Allegacy Federal Credit Union announced a $10,000 donation to help with recovery and relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene that made landfall in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas on Friday.
Allegacy donated $5,000 to the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund and an additional $5,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina’s Hurricane Helene Response to assist credit unions and communities in need. “We stand in solidarity with our neighboring communities impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Helene. Though the road to recovery may be challenging, we believe in the resilience of these communities and are honored to contribute to the rebuilding efforts with these gifts to the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation and Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina,” said Nathanael Tarwasokono, Allegacy President and CEO. “Our hearts are with all those affected, and we encourage others to join us in supporting those in need.” There are several ways you can donate:
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The 2024 ALM First Financial Forum wrapped up on Wednesday at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain after three days of engaging sessions focused on driving organizational success. During the final day of the conference, Nathan Stovall of S&P Global presented a State of the Industry, which included discussion on early indicators and trends for deposits, lending, credit risk, and capitalization. A panel, moderated by Tony Ferris, explored 2025 Strategic Planning Priorities. This interactive session highlighted industry needs surrounding growing and maturing strategic programs to achieve an “always on” approach to planning, remaining agile and taking an adaptive approach to a changing landscape. To close out this year’s Financial Forum, Deedee Myers, Ph.D. and CEO of DDJ Myers, an ALM First Company, led Aligning for Success: A Board Chair & CEO Panel Discussion. The session highlighted the importance of trust for a strong partnership and discussed specific ways the panelists work to build trust and create alignment. This year, more than 200 financial professionals attended the three-day conference, which was designed for everyone involved in managing or monitoring the balance sheet to discover insights, formulate strategies and gain new perspectives as they prepare for the coming year. In addition to the 2024 Financial Forum’s general sessions, two separate education tracks, led by a variety of industry experts, delivered custom-tailored sessions to Executives and Boards. These sessions covered a wide range of topics including asset liability management, interest rate risk, enterprise risk management, governance, and more. Explore all of the educational resources ALM First offers by visiting almfirst.com and mark your calendars for the 2025 ALM First Financial Forum, which will be held next September in Banff, Alberta, Canada at the Fairmont Banff Springs. Financial professionals interested in attending the 2025 conference are encouraged to complete an Early Interest Form and plan ahead to join ALM First as the firm will celebrate a significant milestone, its 30th anniversary, next year. Community Financial Credit Union is proud to announce that our president & ceo, Tansley Stearns, was officially inducted into the prestigious Herstory Exhibit at America's Credit Union Museum on Thursday, September 26, 2024. The induction ceremony, held at the museum in Manchester, New Hampshire, celebrated the remarkable contributions of women who have significantly advanced the credit union movement for the benefit of all. A Celebration of Visionary Leaders The event honored not only Tansley Stearns but also six other outstanding leaders whose dedication and innovation have shaped the industry. Congratulations to Donna Bland, Crystal Long, Judy McCarthy, Joanne Todd, Caroline Willard, and Patsy Van Ouwerkerk. These seven honorees, join the ranks of influential figures such as Dora Maxwell, Louise Herring, and Sarah Canepa Bang in this permanent exhibit, which showcases the stories of women who have left an indelible mark on the credit union movement. Their collective stories serve as inspiration for future generations committed to the principles of cooperative finance. During the event’s each honoree addressed the audience and provided inspiring remarks (complete recording available here, Stearns’ starting at 17m 37s). In her remarks, Stearns launched a bold challenge, “We must do better.” Stearns said, “We should be restless about progress because it’s not fast enough, and we have to do more. I hope that today’s ceremony gives you an opportunity to be inspired, and that tomorrow you find someone to walk with toward an even brighter future, because credit unions are needed, and women are needed to lead.” Tansley Stearns: Visionary Leadership and Commitment With over 26 years of experience, Tansley Stearns is renowned for her visionary leadership, innovative approach, and unwavering commitment to the credit union movement. She has consistently demonstrated an exceptional ability to foresee future possibilities, tackle emerging challenges, and inspire teams to reach unprecedented heights. Under her leadership, Community Financial Credit Union has launched groundbreaking programs that many believed impossible, including:
Lasting Impact and Industry Advocacy Stearns' influence extends beyond Community Financial Credit Union. She has led innovation programs, facilitated strategic sessions for credit unions across North America, and inspired countless industry professionals through her public speaking engagements at major events, including America's Credit Unions' GAC, NAFCU, TruStage Discovery, and international forums in Ireland, Spain, and Australia. Her dedication to the industry is exemplified by her roles as founder and Board Chair of In the Cellar and her participation on the boards of Trellance and Painted Hills. Her tenure at Canvas Credit Union and her pivotal role at the Filene Research Institute further highlight her substantial contributions to the credit union movement. Inspiration and Mentorship Stearns is a critical thinker and strategist who shares her insights through her weekly LinkedIn newsletter, Curiously Driven. She engages strategically with system organizations and participates in CEO panels at national events. Her storytelling prowess and collaborative spirit have motivated many to achieve the impossible. She has mentored and advised numerous credit union CEOs, helping develop talent across the industry. Her legacy includes the promotion of direct reports to senior executive roles, contributing to the overall growth and success of the credit union system. A Champion for Change Tansley Stearns is a champion for change within the credit union movement. Her leadership initiatives exemplify her commitment to making a tangible impact on the lives of credit union members, including the development of CloseEnuff™, a checking account aimed at addressing financial insecurity, and her advocacy for gender equity. Celebrating Herstory The induction ceremony was a momentous occasion that celebrated the remarkable women shaping the credit union movement and inspired future leaders. For more information on the Herstory exhibit and to learn about all the honorees, please visit acumuseum.org/herstory. When the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund announced its combined FY 2023 and 2024 Financial Assistance (FA) Awards and Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) Awards today, 81 credit unions working with the CU Strategic Planning were awarded more than $72 million. This accounts for 60% of FA awards granted to credit unions in this round and pushes CU Strategic Planning’s award results for credit unions to more than $1 billion. Founded in 2008, CU Strategic Planning has been a defining influence on the credit union CDFI sector. This award announcement comes the same week as the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Riegle Act, which created the CDFI Fund. “We’re thrilled by the success of our CDFI credit unions with these awards,” CU Strategic Planning President Stacy Augustine said. “Our team worked hard to submit two years of applications in one submission. Their work was worth it, with 81 of our client credit unions winning awards to implement the strategies and products our teams designed to make an even greater impact on their communities. We’re honored to work with so many CDFI credit unions and congratulate the CDFI Fund on three decades of fueling economic development and bringing financial inclusion to the underserved.” Earlier this year, CU Strategic Planning became a Callahan & Associates Company, expanding its resources, capacity and breadth of services. In 2025, it will roll out a CDFI CEO Roundtable and cutting-edge technology to help CEOs increase their credit unions' effectiveness and ability to serve their communities as CDFIs. The Roundtable will foster reflective, structured, and strategic dialogue about the challenges and opportunities uniquely experienced by CEOs of CDFI-certified credit unions. In response to CU Strategic Planning achieving $1 billion in total awards for credit unions, Jon Jeffreys, CEO of Callahan and Associates, said, “The alliance between CU Strategic Planning and Callahan & Associates was created to magnify our shared impact on credit unions and their communities. With results like these, the sky is the limit on where our teams can take the movement.” CU Strategic Planning is the leading facilitator of credit union CDFI certification, with 203 successful certifications and more than $1 billion in financial awards. Its FA Awards averaged $133,000 higher than peer credit union grants, allowing maximum investment in the communities the CDFI credit unions serve. Committed to safeguarding its members in their times of need, Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Community First Credit Union announced today it has partnered with TruStageTM, a financially strong insurance, investment and technology provider, to integrate its Payment Guard embedded insurance strategy into the credit union’s indirect auto loan channel. With the implementation of this innovative strategy, its members could be protected during disruptive life events, such as involuntary job loss or disability. Founded over 60 years ago and recently voted "Best Credit Union" by NorthBay biz, CFCU currently serves over 60,000 members across five Northern California counties, including Sonoma, Napa, Lake, Mendocino and Marin. With a high concentration of indirect auto loans throughout its portfolio, CFCU implemented TruStage's Payment Guard embedded insurance solution to help provide an additional layer of financial protection against unforeseen life events for its members. “Community First continues to make unwavering commitments to our community and the members we serve by offering products and services that support our members in their greatest time of need,” said Cary Shumway, Chief Lending Officer of Community First Credit Union. “TruStage Payment Guard allows us to offer our members the coverage they need when life happens.” CFCU hopes the partnership yields significant economic value, including reduced auto loan delinquencies and a positive impact on its allowance for credit loss. Additionally, TruStage’s impact on the financial health of members could add enhanced value to CFCU’s membership proposition, increasing member engagement and expanding the range of services, while further strengthening these relationships. “CFCU continues to demonstrate a commitment to serving its members in their time of need. We are excited to partner with them to further support this critical mission," said Danielle Sesko, Director of Product Management at TruStage. "Our Payment Guard solution not only safeguards members during life’s unforeseen challenges but also help strengthen the credit union’s financial resilience. Together, we are advancing the financial well-being of the members they serve both today and in the future." To learn more about TruStage™ Payment Guard, click here. The 2024 ALM First Financial Forum kicked off yesterday at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain with keynote speaker, Dr. Jessica Kriegel, Chief Scientist of Workplace Culture for Culture Partners. Kriegel, a data scientist on a mission to “quantify culture,” shared actionable insights and best practices from her groundbreaking research on driving results through culture with Financial Forum attendees. Highlights from her session included challenging perspectives on culture by redefining it from making people happy to activating aligned beliefs to drive results and addressing the real-world financial benefits of going deep to create a positive workplace culture. Jason Haley, ALM First’s Chief Investment Officer, shared his latest Economic & Market Update tailored specifically to financial institutions. By interpreting economic indicators and market conditions, Jason shed light on factors likely to influence depository performance in the year ahead. A few of the key takeaways included that rate volatility is likely to remain elevated for some time—depositories should prepare by pricing correctly and hedging excess risk—and financial professionals should beware of noise in economic indicators. Yesterday also included a general session on CU Merger Trends & Post Merger Performance Review along with What’s Next: Open Forum with ALM First’s Executive Team, which gave attendees an opportunity to engage with the firm’s principals through interactive Q&A on the top financial and non-financial concerns impacting depositories. This year, more than 200 financial professionals are attending the three-day conference, which is designed for everyone involved in managing or monitoring the balance sheet to discover insights, formulate strategies and gain new perspectives as they prepare for the coming year. Today, two separate education tracks, led by a variety of industry experts, will deliver custom-tailored sessions to Executives and Board Members. These sessions will cover a wide range of topics including asset liability management, interest rate risk, enterprise risk management, governance, and more. Learn more about the educational resources ALM First offers by visiting www.almfirst.com. Infuze Credit Union Taps Pulsate for Enhanced Mobile-First Engagement and Targeted Marketing9/24/2024 Pulsate, provider of mobile-first engagement solutions that deepen digital banking relationships and cut through noise in consumers’ moments of need, announced today that Infuze Credit Union has selected Pulsate to transform how it communicates with members through the digital and mobile banking channels. As part of the Q2 Innovation Studio, Pulsate’s technology is integrated within the Q2 Digital Banking Platform, enabling Infuze CU with seamless access to Pulsate’s feature-rich platform. Prior to partnering with Pulsate, Infuze CU was limited to engaging members via plain text messages, which, in turn, led to low adoption of its existing systems and modules. By leveraging Pulsate's in-app messaging and push notification capabilities, Infuze CU is equipped to drive more dynamic and targeted marketing campaigns and promotions to its members. This not only enhances the credit union’s sales strategy, but also boosts adoption of their other existing mobile tools and services, as well, ultimately creating deeper, stickier member relationships. Infuze CU can now also reach members through location-based messaging targeting specific markets. For example, when a member who has granted access to their location data via the Q2 mobile app visits a car dealership, Infuze CU can then send them a timely reminder about their competitive car loan offerings. “The implementation of Pulsate’s platform has been seamless and aligns perfectly with our strategy of approaching member-facing technology with a mobile-first view,” said Bryan Gentle, CIO of Infuze Credit Union. “More often than not, our members are using a mobile device, so the ability to interact with them via the mobile banking channel and push alerts is incredibly valuable and a much-needed tool in our increasingly digital-first landscape.” Pulsate also helps Infuze CU refine the management of its members’ contact information to overcome the challenge of keeping details like addresses up to date. With Pulsate, the credit union can generate push notifications or in-app messages requesting address verification, significantly improving data accuracy. “Consumers are engaging with their financial institutions more than ever, with 28% using their smartphone to access their bank account at least once a day,” said Sarah Martin, CEO of Pulsate. “We are delighted to empower community financial institutions like Infuze Credit Union with the tools they need to turn micro-engagements into deeper relationships with their members digitally.” “It's great to see the Pulsate and Infuze Credit Union’s partnership come to life through the Q2 Innovation Studio,” said Johnny Ola, SVP of Q2 Innovation Studio at Q2. “This collaboration not only underscores the power of integrating innovative solutions like Pulsate inside of the Q2 Digital Banking Platform, but will also create new opportunities for Infuze to engage with their members to provide more personalized digital experiences.” Eltropy, the leading AI-powered conversations platform for community financial institutions (CFIs), today announced its participation in more than 20 industry events from September through December 2024. This extensive lineup underscores the increasing adoption of Eltropy's Unified Conversations Platform, which leverages artificial intelligence to transform member communications for credit unions and CFIs. "The impressive number of events we're participating in reflects the growing recognition of AI's crucial role in strengthening member engagement and operational efficiency," said Ashish Garg, Co-founder and CEO of Eltropy. "Our AI-driven Unified Conversations Platform is resonating strongly with credit unions and CFIs who are using our array of solutions for collections, lending, fighting fraud, right-sizing branches, M&A, vendor consolidation, growing deposits and more.” Eltropy's platform unifies all communications channels – including Voice, Text Messaging, Secure Chat, Video Banking, and Co-Browsing – into a single AI-enhanced conversational thread, providing a seamless, friction-free experience for members while streamlining operations for institutions. Key events where Eltropy will be soon be exhibiting or participating include:
"The positive response from credit unions at every event we attend confirms that we're on the right track with our unified platform," said Nandita Verma, VP of Marketing at Eltropy. "These interactions give us a chance to listen to real customers' stories and challenges, and show them how our platform can help credit unions and community banks build stronger relationships with their members, increase engagement, and work more efficiently. This is essential for success in today's competitive, ever-changing financial industry." For a complete list of events Eltropy is attending in the coming months, visit the Eltropy Events page. The Global Credit Union Foundation donated $55,000 to community nonprofits in Alaska, Arizona, and Washington. The recent donations were part of the Foundation’s 2024 quarterly distribution of funds in support of its mission to aid organizations that benefit children, veterans, and active-duty members of the military and their families. “The Global Credit Union Foundation is deeply committed to improving the communities we operate in,” said Noël Gabler, executive director, Global Credit Union Foundation. “The nonprofits we give to are vital to that mission, and we look forward to continue offering our support whenever we can.” Recipients of funds include: $10,000 to TOGETHER! – TOGETHER! is on a mission to advance the health and well-being of all young people, working to ensure they are supported, safe, and valued. TOGETHER! partners with families, schools, and the community to collaboratively address root causes to community problems. $10,000 to Phoenix Children’s Hospital – The Phoenix Children’s Hospital works to advance hope, healing, and the best healthcare for children and their families. $15,000 to Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA) of the Pacific Northwest – The ASYMCA empowers military families, no matter who they are or where they’re from, by ensuring access to resources, relationships, and opportunities for all to learn, grow, and thrive. $10,000 to the Kenai River Sportfishing Association – Funds went to support the Jr. Classic program that provides an opportunity for military children to learn about water safety and enjoy a day of fishing on the Kenai. $10,000 to the American Diabetes Association – American Diabetes Association is a network of more than 565,000 volunteers, their families and caregivers, a professional society of nearly 12,000 health care professionals, as well as nearly 350 staff members—all working to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. AVANA CUSO, a credit union service organization that specializes in commercial real estate lending, announces its new Participations Desk, a platform designed to simplify the process of providing credit unions access to commercial real estate (CRE) loans. This user-friendly technology gives credit unions streamlined access to evaluate deals, enhancing their choice and control.
AVANA CUSO’s Participations Desk allows credit unions to see all available loan opportunities, view their current portfolio, and manage their lending preferences. The user-friendly interface makes learning about loan details, such as the maximum participation amount, interest rates, and more, easily accessible for the credit union. “This elevated platform significantly improves operations for both the credit unions we serve and the AVANA CUSO team,” said Chad Witcher, COO at AVANA CUSO. “By streamlining processes and reducing manual tasks, credit unions can focus on serving more members. The visually appealing platform interface, robust security measures, and seamless user experience will enable credit unions to participate in deals easier and faster.” “The AVANA team is committed to supporting digital transformation in credit unions, which will empower them to serve their members and community better,” said Sundip Patel, Co-Founder and CEO of AVANA Companies. “By making the participation process easier and more transparent for credit unions, we can expand our loan servicing offers and advance our mission of promoting financial inclusion and building capital for a better tomorrow.” What has traditionally been a manual process for CUSOs, the Participations Desk integrates technology to make it easier for credit unions to participate in more deals. This tech-enabled and secure platform empowers the AVANA CUSO team to serve credit unions better and, ultimately, their members as well. Credit unions can also self-serve on the platform, such as managing their users who can view or participate in deals. The Participations Desk enables AVANA CUSO to become a one-stop shop for credit unions for commercial lending and servicing for CRE, SBA, and USDA loans. |
Author: Mike LawsonMarried to a most gorgeous and wonderful wife, raising 5 kiddos (including twins!), enjoy helping others tell their stories, and love surfing SoCal waves. Keep it simple. Archives
November 2024
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