By Robert McGarvey

Ask Chip Rogers, CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, when business travel will rebound and what he tells reporters is that a year from now it will be at 70% of normal, assuming a best case scenario.

He does not expect large meetings, conferences, conventions to rebound to more than 50% before early next year.

Color me skeptical, on both scores.

Color me deeply skeptical that it makes any sense whatsoever to assume a best case scenario when the White House’s handling of the corona virus has been about as bad as any dystopian novelist could have imagined on an especially dour day. There is no reason to expect it to improve, if only because the White House is heavily invested in downplaying the crisis.  That’s no way to succeed with a health emergency and it won’t work this time.

When I talk with business travel experts – including industry senior executives – they always tell me that business travel will return, including large meetings, when a vaccine is available and has been widely distributed. Yes, there is good news out of Oxford University in this regard.  But don’t be too hasty to hold celebrations.  Prof. Sarah Gilbert, from the University of Oxford, told the BBC: “There is still much work to be done before we can confirm if our vaccine will help manage the Covid-19 pandemic, but these early results hold promise.”

What early Oxford research is showing is that their vaccine is safe enough to administer to people. So far, so good.

What the research has not yet shown is if the vaccine can prevent people from getting sick with the virus or spreading it.

Assuming all goes well, even the Professor Panglosses among us acknowledge it will be early 2021 at the very soonest before there is wide availability of the vaccine. So don’t expect a rush to resume business travel and definitely not large meetings and conferences. According to trade publisher Northstar, “Just four weeks ago, 40 percent of meeting planners expected to hold rescheduled events during this calendar year, according to the Pulse Survey’s June 17 findings. With increasing uncertainty and rapidly rising COVID-19 cases in the U.S., that number has declined to 25 percent, per the latest results. More than half (56 percent) are now eyeing the first half of 2021 as the earliest time frame for rescheduled meetings, while 17 percent are pushing dates into the latter half of 2021 or beyond.”

The logistics of shoving out hundreds of millions of doses of a new vaccine just in the US – billions worldwide – are daunting. Smart money is betting that Q3 2021 is when vaccines will be plentiful. Sooner may happen but it just is not a realistic prediction.

The big, ugly fly in this ointment is that unknown but probably large numbers of us will refuse to get vaccinated.  The anti-vaxxer movement has not taken a holiday in the age of corona virus.  A recent poll found that 70% of us said sure, they’d get vaccinated.  15% said definitely not. Another 12% said probably not. And 2% had no opinion.

An AP poll produced an even more disconcerting number: just 1 in 2 of us said sign me up for a vaccine. The AP added: “The new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 31% simply weren’t sure if they’d get vaccinated. Another 1 in 5 said they’d refuse.”

Either way, there are a lot of hardcore anti-vaxxers: 1 in every 4 or 5 of us. That means one in every four or five people on the plane you climb aboard may have abstained, one in four or five around the convention lunch table may have said no thanks, one in four or five at the happy hour may be ready to swill free wine but unwilling to get vaccinated.

And you will have no way of knowing because I’d say it is highly unlikely that we will see airlines and meeting organizers and conference hosts requiring a vaccination certificate before granting entry.

In a country that cannot mandate wearing face masks in indoor public setting such as stores there is no reason to expect a federal mandate that thou shall get vaccinated unless there is a compelling and provable health reason not to. There will be no mandate.

Which means 20 to 25% of us just won’t bother with the vaccine, which will keep the disease flourishing for some time and, again, nobody presently knows what immunity the vaccine will in fact deliver just as nobody knows what immunity having had the disease and survived is gained.  

One third of the world’s population fell ill in the 1918-19 flu pandemic, about 500 million people. Maybe 50 million died.

We have many millions of sicknesses ahead of us, many tens of thousands of additional deaths in the US alone.

Whatever slim optimism I once had that business travel would rebound soon is on hold.  Ask me in Q3 2021 if you should start thinking about business travel in general and large meetings in particular. Until then, put the carryon bag in storage, stop checking loyalty status in travel programs, and learn to love Zoom because it is how we will be getting around for many more months to come.

by Robert McGarvey

“The credit union industry needs to reflect the community,” said Pablo DeFilippi, a senior vice president at Inclusiv, the association for community development credit unions, a past CEO of the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union in New York, and a leading voice in the push for more Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the credit union universe.

He points out that, as nation, we are becoming ever more diverse.  Indeed, by 2045, the US will become “minority white,” according to demographers. 

The time for change is here and, said DeFilippi, he hopes we are moving beyond statements alone – well meaning as they may be – and into action.

He reminds us that the nation’s first credit union, St. Mary’s Bank, was founded in 1908 by French Canadian immigrants in Manchester, New Hampshire, who felt excluded by mainstream financial institutions.

DeFilippi’s point: this kind of outreach is in the credit union DNA, it is a mission credit unions are well positioned to fulfill.

DeFilippi worries that the nation’s minority depository institutions will be under particular strains as the nation’s deep recession amounts to an existential threat.

But he also is pleased to be able to report that Inclusiv members issued perhaps $1 billion in PPP loans (and note this interview was recorded just before the PPP application deadline was extended from June 30 to August 8th).

Listen to why he is optimistic that we are indeed on the edge of real changes.

It’s an upbeat podcast.

Hear the DeFilippi podcast here.

There are many related podcasts in this series, including #100 with Victor Miguel Corro of Coopera, another CU DEI Collective member, 101 with Renee Sattiewhite of the African American Credit Union Coalition, and also Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, also a CU DEI Collective member. And a podcast with Cliff Rosenthal, a pioneer in the CDFI world.  

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

by Robert McGarvey

A question is getting asked these days that you probably never thought would be on the minds of credit union executives: should we get involved in cannabis banking?

Even 10 months ago it was a topic broached only by the boldest financial institutions. Why? Because one recent US Attorney General had been adamant that marijuana is against federal law, period. And, although his successors have been vaguer about marijuana, the volatile character of the current White House gave pause to many in financial services.

In a worst-case scenario, the whole of an institution’s assets possibly could be tied up over a single, small cannabis business, and who needs that?

Not too many, in fact. For the quarter ending in March 2020, just 710 banks and credit unions reported serving marijuana businesses, down from 739 for the quarter ended in December 2019.

Continued in the CU2.0 blog

By Robert McGarvey

New research from MIT statistics professor Arnold Barnett makes a powerful argument that flying with an empty middle seat just about halves the risk of contracting Covid-19 inflight.

Frequent flyers on American and United, neither of which commits to keeping middle seats empty, might want to send an FYI link to the study to the CEOs of those airlines.

Or maybe just fly Delta or Southwest, both of which are keeping middle seats empty, which is what my plan is.  Ditto JetBlue. Yes, I have historically given most of my traffic to United (nee Continental) and next most to American but no more. Fly carriers that understand your health is a priority.

As for why American and United give us the proverbial finger, I have no idea. They are not exactly flying at full capacity these days. Delta, for instance, said in a July earnings call that “For the September quarter, we expect our seats available for sale, which accounts for 60% load factor cap, will be 20% to 25% of last year’s level, up from 10% in the June quarter.”

Other carriers are recording similarly anemic numbers.

Which makes it all the more puzzling that American, United, et. al. are saying they won’t commit to blocking middle seats even though they have to know that it is health concerns (fears) that are keeping us out of the Unhealthy Skies.

And an empty middle seat dramatically ups our chances of staying healthy on a flight, per Barnett.

Here are Professor Barnett’s findings:”Recent research results and data generate the approximation that, when all coach seats are full on a US jet aircraft, the risk of contracting Covid-19 from a nearby passenger is about 1 in 4,300 as of early July 2020. Under the ‘middle seat empty’ policy, that risk falls to about 1 in 7,700.”

Barnett also tells us how likely we are to die from Covid-19 if we fly: “These estimates imply Covid-19 mortality risks to uninfected air travelers are considerably higher than those associated with plane crashes but probably less than one in 500,000.”

The odds of dying in a plane crash are 1 in 34 million, said Barnett.

Right now, the only effective tools we have in fighting Covid-19 are social distancing and masks or shields.  That’s why the empty middle seat matters.

When a person is crammed in the middle seat next to you (or you are the one crammed into the middle seat). You are literally, not figuratively, cheek by jowl and elbow to elbow with the next passenger.  Their breath will envelop you and yours will envelop them.

The risks are obvious.

Understand, by the way, that Barnett’s math presupposes that all passengers wear face masks.  He explains why this matters: “a meta-analysis in The Lancet estimated that mask wearing cuts transmission risk given contagiousness from 17.4% to 3.1%, a reduction of 82%.”  Not everybody wears a mask, of course, so remember that stat to throw out at any self-focused bozos on planes who want to go maskless.

A foundation for Barnett’s calculation is this: “transmission risk given contagion is about 13% assuming direct physical contact and drops by ½ for each meter further apart.”

Distance apart matters on a plane. Social distancing, say it loud, say it proud.

By the way, Barnett also notes there is a way for carriers to drive risk to zero even in coach: “If there were (say) a layer of plexiglass between the two [passengers], then transmission risk would essentially drop to zero.”

That’s right: nil.

While you are emailing carrier CEOs you might ask what their plans are for installing plexiglas shields.   Sure, there has been talk in the frequent flyer universe of plexiglas in coach but I am unaware of any serious discussion at the carrier level.  Have they tossed around the idea in strategy sessions, sure.  But with as much seriousness as college kids in a dorm smoking pot in 1970 seriously contemplated trying to occupy the White House. Talk is cheap. In dorms and corporate HQs.

Barnett admits to a glitch in his calculations: There’s no easy way to factor in flight duration as a magnifier of risk.  The professor noted: “One might expect that the risk of infection would vary with the duration of the Flight, perhaps in proportion to the time spent with a contagious person. Unfortunately, it is unclear how to incorporate flight time into the risk analysis.”

He’s right though: intuitively, it seems probable that duration matters and longer flights heighten risks of infection.  But we just don’t know how to do the math to quantify that.

Back up a few steps, however, you may be thinking: aren’t the odds of 1 in 7700 pretty low – and therefore why am I afraid of flying?  You bet it’s low.

But you don’t want to get Covid-19.  About 580,000 people worldwide are estimated to have died from it.  This is a disease that will go down in history with the Spanish flu of 1918 (not 1917, by the way).  It’s big, it’s bad.

I’ve had it, I survived, but I know you don’t want to risk it.

The difference between 1 in 4300 and 1 in 7700 is enormous.

Don’t fly American or United. Play the odds. That’s the smarter, safer bet.

The subtitle for this podcast should be All You Wanted to Know About Mortgage Servicing But Were Afraid to Ask.

Our guest is Andrew Wang, CEO of Peach Street, a new approach to mortgage servicing that just may be exactly what many credit unions want.

Most mortgages are passed off to third party servicers for two reasons. The servicers know the government regs and how to comply and they also are skilled at cutting costs.

Most see mortgage servicing as commoditized and the only difference between companies is price.

Enter Peach Street which puts a focus on consumer experience, customer experience, and technology.

Lost at many mortgage servicers is interest in the consumer experience, if only because the servicer’s customer is the financial institution that owns the paper.

Peach Street wants to win by offering a new model where experiences matter.

A lot of what the consumer needs will be delivered via self service online – but in most surveys that approach lowers consumer friction.

“This is about a 30 year relationship,” said Wang, who adds that, done right, mortgage servicing can become a vehicle where the financial institution cross sells products to a happy consumer.

“Mortgage servicers should think of themselves less as a collection agency and more as a financial adviser,” said Wang.

Along the way, Wang tells how Peach Tree has ended NSF fees for its consumers and also its innovative thinking about how to handle foreclosure in a way that benefits the homeowner, the lender and the community.

See what we meant: this is all you waned to know about mortgage servicers and didn’t know to ask.

Listen to the Wang podcast here.

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

Is there racism in US financial institutions?

Can credit unions make a difference in the fight to combat racism?

Yes is the answer to both, says Renee Sattiewhite, CEO of the African American Credit Union Coalition, a founding member of the CU DEI Collective which is centered around this belief: “We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion is good business and is fundamental to a vibrant, relevant and growing Credit Union Movement.”

That is the key: practicing DEI is both the right thing to do and good business.

The US increasingly is a minority majority country.

So is today’s DEI movement likely to result in real changes?

Or is it another well intended effort that results in little substantive?

Ask Sattiewhite and she will tell you she is optimistic. Maybe cautiously so. But optimistic nonetheless.

“This time is different,” she said.

The time for change is here, she believes, a reality dramatized by weeks of coast to coast protests against racism and police brutality.

“I believe credit unions can lead the way in helping America eradicate racism.”

Sattiewhite is keenly interested in job opportunities in credit unions for people of color and she has numbers: there now are 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.

Hear the Renee Sattiewhite podcast here.

There are many related podcasts in this series, including #100 with Victor Miguel Corro of Coopera, another CU DEI Collective member, and also Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, also a CU DEI Collective member.

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

By Robert McGarvey

Tens of millions now are mulling – maybe obsessing about – a simple question: Can we safely breathe the air on a plane?

According to a recent survey, 37% of us are worried about airplane air – and 65% of us are worried about sitting next to an infected person.

Understand: what airline we choose and how we decide to protect ourselves (and others) inflight matter. There are decisions that we can make that work. And others that don’t.

For instance: read a Travel Pulse story, where a University of Alabama professor of medicine and infectious diseases, Dr. Michael Saag, offered the explosive opinion that on some airlines – he singled out Delta with its CareStandard program – the air is in fact very clean.  Saag told Travel Pulse: “If passengers are spread apart and wearing masks, then it is very safe on an airplane.”

The Delta system filters cabin air every two to five minutes and removes 99.99 percent of particles.

One conclusion: whatever you do don’t fly American or United – both refuse to commit to blocking middle seats. Delta and Southwest both say they are.  Easy choice about which to fly. Physical distancing remains our single most effective way to stay healthy and I am not surrendering that safety to prop up a carrier’s profits.  Give me an empty middle seat or give me my money back!

The next big question is a non question because the answer is plain: To mask or not? Good news is that nowadays most carriers actually enforce a face mask policy.  Sure, there are troglodytes who insist they have a right to not wear a mask but that viewpoint is absolute nonsense.

Mask up to stay safe and keep those around you safer.

Which brings us to a question of the moment: are face shields better than masks?  Suddenly mask proponents are confronted with what might be the better option: a shield that usually is easy to wash, easier to breathe in, and for many just more pleasant.

Qatar is now requiring shields for economy passengers – no US carrier is. But, anecdotally, I hear more passengers on US carriers are wearing them. Should we join that club?

According to experts cited in a Washington Post story, shields may in fact offer more protection: “Face shields are a physical barrier that can provide travelers an extra layer of protection, according to Nahid Bhadelia, the medical director of the Special Pathogens Unit at the Boston University School of Medicine.

“‘I’m glad to see that a lot of airlines have mandated the use of masks, and the use of face shields is even better,’ Bhadelia said.”

Masks excel at protecting others from droplets you may expel – but shields do better at protecting you from the droplets others around you may expel.

Are face shields flat out better than masks? You will be hearing that question more – as more of us opt for the shields – and know that at least some experts agree the shields are better.

Amesh Adalja, M.D., a pandemic preparedness expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told AARP, ‘There’s a lot of at least biological possibility to suspect that [shields] are definitely better than homemade face masks, and maybe even better than other types of masks as well, because they not only prevent you from spreading it … [and] because it also covers your eyes, it provides more protection to the mucus membranes of your face where you might be getting infected.’”

A JAMA opinion piece, signed by multiple physicians, agreed about face shield benefits.  “They are comfortable to wear, protect the portals of viral entry, and reduce the potential for autoinoculation by preventing the wearer from touching their face.”

The JAMA piece went for home plate with this: “Most important, face shields appear to significantly reduce the amount of inhalation exposure to influenza virus, another droplet-spread respiratory virus. In a simulation study, face shields were shown to reduce immediate viral exposure by 96% when worn by a simulated health care worker within 18 inches of a cough.”

Amazon stocks a variety of shields.

Word of advice for flyers however: Don’t count on airline acceptance of shields in lieu of masks.  A particular crew may, another may think different and there are no national guidelines (yes, there should be but the absence is another story of presidential dereliction).  So even if you are a hardcore shield person…carry a face mask in a pocket. Just in case.

And know some scientists in fact highly recommend the dual tactic defense.  A mask protects others from you. A shield protects you from them.  

In a world where a deadly virus is rampaging, a dual protection just may sound mighty good.  

If you see me on a plane wearing both, I’ll forgive your giggles.

Just know I am probably safer than you.

Something is happening, something big, when it comes to the US and race relations and this is making itself felt in financial services.

That’s the strong opinion of Victor Miguel Corro, CEO of Coopera,  a consulting firm – started with support from the Iowa Credit Union League – that helps credit unions meet the needs of Hispanic consumers.

That market is huge.  In less than thirty years, one in three US consumers will be Hispanic, said Corro. Right now, Hispanics are about 15% of the US population.

But this conversation is about still more – the founding of the CU DEI Collective, by some 15 credit union related organizations, including CUNA, CUNA Mutual, Filene.  The organization explains its purpose: “The CU Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Collective is an expanding group being formed within the Credit Union Movement devoted to furthering DEI, a shared cooperative principle. We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion is good business and is fundamental to a vibrant, relevant and growing Credit Union Movement.”

Corro was in on the founding.  Several additional podcasts with other credit union people are in the works and will post as we continue our coverage of what may be the other huge issue now confronting credit unions (Covid-19 of course is the other).

A credit union disconnect, said Corro, is despite the expanding multicultural character of US society, 90% of credit union board and c-suite positions are filled by non Hispanic whites.

But the credit union board, and its executive team, to succeed have to look more like the communities they serve, said Corro.

This is an expansive conversation.  The foundation is Corro’s belief that, for a credit union, a multicultural tilt is not simpy a good thing to do, it also is good business. It’s a way to stay relevant in a society that is changing its face.

Regular listeners will recall Corro from an early podcast, #17. Catch up with it here.

A related podcast is with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, the association of community development credit unions. Hear her here.

Hear the new Corro podcast here.

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

by Robert McGarvey

I remember looking with horror as the first waves of coronavirus cases surfaced in Washington State, northern California, and downstate New York – and my horror was mixed with a superiority, the distinct perspective that, lucky me, I live in Phoenix, no longer in greater New York and, like Alfred E. Neuman, it was what me worry time.

To paraphrase the poet Bob Dylan, now I don’t talk so loud, now I don’t seem so proud.

My smugness collapsed in late March when I personally fell ill with Covid-19, a fact shown by a recent antibody test that indicated the 10 feverish days I stayed in bed were in fact due to the virus.  My illness is documented in a pair of blogs, Coronavirus and Me, The Sequel and Coronavirus and Me.

Being sick with coronavirus sucks and my advice is that if you don’t want to join me in that club, stay away from Arizona and if you are already here stay away from crowds, wear face masks, and practice thorough handwashing.  Do all that because, in Arizona now, the virus is a vigorous beast that essentially has risen from the dead.  On March 31, the government issued a stay at home order that shut bars, restaurants, gyms and more and many workplaces and retail also shuttered. The virus went into retreat.

No more.  In May most restrictions were lifted – and what was sure to follow has.

That’s because Arizona has joined a kind of club of infamy where – after state coronavirus restrictions were eased – cases skyrocketed.  It’s true in Florida, in Texas, and, definitely, Arizona, which have emerged as a laughingstock trio, a triumvirate of mismanagement.

Just that is the thing: New York did not mismanage coronavirus. Neither did Washington State. They did not have much of a clue what they were dealing with (and in New York’s case it even was dealing with a different, European strain).

In Arizona nothing is new, everything was predicted – and ignored by Governor Doug Ducey, a business executive turned politician who – plainly – is in way over his head when it comes to managing a public health crisis.

The numbers are his report card: Day after day, new records are set. Hospitals are stuffed with patients and now are permitted to ration care based in part about how likely a patient is to survive.  

The July 1 AZ Republic headline: “Arizona COVID-19 update: Nearly 4,900 new cases, 88 more deaths reported, shattering daily records.”

How did we get from having the virus cornered into our present predicament? This Arizona Republic headline tells the story: Over 4 months, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s actions to fight COVID-19 slowed as virus spread.  

A more accurate headline might have pointed to Ducey’s inactions because he has done more of that than taking actual actions. Perhaps Ducey Dozes, Covid Soars.

Case in point: as new cases started to spike in early June, first Ducey declined to issue a statewide face mask requirement and he also refused to give cities – such as Phoenix where the mayor had been begging to be allowed to require face masks – the right to issue requirements. Finally he caved and Phoenix, Tucson and other cities imposed face mask requirements. But how many got sick because of the delay? 

How many died?

Why the opposition to masks? Why Ducey’s opposition to doing much of anything to thwart Covid-19?

Masks are the local symbol.  The Guardian newspaper observed: “Masks have become a charged partisan issue in Arizona, one of the key swing states in the 2020 presidential election. As thousands of people watched Ducey’s press conference live on Facebook, many commenters demanded, ‘Make masks mandatory!’ but others pushed back: ‘Breathing is not aggression. Fear is not a virtue,’ one posted.”

Neighboring Scottsdale, by the way, claims a city councilman, Guy Phillips, who in a protest against face masks insisted, “I can’t breathe.”  

Many here share similar antediluvian views and, more often than not, those are the voices Ducey hears. 

Of course that crowd has a powerful leader.  Trump, the president who refuses to wear a mask, visited Arizona just 10 days ago and, nope, not many mask wearers in the sparse crowd.  And Ducey seems to believe that his only way forward is to curry Trump’s favor.

While ever growing numbers of Arizonans get sick, many die, and still the governor declines to reimpose smart and safe requirements for life in the Covid-19 era.

Oh, he did recently close bars, gyms, movie theaters and a few other kinds of places again – but so far gym operators are giving him the proverbial finger and staying open because, well, why pay him much mind?

As for me, I live with full knowledge that I am surrounded by a local epidemic that the federal and state governments are mismanaging.  I mainy stay indoors. I avoid crowds as best I can. I wear masks, certainly whenever indoors in a public space such as a grocer (count me a fan of the Whole Foods senior hour), and of course I wear Hawaiian shirts because it’s a hoot.

It’s what we can do, to stay personally healthy, to minimize disease spread, and thus to restart the inert economy.  I am doing my part. You?

by Robert McGarvey

Call it a sea change – a massive alteration of the US financial services landscape.  Everything seems different today and it is because of the pandemic.

What do you need to be thinking abut now to survive tomorrow?

An interview I did with Cornerstone consulting firm’s Brad Smith for a CUInsight article left me wanting more from Smith and here it is, a one-on-one podcast where we hear what smart credit unions are doing today.

Like what? Like recognizing that the mainstage role of the branch finally is over, probably forever. Smith is not saying he thinks branches are toast – he doesn’t – but he thinks their role is necessarily changing as many of us have gotten accustomed to not needing the branch and many of us also are simply fearful of places like branches.

Much financial services has shifted to digital and there it will stay.

“The challenge for credit unions now is learning to sell through the digital channel,” said Smith – and many institutions are playing catch up.  There’s no time to delay.

An unexpected problem, said Smith, is that the economy’s collapse has necessitated taking a new look at the FICO scores that used to enable confident and instant credit decisioning.  But that 800 score of May may be today’s 700 score and falling due to late pays, job loss, and worse.  

How can an institution provide the fast decisioning consumers now expect – but do it safely? Smith has thoughts.

Another big winner today: MRDC, said Smith. Even those who had scorned it are diving in.  

One more big winner: video chat.  We use it at work and we are now ready to use it in financial services. “Video conferencing will be another net winner,” said Smith.

An area where credit unions need to hop to it: credit card rewards programs need restructuring. The big players – Amex, Chase, Capital One – already are on the move.  Credit unions need to think fast and hard about this. But not many are, Smith admitted.

A last pandemic triggered push: a huge drive for cost savings and efficiencies. Many credit unions are looking to trim costs on commodity tech – think core systems – and redirect monies into strategic tech – such as true digital account opening.

Big changes are in motion.  Smith offers a road map in this podcast.  Take notes.

Hear the Smith podcast here.

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