The CU2.0 Podcast

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 364 Wright-Patt CU and Marijuana Related Businesses, Up in Smoke 2025

Send us a textYou 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 may not be legal in federal law - it is legal in 39 states for medical use and 24 states for personal use - but there is no federal law prohibiting a bank or credit union from providing financial services to a marijuana business.That marijuana business too must operate in full compliance with the laws in its states.How does a credit union successfully navigate this landscape? Also on the show is Megan Bennett, manager MRB compliance at Wright-Patt Credit Union in Ohio.  the 38th biggest credit union in the country with assets around $9 billion. MRB of course is Marijuana Related Businesses.Bennett explains, in detail, how Wright-Patt decided to serve marijuana businesses, how it’s working for the institution, and why this is a win-win-win for the state of Ohio, the marijuana businesses and the credit union.How many credit unions serve marijuana businesses in the US? Under 200, probably nearer 150.  But Wright-Patt just may illustrate how it can be done, legally and well.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.comAnd 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 363 Clearview FCU's Bill Snider on Strategy and Innovation

Send us a textWhat 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.Snider is here to show that in fact a credit union indeed can have a genuine strategy and be innovative and, importantly, these abilities are essentials for Clearview which - by virtue of its location - has to compete with PNC, a Pittsburgh local bank that also has assets of about $555 billion and is in fact the seventh largest bank in the US. But Pittsburgh is its home and definitely plays on the local angle.The show is wide ranging - we talk about AI, mobile apps, and also community service and feeding the hungry.But all of that is in the innovative stew that a chief strategy officer has to deal with today.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.comAnd 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 362 Shared Services Are The Credit Union Lifeline

Send us a textCould 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 spread this word Anand has brought in Gene Foley, former CEO of Harvard University Employees Credit Union, Kirk Kordeleski, former CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union, and Erin Coleman, SVP of Industry Impact at Callahan & Associates.  They are the new MSS Advisory Board  with the mission of providing strategic guidance,Today Foley joins Anand on the show and they are here to explain how shared services can in fact enable credit union independence. That may sound per se self contradictory but it isn’t and on the show you’ll hear how shared services just may be the lifeline a lot of credit unions are looking to grasp.For more on shared services and credit union independence there’s another show in the library with Anand.  To hear the show with Jim Blaine that Foley discusses, click here.  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.comAnd 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 Greatest Hits #28 Tungsten's Phil Davis on Smart Credit Union Renaming

Send us a textWhat’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.

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 361 Takara on How to Solve the Mortgage Lock In Effect and Originate More Mortgages

Send us a textAbout 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 to the U.S. market.This gives credit unions a way to offer principal discounts that unlock member mobility while creating new revenue opportunities and balance sheet flexibility.This is not hocus pocus.  But I’ll let Arad explain it in the show.It’s for you if you want to light a fire under your mortgage originations.It also may be for you if you currently have a 30 year fixed rate mortgage with a very low interest rate and that’s stopping you from moving.Understand this: the 30 year fixed rate mortgage is a US product. It just isn’t common around the globe. But yet mortgages and home purchases flourish globally.  Just maybe it’s time for a change.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