As interest in U.S. faster payments systems continues to grow, so too do the questions and concerns many companies have regarding not just its impact…
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Spire CU Taps 31 Year Industry Veteran Alex Mendes as CFO/CTO
by Mary Dayton on January 20, 2020Alex Mendes recently joined SPIRE Credit Union, Falcon Heights, MN, as its new Senior Vice President, Chief Financial and Technology Officer (CFO). He comes with…
What are credit unions known for? This is a great question to ask yourself and others whether you are a credit union leader, an employee,…
According to Accenture, we are entering the Experience Era, punctuated by the delivery of more personalized and adaptive customer experiences powered by human-machine collaboration. This…
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PEFCU Strengthens Member Relationships through Marketing
by Mary Dayton on January 14, 2020Many from the Southeast have heard of the largest employee-owned grocery chain in the country; after all, it is one of the most sought-after employers…
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Philadelphia Federal Credit Union Helps Community Members Make a “Savings Wish”
by Erin Ellis on January 9, 2020Simply put, PFCU’s primary focus is on our members, because we believe there’s no better investment than community. We have branches throughout Philadelphia and Columbia…
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Maturation in Member Experience: Gauging Whether You Meet Your Members’ Expectations in Today’s Age of Experience
by Sarah D. Lietz on January 8, 2020Financial institutions used to compete on product. Today we compete on customer experience, but what began as a digital arms race to deploy seamless online…
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DENISE MCGLONE JOINS TEACHERS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION AS CFO
by Mary Dayton on January 6, 2020Teachers Federal Credit Union (TFCU), with $7.5 billion in assets and more than 335,000 members, announced today that Denise McGlone joins the executive team as its…
Elevations Credit Union joined elite companies across the globe after being ranked in Training magazine’s Training Top 125 in November. The Training Top 125 recognizes…
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3 Ways That Financial Institutions Can Build Trust Using Marketing Automation
by Katie Jameson on December 27, 2019As the digital age continues apace, the need for brands to develop strong connections with consumers is more important than ever. One of the most…
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Liquidity Forecasting: A Must for 2020 Planning
by Michael Oravetz and Cullen Coxe on December 27, 2019No matter the movement in rate forecasts and growth expectations, liquidity remains critical for healthy institutions. In order to ensure that adequate liquidity sources are…
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Merging the Digital Experience with Human Interaction
by Shondell Varcianna on December 22, 2019There have been many improvements over the past few years in the customer service sector. Yet, while some of those positive changes are because of…
If you have ever received sales training you are probably very familiar with the saying, “Features Tell – Benefits Sell”. In fact, it’s likely the…
PSCU, the nation’s premier payments CUSO, today announced the deployment of desktop automation through its partnership with Jacada, a leading worldwide provider of customer service robotic process automation (RPA).…
As many credit union executives know, communication is a crucial aspect of building long-standing relationships with members. Credit unions need to use each channel and…
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Fintech: Creating Opportunities for Mobile Workers Across the Globe and Social Responsibility for Tech Providers
by Audrey Hall on December 11, 2019The convenience brought by the advances in fintech has been a welcome change for consumers. From global remittance to mobile apps that allow us to…
Loan participation is not a new concept, but the way credit unions approach it is in need of an update. Currently loan participation is a…
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What Credit Unions Must Know About Google’s New Checking Account
by Shondell Varcianna on December 2, 2019Some unexpected and somewhat unwelcome news came to light recently that has caused ripples among credit unions. Traditional financial institutions are currently forging alliances with…
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Fintech/Credit Union Partnerships Offer Potential for Innovation
by Lin Grinsing Pophal on November 30, 2019VyStar Credit Union has recently invested $1.25 million in PayverisCU, a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) with a focus on financial wellness and innovative money…
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CU Members Mortgage Launches New Mortgage Intelligence Tool on cumembers.com
by Steve Hewins on November 27, 2019CU Members Mortgage, a division of Colonial Savings, F.A., launched a new mortgage intelligence tool on its website to include innovative mortgage analytics and enhanced…
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Facing the Cybersecurity Threat in an Increasingly Connected World
by Hervé Tardy on November 25, 2019As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to find its way into the IT framework of credit unions, businesses are enjoying a broad range of…
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Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union Becomes Second Credit Union to Reach $5 Million Mark with HomeAdvantage Cash Rewards Program
by Tina Powers on November 22, 2019Washington, D.C.-based Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union (BFSFCU) has reached the threshold of returning more than $5 million in cash back to members buying and…
As a result of daily interactions with experience leaders like Amazon, Spotify and Google, today’s credit union members are conditioned to anticipate delightful, technological interactions…
PSCU, the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO), today announced a multi-year investment of $100 million to further advance its industry-leading solutions to benefit the…
Boston Based CU Adds Biotech Council and its’ 1,200 Firms to Fields of Membership and Utilizes Innovative Approach with its many SEGs Select Employee Group…
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Moving to external solutions: How outsourcing can help enhance the member experience
by Gary Lee on November 11, 2019Increasingly sophisticated and pervasive cyber threats, the entrance of new competitors and complex regulatory and compliance requirements have all significantly impacted the credit union landscape…
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Critical Economic Factors for Financial Institutions in 2020
by Jason Haley on November 8, 2019ALM First works with hundreds of financial institutions, sharing the team’s insights on the latest market trends and economic data. This article includes key takeaways…
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2020 Strategy: Increase Value of Member Relationships to Improve Portfolio Margins
by Ken Levey on November 6, 2019Today’s tight margin environment makes it difficult for financial institutions to maintain profits. Those that don’t understand the sources of that profitability will continue to…
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New Technology Approaches Empower Credit Unions to Safeguard Member Experience, Security and Fraud Prevention
by Dan Spohrer on November 5, 2019Customer experience and security – these are top objectives for credit unions today, and the need for sound strategies to support these priorities that can…
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SAFE CU CEO Dave Roughton awarded with California CUL Advocate of the Year Award
by Chris Robinson on November 4, 2019SAFE Credit Union President and CEO Dave Roughton received the California Advocate of the Year Award for 2019 from the California and Nevada Credit Union…
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PSCU Simplifies Disputes Management Services with Lean Industries
by Mary Dayton on November 4, 2019Solutions enable company to standardize processes and enhance member experience for Owner credit unions PSCU, the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO), today…
What is digital marketing? Digital marketing is an overarching term for all things related to online marketing, including everything from SEO to social media…
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Zeal Credit Union announces new CEO transition to position organization for next phase of growth.
by Mary Dayton on October 24, 2019Julie Kreinbring has been chosen to succeed Anthony Carnarvon as President/CEO, bringing design thinking, innovation and significant executive and leadership experience to the role. Zeal Credit…
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Payrailz Appoints CU Veteran Gereen Langmeyer as VP of Payment Products
by Mary Dayton on October 24, 2019Payrailz™, a digital payments company offering smarter more engaging payment experiences to banks and credit unions announced it has hired financial services industry veteran Gereen…
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What Is Voice-First Banking and Why Credit Unions Must Offer It By 2020
by Jaideep Sharma on October 23, 2019What Exactly Is Voice Banking? Banking through voice recognition is no longer a topic that people can easily ignore. That’s because it’s on the rise…
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CU Industry Veteran James Gowan Joins ACT Advisors Investment Firm
by Mary Dayton on October 22, 2019ACT Advisors, a firm specializing in financial planning and investment management for credit union executives, welcomes James Gowan as senior credit union executive consultant who…
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Do You Have an Ailing Sales Culture? Fix It with a Relationship Selling Culture
by Barbara Sanfilippo on October 20, 2019Many Bank and Credit Union Sales Cultures Could Use a Makeover Have you noticed customers and members aren’t responding like they used to and more…
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3 Sales Coaching Scenarios You’ve Likely Seen and Must Change
by Nick Brown on October 19, 2019Over the last few years, I have had the great pleasure of working with many amazing credit unions. More importantly, I have been able to…
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Tech CU Enters into New Broker-Dealer Relationship with LPL Financial; Changes Name of its Wealth Management Group to Tech Financial Management
by Linden Kohtz on October 16, 2019Move to LPL Financial Will Enable Tech CU to Scale its Investment Services Platform Technology Credit Union (Tech CU) recently entered into a new broker-dealer relationship…
The U.S. is experiencing a turning point in the adoption of contactless payment methods. More and more merchants are beginning to embrace contactless and turn…
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Maintain Your Profitability with MSR Hedging
by Rachel Acers and Robert Perry on October 10, 2019Over the course of 2019, the yield curve has significantly decreased and flattened causing primary mortgage rates to fall. This has caused an increase in…
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Key Considerations for Strategic Growth in 2020 and Beyond
by David Ritter on October 9, 2019After years of assisting credit unions and banks navigate the merger & acquisition process, I’ve learned many valuable lessons. One of the most important is…
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Educating Educators is as Important as Educating Students
by Jennifer Olvera on October 7, 2019Teaching is one of the oldest professions. Through the years, we have learned teaching methods from people of the past, such as Socrates and Marie…
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Cyber Resiliency – Closing the Gaps in Vendor-Bank Security
by Terry Ammons and Mike Morris on October 4, 2019As we approach the next decade, data integrity and cyber security have risen to the top of financial institutions’ list of mission-critical initiatives. With instances…
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Open Banking is Not Yet in the United States. But Banks and Credit Unions Better Start Planning for it Now
by Michael Lynch on October 3, 2019Open banking is currently mandated in the EU, via a European directive. The regulation behind open banking is the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2). Open…
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Cummins Allison Announces ATMs are Windows 10 Certified with FIS Global/FIS CO-OP Financial Services and Worldpay
by Frank Janezic on October 2, 2019October 2, 2019, Mt. Prospect, IL – Cummins Allison, the leading innovator and provider of coin, currency and check processing technology as well as ATMs, today…
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LEADERSHIP: TFCU CEO Helped Build the 200th Home for Habitat for Humanity on Long Island, NY
by Tim O'Hara on September 27, 2019Brad Calhoun, President/CEO of Teachers Federal Credit Union (TFCU) in Happauge, NY, one of the country’s largest credit unions, joined other CEOs and top executives…
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Best Practices for Workforce Management in the Contact Center
by Randy Kahlich and Jason Scott on September 24, 2019What is the No. 1 goal for any contact center manager in any industry? To provide world-class service. This is an invariable response that beckons…
Is small business risky business? Without comprehensive credit data to demonstrate whether small and medium businesses (SMBs) are reliable, some companies hesitate to engage their…
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Sharonview Federal Credit Union Announces Chief Financial Officer
by Tim O'Hara on September 10, 2019Sharonview Federal Credit Union, one of the nation’s top 200 credit unions, is pleased to announce its new Chief Financial Officer – Jim Edwards, who…
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Three Ways Credit Unions Can Fortify Their Cybersecurity Defense Plan
by Alex Hernandez on September 6, 2019The average cost of a data breach in the United States increased from $7.91 million in 2018 to $8.19 million in 2019, according to this…
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Cooperative Governance: Creating Meaningful and Constructive Comments
by Jerry P. Nelson on August 21, 2019In a previous article, my business partner, John Gregoire, wrote about BARS…. not the bars where you can get a drink, nor the bars that…
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MEMBERS Development Company Hosts FinTech Expo, Propelling Network of 60+ Credit Unions into the Fintech Space; Unveils New CUSO
by Cheryl Johnson on August 20, 2019Fresh off the success of its highest attended owner meeting since inception, MEMBERS Development Company (MDC) hosted a dynamic and successful FinTech Expo on August…
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Free, Rewards-Based Checking Accounts Level the Playing Field for Local Credit Unions Competing with Megabanks
by Greg Wempe on August 20, 2019According to a recent Kasasa/Harris Poll study1, more than half of Americans (55%) would be most likely to consider opening a new checking account at…
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Amplify Credit Union CEO Paul Trylko to retire; Board of Directors names EVP Kendall Garrison successor
by Hunter Dodson on August 19, 2019AUSTIN, Texas – August 13, 2019 – As Amplify Credit Union enters its 53rd year in 2020, it will do so with a new Chief Executive…
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Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) – The Key for Driving Digital Transformation Across Credit Unions (Part 1)
by Alan Conboy on August 2, 2019Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) is a software-defined solution that is gaining rapid interest across the financial services industry due to its ability to enable seamless connection…
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How a Midsize Credit Union Delivered the Digital Benefits of Apple Watch
by Brad Clutter on August 1, 2019When you begin life as the credit union for IBM employees, you quickly learn that your members are always going to be early adopters. This…
In our experience nearly all CEO evaluation surveys fall short of their intended objective. Board members want to fulfill their obligation to provide candid and…
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CU Solutions Group calls the T-Mobile and Sprint merger a membership enhancement opportunity for credit unions
by Daniel Curren on July 29, 2019Livonia, Mich. – July 29, 2019 – Following the announcement from T-Mobile and Sprint confirming approval from the Department of Justice of the merger between these…
Nation’s Largest Ethnic Credit Union Surpasses Asset Milestone NEW YORK, NY (July 2, 2019) – It took the Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union 28…
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‘Go Time’ Is ‘Good Time’ with Solid Support During New Product Launch
by Terry Young on July 1, 2019Launching a new credit union service to thousands of members can be a nerve-wracking experience. But the “unmatched” support provided by Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit…
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The Challenges and Opportunities of Peer-to-peer Lending
by Lin Grensing-Pophal on June 27, 2019As peer-to-peer lending grows in popularity and consumers increasingly have access to lenders outside of their local communities, what can community banks do to strengthen…
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Within the Financial Services Industry, even high wage-earners are often financially fragile
by Michael Miller on June 25, 2019This is worrying in many respects, but particularly so in the context of disability. When a household’s breadwinner can’t earn a paycheck, it may be…
The Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) from 2017 revealed that about half of U.S. adults with bank accounts had used…
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Three Ways Finance Executives Can Drive Better Decision-making for Their Institutions
by Kermit Randa and Ken Levey on June 20, 2019Institutions insured by the NCUSIF reported rising net income year-over-year, yet it would behoove credit unions to remain cautious. Abundant risks, such as exposure to…
San Francisco FCU Looks to Leverage New Tech Provider as the ‘Single Source of Truth, Data, and Processing’ for All Member Needs
by Michael Lawson on January 23, 2020Driven by its mission, San Francisco Federal Credit Union ($1.1B assets; 47,000 members; San Francisco, CA) is steadfast in providing financial security to its members…
Dearholt Named Nusenda CU’s Executive Vice President of Operations
by Mary Dayton on January 13, 2020Nusenda Credit Union President/CEO Joe Christian has named Michelle Dearholt as the credit union’s new executive vice president of operations, effective Oct. 22, 2019. “As…