The CU2.0 Podcast
This podcast explores contemporary, critical thinking and issues impacting the nation's credit unions. What do they need to be doing to not just survive but prosper?
Episodes
You probably have forgotten about the role of credit unions in the country’s marijuana business - estimated to be north of $40 billion. I know I had. It’s been years since we did a show on this topic.
But on the show today is Kevin Hart, CEO of Green Check Verified, a business that provides tools to financial institutions that serve the country’s many marijuana businesses.
As Hart says in the show, narijuana ...
What exactly does a credit union’s chief strategy officer do?
On the show today is Bill Snider, the Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at Clearview Federal Credit Union, a credit union with around $2 billion in assets that serves 10 counties around Pittsburgh.
Longtime listeners will recall that I have expressed skepticism about strategies at many credit unions, also their commitment to innovation.
...
Could shared services be the cure that puts a halt to the epidemic of mergers among credit unions?
Could shared services help credit unions increase their efficiencies and dramatically lower their costs so that they can better compete against big banks and fintechs?
On the show today are Vin Anand, CEO of Member Support Services (MSS), and an evangelist for shared support services at credit unions.
To spre...
What’s in your credit union’s name?
Shakespeare told us a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
But credit union leaders are busy renaming their institutions, often for solid, fundamental reasons.
How to do this right is the topic of this Greatest Hits #28 where Phil Davis from branding company Tungsten tells the how to of smart renaming.
Listen up.
About 55% of outstanding US home mortgages have interest rates below 4% and a byproduct is that those homeowners are deeply reluctant to move because it would usually mean taking out a new mortgage at 6% or more.
Enter Takara which says it has a way to resolve what it calls the mortgage lock in effect.
On the show is Takara CEO Jonathan Arad who says the solution is to use a Danish-style mortgage payoff model ...
Suddenly youth banking is back in the conversation and that’s because this time there is real optimism that it’s a product that’s emerging at the right time. Case in point of the optimism is a recent Finovate article headlined “Why Youth Banking Is Set to Surge In 2025.”
Better news is that this market isn’t solely for the big banks and fintechs. Now on the scene is Incent with its youth digital banking tools ...
Talking about credit/debit card disputes and chargebacks.
Probably you don’t want to. For good reason. One estimate is that there were $62.5 billion in chargebacks in 2023.
And at most credit unions every chargeback or dispute involves a lot of staff time. It’s an expensive matter and it is often profoundly irritating to members - at least some of whom decide to change FIs as a result.
More worrisome is...
Risk.
For years I have said that to a credit union senior executive the foulest four letter word is risk.
It’s a risk averse industry and that’s a paradox because a credit union makes money by taking risks.
Then too we are now in a universe of unprecedented risk: there are wars, threats of a recession, threats of uncontrolled inflation, and of course there now is so much competition - neo banks, non banks ...
Want to know the secret about how to better target a new member acquisition campaign?
Of course you do.
Just about every credit union in the country is scrambling to gain new members - but could the campaigns be more efficient and effective?
In many, many cases the answer is a loud yes.
Enter Vertices Which is blending data and AI to give credit unions tool to enable more precise targeting strategie...
Are you ready to grapple with the new NCUA requirement that every credit union have an up to date succession plan that covers both senior executives and board members?
The good news: you’re not required to have a written plan until January 1, 2026.
The bad news: if you don’t have a plan by then, or if your plan falls far short of NCUA’s expectations, the credit union can be written up by an examiner.
On th...
Some 4.18 million Americans will turn 65 in 2025 and many of them will have to make difficult and crucial decisions about their Medicare coverage.
Credit unions can play a crucial role in this process and in this episode from May 2023 Rock Carter tells exactly how credit unions can get involved.
And if you think Medicare has to be easy, well, get ready to hear the complexities.
Listen up.
25% cashback on an Amazon purchase. 35% back at Kroger.
Now do I have your attention?
And this is cashback on a debit card. You thought debit card cashback vanished a decade ago? It had.
But now it just may be coming back.
On the show are David Metz, CEO of Prizeout, an innovator in adtech, and he is here to talk about a new product, CashBack+ Pay.
Also on the show is Amy Sink, CEO of Interra C...
Buckle up, there may be turbulence on this ride.
On the show today is Elizabeth Eurgubian , now a lobbyist in Washington DC but who just a few months ago served as NCUA Director of the Office of External Affairs and Communications and Policy Advisor to Chairman Harper. That’s an important position at NCUA - it’s a political appointment.
Before that she was deputy chief advocacy officer at CUNA and before tha...
Today’s topic: How to Pass the NCUA Tech Audit (Without Losing Your Mind)
The guest is Mike Robins, COO at Dynamic Edge, a company that’s helped many credit unions - particularly ones with assets between $25 million and $400 million - successfully navigate the NCUA Tech Audit which occurs “periodically,” according to the agency.
Hear what’s involved in the audit, how to pass it and - crucially - how to prepar...
On today’s show is Paul Dionne, chief strategy officer at Quantum Governance, L3C.
What’s an L3C? Good question: It’s a low profit limited liability company and, in the case of Quantum Governance, that means it “help[s] nonprofits, credit unions, associations and foundations realize the full potential of their missions.”
The company’s work with credit unions revolves around governance - especially issues i...
Is this the twilight of the golden age of credit unions? On the show to discuss exactly that question is Jim Blaine, the now retired longtime CEO of SECU, the second biggest credit union in the country. Blaine may be retired but he still has opinions about credit unions, as evidenced in his blog, SECU - Just Asking!
In this podcast Blaine also digs deep into the question: what exactly is a credit union? We also t...
No one has a richer background in credit union journalism than Frank Diekmann. Over the past 35 years he has been co-founder and editor at Credit Union Times, publisher at Credit Union Journal, co-founder at CUToday, and now he is the founder of The CU Daily, a new publication that is the liveliest credit union pub in my opinion.
Nobody has written more published words about credit unions than Diekmann.
Diekm...
This show started out as an exploration of Jack Henry’s 7th annual Strategy Benchmark Survey where CEOs of credit unions and banks reveal what really matters to them. It’s a data trich survey, there’s a link in the show notes and I say that because the talk with Lee Wetherington – Senior Director of Corporate Strategy at Jack Henry quickly veered into what’s happening in Washington DC and how changes - especially at ...
Peter Duffy’s message is plain: The pace of mergers will get fatter and it will involve credit unions of all sizes, from the small to the mega institutions. First Tech and DCU may seem an outlier but now there is ENT and Wings and the pace will keep up, says Duffy who now has joined SRM.
Will the chaos and uncertainty in Washington DC slow the merger pace? Duffy thinks not, indeed the pace may quicken.
That’s ...
This show is a proof to me that my insistence on doing podcasts without written questions in hand or a script is the right way.
I agreed to this show - a talk with Michael Crowl, ceo of $4 billion Austin Texas based UFCU - because I’d heard he had been developing an interesting strategic plan.
At many credit unions there are strategic plans but often they aren’t interesting and often, too, nobody pays any atte...
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