Always pushing the proverbial envelope, Becky Reed, COO of BankSocial & President of Becky Reed As A Service (BRASS), and John Wingate, CEO/Founder of BankSocial, joined us on the show to share the recent announcement and imminent launch of their proposed DEFY Federal Credit Union.

According to John and Becky, DEFY Federal Credit Union will be the first digital native, self-custody credit union powered by distributed ledger technology. Based in Texas and powered by BankSocial® open banking features, the proposed DEFY FCU has a mission to serve its members and the larger Web3 community worldwide with financial services that have been difficult to provide in the past.

Built with a backbone of not-for-profit financial cooperative relationships, the proposed DEFY Federal Credit Union takes advantage of new tools that can empower every domestic credit union for an open banking future. 

Becky and John discussed how this idea came about, how it will benefit the credit union industry, what they hope to achieve, where they are in the launch process right now, and much, much more.

To learn more about the proposed DEFY Federal Credit Union and to show your support, visit defy.coop.

Check it out and let us know your thoughts. And be sure to watch the entire interview below for all the details.

Emily Nail, VP of Cooperative Strategies and Executive Director of the Coastal Credit Union Foundation at Coastal Credit Union and Emma Hayes Chief Learning and Experience Officer at SECU, stopped by the Studio Lounge for an impromptu on 2023 big.bright.minds. highlights, insights, takeaways, and much more.

Check it out  and let us know your thoughts. And be sure to watch all the interviews from big.bright.minds on our archive page.

Taylor Nelms, Senior Market Insights + Advisory Services  Director at Filene Research Institute, stopped by the Studio Lounge to recap his highlights, insights, and takeaways from 2023 big.bright.minds, discussing everything from an entrepreneurial mindset, credit unions of the future, value of ERGs, and innovative approaches to pressing challenges to community resilience, shared data exchange model, member voice, i3 program, and much, much more.

Check it out  and let us know your thoughts. And be sure to watch all the interviews from big.bright.minds on our archive page.

Caroline Vahrenkamp, Advisory Services Dirctor at Filene Research Institute, joined us in the Studio Lounge to share highlights and insights from her (and Taylor Nelms) big.bright.minds. session on "Member Voice: A New Way to Understand Member Needs, Attitudes, and Behaviors."

Specifically, Caroline discussed how the Member Voice gives credit unions powerful insights into WHY a member is behaving the way they do. She talked about the different member segments, why they matter, and how they can be used by your credit union to, again, better understand member needs -- which, in turn, equates to a better member experience.

For a deeper dive on the Member Voice, download Caroline and Taylor's report on Filene's website.

Check it out  and let us know your thoughts. And be sure to watch all the interviews from big.bright.minds on our archive page.

John Janclaes, President/CEO of Nymbus CUSO, along with Amber Gest, Senior Sales Executive at Nymbus CUSO, and Kyler Bishop, Vice President of Sales at Nymbus CUSO, stopped by the Studio Lounge to discuss the small business outlook for credit union that poses a new channel for tremendous for credit unions next year and beyond -- all of which echoed John's big.bright.minds session on the same topic.

Check it out  and let us know your thoughts. And be sure to watch all the interviews from big.bright.minds on our archive page.