets to offer a wide range of cool tech to its members and that means it also can offer niche products because the integration is easy; it benefits fintechs but making it easy for them to align with credit unions; and it benefits members by letting them remain credit union members but still use and enjoy the tech they crave.

 "The industry continues to grapple with how to keep up with skyrocketing demand for innovation in a safe, secure and affordable way," said Landon Glenn, CEO and founder of Asa in a press release. "With Asa’s collaborative banking model, financial institutions and fintechs are finally able to join forces, connecting customers with a marketplace of fintechs without ever having to share sensitive data or credentials. Such a model is a win for the bank, fintech and end customer. We are proud to be accepted into the BECU FinTech Incubator, and we look forward to continuing this momentum and growth."

You have to hear more?

Of course.

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 Money Talks with Kirk Kordeleski Episode 2: Executive Comp As a Strategic Initiative

Here's the big, immense, mind blowing idea that is central to this podcast: a competitive credit union has to view executive compensation as a strategic initiative, really no different from putting investment money into a CUSO or  rolling out a spiffy new mobile banking app.

Understand this: NCUA regulations explicitly allow this allocation of capital.

And grasp this: unless a credit union has invested in creating a first-rate leadership team it won't have the staff capabilities to make the most of its capital investments in more traditional vehicles.

With leaders it's as simple as you get what you pay for...and the results your credit union gets are determined by the leaders you have invested in.

That's the bold idea put forth by Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of the nation's biggest, and now an executive at OM Financial Group, which specializes in SERPs which are building block retirement plans for key credit union executives.

In the podcast Kordeleski offers more than his big idea. He also spells out, in some detail, the steps a credit union needs to take to keep its executive team competitive and what the coats are likely to be.

Note to board members: if you want to know what these steps will cost your institution, you will find out in this show.

Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com

This show is in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled.  This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2022 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1992 comp plans, even 2012 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.

Hear episode one in Money Talks here.  It's not a prerequisite for understanding episode 2 but it does offer more insight into the credit union exec comp landscape.

Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

Listen up.

CU 2.0 Episode 208 Steve Bone Ongoing Operations on OGO's Future

 Steve Bone, a longtime fintech executive, has been given the big chair at Ongoing Operations - aka OGO - and now he is running the CUSO's efforts in providing credit unions with Business Continuity Planning (BCP), Disaster Recovery, Information Security and more.

Bone is just a few weeks in the job - taking over from Kirk Drake (hear his recent podcast here) -- and he is full of optimistic ideas, from leading a shift to the cloud to helping small credit unions, even $100 million institutions and smaller, get world class information security services. That last is important as cyber criminals - including many abroad working in tandem with their governments - increasingly are targeting smaller FIs because most have porous security and, as Willie Sutton said, that's where the money is.

OGO customers of course want to hear this show but so do just about all credit unions because Bone here outlines a lot of the pressing, critical IT issues credit unions face.  

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.

You probably know Drake is also CEO of CU 2.0.

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

Tags: CUSOcredit unionNCUAfintechs

CU 2.0 News Flash Kirk Drake's Next Chapter - Life After OGO at Painted Hills

 Kirk Drake spent 15+ years conceiving, building, and nurturing Ongoing Operations, a CUSO focused on disaster recovery, cloud services, and more. Now he is moving on.

He leaves OGO in good hands. The new leader there is Steve Bone, whose podcast focused on his vision for OGO posts Wednesday.

In this podcast, Drake reminisces a little about OGO, muses about the growing role of fintechs in the lives of credit unions and gets downright excited about Painted Hills, a CUSO he birthed and, definitely reads about Oregon's Painted Hills.   Three credit unions - Rogue, Maps, and Carter - are already involved.

You want to hear about Painted Hills because it is intended to help solve credit union balance sheet problems that, right now, afflict many institutions.

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.

You probably know Drake is also CEO of CU 2.0.

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 Money Talks with Kirk Kordeleski Episode 1

 Are you earning enough at a credit union?

Here's the bad news: it's not easy to figure out the right answer to that question. Information about executive pay at credit unions is not easy to come by.

Here's the worse news: If a top exec at a credit union is underpaid, very probably most of the executive staff is too - and that is an institution that will find it ever harder to compete against the growing numbers of credit unions that get it, that understand they have to pay their execs appropriately if they want to attract talent.

Also know that exec compensation is not a matter of what's in your pay packet on Friday. Today's compensation has multiple moving parts and salary is just one piece. There also are long term incentive clauses, SERPs (supplemental executive retirement plans) and still more wrinkles.

This has all gotten very complicated.

Here to demystify executive compensation is Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of the nation's biggest, and now an executive at OM Financial Group, which specializes in SERPs.

Want to know more about SERPs - or other matters raised in this podcast? Email Kordeleski Kkordeleski@om-financial.com

This show is the first in a Money Talks series where credit union compensation is untangled.  This show will help some executives negotiate better pay packages and will also help some board members understand the ways in which 2022 credit union compensation is utterly different from 1992 comp plans, even 2012 plans because now competition for talent is so much fiercer.

Have suggestions for topics to explore in this show? Email me, Robert McGarvey - rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

Listen up.

CU 2.0 Podcast News Flash Peter Duffy on Merger Mania

 You know the numbers.  More credit unions are merging now and - crucially - more big credit unions are merging.  I give you the marriage of $2,7 billion Capital Communications with $5.5 billion State Employees in Albany NY.

That takes your breath away.

But Peter Duffy, managing director at Piper Sandler, says in this podcast that - to paraphrase - you ain't seen nothing yet.

Size now is table stakes for survival in financial services.

Where once $100 million in assets was thought to be the scale needed for a credit union to survive, think much bigger now.

Duffy - a past guest on the podcast back in 2020 - shares his view from the field of what is happening in regard to mergers and credit unions and what to expect in a near-term future.  

One takeaway: think merger and your institution. Because it just may be coming your way.

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