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Beware the shiny tech objects.

On the show today is Tennessee Credit Union League's CRO David Griffiths who says a huge problem many of the league’s credit unions wrestle with is fragmented technology adoption - how do the many tech pieces work together? Or more bluntly: can they work together at all?

Old cores are a real problem for many Tennessee credit unions. So is the cost of middleware.

Griffiths tells about solutions that are working in his state, with both big credit unions and also the many credit unions with assets under $500 million in his state.

He specifically discusses solutions the league is spearheading - it’s good stuff that helps demonstrate there remains a place for credit union leagues, at least the ones that cann talk tech.

Also on the show is Saahil Kamath, head of AI at Eltropy - which has been busy adding to its tool kit for credit unions and insurinng the tools work together. Note that he had indicated he was under the weather and probably would only listen. But he winds up talking at some length and he offers thoughtful insights into what is really working as credit unions seek to get their tech tools talking with each other ,

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

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Thank you for joining our podcast with Doug Brown of Candescent.

That’s no mistake. I have talked with Doug many times but always before he has worn an NCR hat where he was president of digital banking. Here’s one show, another , and one more. . Looking in my archive I find interview notes with him dating back a dozen years when he was at FIS.

But now, to quote the bard James Brown, poppa’s got a brand new bag.

Not exactly. What has happened is that NCR Voyix has bunded its digital portfolio and sold it for $2.4 billion (plus possible additional considerations) to Veritas Capital, a private equity firm,

Know this: Candescent comes on the market with a hefty dowry, to wit: “he largest independent platform of its kind in the United States and will continue to serve more than 1,300 financial institutions and over 29 million registered users.,” to quote the announcement release.

This is the first significant interview Brown has given since the acquisition but, as he says in the show, they’ve been busy at Candescent developing everything from a marketing plan to aa payroll system.

Also know: I am personally an end user of Candescent tools, namely the DI momobile bike banking platform at Affinity Federal Credit Union in New Jersey. You too might be a Candescent end user - the market presence is immense.

In the show Btown outlines Candescent’s plans and why they believe they have the winning formula.

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

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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

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Steve Winninger is the man to talk with about credit union boards and governance.

A longtime credit union CEO - 20 years at Lake Trust - now a $1.6 billion institution based in Michigan - plus he also served as CEO at IBM Lexington and since retiring from Lake Trust he has put in stints as CEO at four credit unions (only one of which merged out of existence).

But Steve is a rare CEO. He loves talking about the role of the board and - done right - a board should be crucial in a credit union's prosperity.

But many CEOs grumble about board meddling. In other credit unions - mainly larger ones - it's the board that grumbles that they are ignored.

Sigh.

Hear Winninger's views on that dichotomy in this podcast.

In this podcast Winninger spells out the four steps a good board must take. Must. No exceptions.

We also talk about whether boards are ready and able to help in the immensely difficult decisions that loom as credit unions wrestle with the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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

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

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Yet another show about AI but this conversation with Chris Cox, COO at Apiture, a North Carolina based digital banking company, covers the gamut from small, practical AI powered steps a credit union can take now to truly big ideas that just might revolutionize how we bank. Such as?

Cox tosses out this idea: what if a digital banking app could become like Chat GPT. that is, the user logs in, sees a bar for asking a question, and the resulting session is highly tailored to this consumer’s concern today? How cool would that be?

Another Cox idea: using AI to suggest next steps to members, maybe everything from “Isn’t your rent overdue?” to “Your car is now seven years old. Time to trade it in?”

Along the way Cox says that a hurdle many credit unions face in implementing AI is that a lot of their data is in formats that AI finds difficult to digest. He offers tips on cleaning up that data to make it a valuable depository of information about members and prospective members.

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

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Call this show all you never wanted to know about the fraudemic that credit unions today are fighting - but you have to know about it because knowledge is a key to beating the armies ff criminals who are besieging FIs across America.

Who are they? What weapons do they have? On the show is Rene Perez, a financial crime expert who works with Jack Henry, who tells us what the fraudsters are doing.

But he also is very upbeat that the tide is turning against the criminals as more FIs share more information about fraud and Perez is optimistic that there will be more sharing and more wins for credit unions in their daily battles with cyber criminals.

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

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Can credit unions help eradicate racism in America?

Renee Sattiewhite says so in this 2020 podcast that is our greatest hit #20.

But ask her if there is racism in US financial institutions and the answer is yes.

Renee Sattiewhite is CEO of the African American Credit Union Coalition and in this show she expresses optimism that the US can rid itself of its racist demons.

The time for change is here, she believes.

Sattiewhite is keenly interested in job opportunities in credit unions for people of color and she has numbers: there were in 2020 15 African American CEOs of credit unions, including 6 at billion dollar institutions.

Could there be more? "I look at this and see a glass half full," said Sattiewhite, who added that credit union can do more, better in hiring minority professionals, promoting them, and - this is key - recruiting minority board members.

Sattiewhite also offers a shout out to Jim Blaine, a past podcast guest for his support of AACUC.

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

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Literally a couple days before I recorded this podcast with Siva Narendra, CEO and founder of Tyfone and now Payfinia, a story moved over the wire with this headline: Payfinia Launches CUSO with Star One Credit Union.

The story added that Star One - a Silicon Valley behemoth - had invested $4.5 million in the CUSO. That money, by the way, moved in a series of $500,000 instant payments into Payfinia’s coffers.

At its end Payfinia has built in layers of controls to guard against fraud but to allow real time transfers.

That Star One commitment tells you Payfinia is for real, and Narendra is on the show to tell about Payfinia, which he says is the opportunity for community financial institutions - that means credit unions too - to own an instant payments system that has shown its losses to fraud are dramatically lower than with instant ACH and at the same time overhead costs are dramatically lower.

Instant payments are real and increasing numbers of consumers and businesses - perhaps small businesses especially - want instant payments. The time is now.

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

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AI - it’s the word on every lip in credit union land as most institutions scramble to find ways to usefully harness AI.

And then there is Glia, the company known for contact center tools that are at work in many credit unions and now Glia has debuted a suite of AI powered contact management tools that are ready to use now.

If you’ve been wondering when AI would get real for credit unions, know it already is real at many Glia customers.

Glia unveiled its AI collection at its Interact 2024 user conference in October and on the show today is Jake Tyler, founder of Finn AI which Glia bought a few years ago and Tyler joined Glia in that transaction.

Glia’s approach to AI is shaped by the company’s focus on contact centers in FIs. In the show Tyler explains how that focus impacts Glia’s AI development and in that vein he stressed that Glia is committed to delivering “responsible AI.”

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