The CU2.0 Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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If I say a temp worker, probably you think of a fill in receptionist and that’s true as far as it goes.  But talk with O2 Consulting Group and it’s a plunge into a whole new world - especially impacting smaller credit unions, ones under perhaps $500 million in assets.  Where exactly does that CU find the talent to, say, implement an AI program? Just maybe a fractional e CTO - shared by two or more CUs - or a temporary exec is exactly the cure.

Enter Bonnie Ortiz,  CEO of O2 and longtime COO at the Partnership Credit Union, She’s worked inside at credit unions  - she knows the terrain - but now she also has assembled a team of seasoned credit union talents who are available for fractional and temporary roles at credit unions, to help solve anything from tech issues to compliance matters.

It’s a fact: credit union operations have become increasingly complex. The day of the shoebox credit union is long gone.  Real talent is needed but that talent may be too  costly for a smaller CU.  The O2 solution is  a potential lifesaver.

Also on the show is David Martinez, CIO at $500 million  Arlington Federal Credit Union, a credit union that  has used O2 talent many times.  Martinez is a happy customer.

He’s also a past guest on this show. There a link in the show notes and the topic is about how mid sized CUs can survive, indeed thrive.

Keep listening to this episode and Ortiz offers keen insights into the nuts and bolts of a credit union merger. She’s looking at the issue with a COO’s eyes: how exactly will this merger work? The concerns she raises are keen.  .  Any CU considering a merger - and who isn’t? - needs to give this a close attention.

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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Here’s the bad news: AI today is more of a promise than a working reality at most credit unions, says Al;ex JImenzez, a consultant with Backbase, which focus on helping FIs achieve more and better consumer engagement.

But then Jimenez has plenty of very good news for credit unions - and, he insists, their size gives them exceptional advantages when competing with far less nimble mega banks. Do not think smallness is a liability. It just may be a winning advantage.

Along the way Jimenez talks about genuine use cases where AI is in fact bringing real results to credit unions.  

And he insists that the AI tool kit in credit unions is going to get much bigger and better, sooner rather than later.  It’s a space to keep watching because very real results are coming.

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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Live from Munich Germany on today’s podcast is Dr. Marlene Wolfgruber, AI Strategy Lead at global automation company ABBYY and, between her advanced education at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, a school Google’s AI tool Gemini says is one of Germany’s best and a leading university in global rankings., and her work for  ABBY, a global technology company specializing in intelligent document processing (IDP), process mining, and linguistic software., she brings  two decades of AI knowledge to the show.

She brings a captivating message to the show: . What’s especially caught our eye is this: “Financial institutions will leverage AI-powered hyper-personalization to deliver finely tuned financial products and advisory services, dynamically adjusting to individual customer needs, preferences, and financial behaviors in real time. “

As I read that it is saying that while today meaningful personal banking services are reserved for the highest economic strata, AI will usher in a new day with all of us will be able to get genuinely personalized advice and suggestions that will come not via a human but a machine.

And the  AI advice just may be very, very good.

Along the way Wolfgruber tells how close we are to that day of real personalization and what has to happen to get there.

She also offers fascinating insights into the journey that has brought AI to where it is today - and also why suddenly ;y large language models such as ChatGPT are on every lip, certainly every lip in credit union c-suites. 

Oh, and while Dr. Wolfgruber has the credentials that certify her as a propellerhead, she talks in a way  that I can understand and that means you can too.

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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Could this really be the end?

For going on 20 years I have heard screams - usually emanating from one trade group - that the credit union tax exemption was in peril.  I thought that was a terrific membership renewal hook but didn’t seen any likelihood of passage.

This year is different. This year the threat is real.  On the show is Jason Stverak,, chief advocacy officer at DCUC, the Defense Credit Union Council, whose membership includes the nation’s biggest credit unions but also smaller ones too.  All primarily serve military, active duty and retirees.

DCUC has not been the association with a long history of yelling about tax exemption.

But Stverak says that indeed the threat is real.

He also explains what the impacts on DCUC credit unions would be were the tax exemption to go away. And the impacts would be sizable and harmful, both to credit union members and the communities in which DCUC members operate.

In a recent show, onetime Bethpage CEO Kirk Kodeeski warned that if credit unions lost the ax exemption their business model would be shattered.

On this show we hear exactly what that would mean for defense related credit unions.

It’s ugly.

By the way, how much money do you think would be saved were the tax exemption to go away?

Three billion dollars.

That is chump change in today’s Washington DC.

Hear how DCUC is fighting back in this show.

By the way, four years ago DCUC CEO Tony Hernandez (US Air Force retired) was on the show. Hear his episode here.  

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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Here’s the question: Is the First Tech - DCU merger of behemoths a sign of mergers to come or it is an outlier, a one-off deal that arose because of unique circumstances and histories??

Kirk Kordeleski, onetime CEO at Bethpage, itself a member of the behemoth club, and now a SERP expert  with PARC Street Partners, and he comes with strong opinions abut credit union mergers.

But there’s more on the  show including Kordeleski’s musing about the longevity of the credit union tax exemption - and how important it is to the credit union business model.

Kordeleski also ponders the probable future of NCUA in an era of slashing federal spending and federal employee body counts.

Just about all the credit union hot buttons get  pressed in this show..

And Kordeleski also addresses this question: if you are the CEO of a $10 billion credit union that just now merges with a $5 billion credit union should you ping the board the next day and ask for a 50% pay hike.

Place your bets now:

Is this RIP for NCUA?

Is it say goodnight to the tax exemption?

Are mergers the best way for a credit union to grow?

Or is interna; growth the shrewder option?

And should that CEO ask for the 50% pay boost?

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [email protected]
 
 

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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Here’s the money question  for you to ponder: : should you close that branch on  Third Street and open a new branch in a neighboring town? Keep in mind that the ballpark cost of opening a new branch is $2.5 million. As for costs in a branch closure there always are some and there also may be remember losses.  How to do the math?

Meet Steven Reider, president of Bancography - that’s the company that won best in show at Finovate fall 2024 for its Bancography Plan software tool that helps a credit union alanalyze branch closings and openings and also possible mergers.

Decisions that had been made based upon gut instinct now can be supported with analytical data.

How hard is Bancography Plan to use? It’s so easy, said Reider, even a CEO can use it.

As I tell Reider in the early moments of the show I’d never heard of such a tool before combing upon a Bancography press release.  But I knew when I read it I had to get this guy on the show.

Oh…the costs are surprisingly affordable.

Listen up. 

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [email protected]
 
 

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 your must listen podcastg before GAC.

Because in this show you will be hearing explicit advice about your CAC 2025 to do.

Here's what is at stake: the credit union tax exmption on the future of NCUA.

Will credit unions lose their federal tax exemption?  Will NCUA be shuffled into a couple desks in the basement of the Treasury Department?

Issues of monumental importance to the credit union  movement are actively under discussion in Washington DC and longtime credit union lobbyist John McKechnie is on the showto report on the latest rumblings on Capitol Hill.

The big takeaway from this show: these issues very much are on the table in today's  Washington DC

On the date of this recording  - February 18 - McKechnie expressed optimism about credit unions retaining their tax exemption.

But he also stressed that what will be needed to win this fight is a concerted action by many, many credit union people to get the message across that to keep doing the valuable work credit unions do they need to keep that tax free status.

That means put on your shoes and get busy walking the Hill.  

And be ready to walk it not just during GAC but in the weeks and months afterwards because, stresses McKechnie, relationships with members and staffers on the Hill are forged via repeat contacts.

Listen up

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If I told you I have a podcast where a credit union executive tells you about high rates on CDs, free checking, and super cheap new car loans, how quickly would you turn the dial and give a listen to Joe Rogan?

Right, you know the answer.

So I will tell you what I really have is a fascinating podcast with Josh Rodriguez at West Community Credit Union in Missouri, an institution approaching a half billion in assets.

That’s because Rodriguez is doing things I’ve never heard about at credit unions.

But keep in mind on LinkedIn he identifies himself as Innovator/CU Professional/Storyteller.

I met Rodriguez at the CU 2.0 Live event in Arizona in June and when he told me he is a storyteller I knew I had to get him on this show.  I had never before encountered a credit union executive who said he/she is a storyteller.

And you know…stories are the most powerful form of communication.

In this show, Rodriguez talks about why stories are so potent, he also talks about a creative content package he has developed to help West Community’s employees better know the execs in the c-suite…and maybe also do some thinking about their own career development.

And then he drops the bomb that West Community has planned a series of podcasts where members will tell their stories about their relationship with the credit union.  You have to hear how Rodriguez describes this project - and hear, too, the passionate excitement in his voice as he opens his playbook.

Here's the website for these shows http://bankingonyoupodcast.com/

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [email protected]
 
 

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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Keith Leggett is a name that used to provoke cursing by usually mild mannered credit union executives - and so here he is again in a CU 2.0 Golden Oldies podcast.

Leggett has retired from the American Bankers Association, where he was chief economist, and he also has put -30- on his Credit Union Watch blog but this show from the archives is well worth a listen in 2025 because it focuses on credit union - bank mergers and also on credit union tax exemption.  Two issues that are even bigger headlines now.

In the show we discuss Maine Harvest, an innovative credit union idea that alas merged with Five County Credit Union in 2022.

Listen up.

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This is the weather report from GAC, last week’s credit union confab in Washington DC.  On the show to report on key developments is Sarah Snell Cooke, former editor in chief and publisher of Credit Union Times and now a consultant to credit unions' business partners.

The big question at GAC was: is this really the end of the credit union federal tax exemption?

Also on the agenda was what’s the impact of staff reduction - a la DOGE - on NCUA?  Can the regulator adequately perform with significantly reduced staff?

Which leads to the big question: will NCUA be merged into another agency?

As for that last point: Cooke’s firmly held opinion is that if NCUA is merged into another agency this will spell the end of credit unions as we know them.  That’s a gloomy prognosis but Cooke explains on the show why she believes it.

On the show too she predicts that that demolition of NCUA won’t happen.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email [email protected]
 
 

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