"The FOMC’s updated projections reflect much greater concern over hot wage growth readings recently than relief at moderating inflation. With the median committee member anticipating a 5.1 percent fed funds rate at the end of 2023, we are likely to see 25-basis point hikes at each of the next two meetings. However, if at that point price pressures are still ratcheting down, Fed officials are likely to hit the pause button on rate hikes earlier than they currently anticipate." - NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long
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Allegan Credit Union and Rivertown Community Federal Credit Union Announce Merger Approvals12/13/2022 Allegan Credit Union and Rivertown Community Federal Credit Union have announced their merger has received regulatory approval as well as approval by majority vote of the Rivertown Community Federal Credit Union membership. The legal merger date for the two organizations is planned for January 1, 2023. At the time of the legal merger date Allegan Credit Union and Rivertown Community Federal Credit Union will begin to operate as one legal entity. From a member perspective, it will be “business as usual” for Rivertown Community Federal members. Both organizations will continue to serve their members at their individual branch locations as they ramp up efforts to have Rivertown Community Federal Credit Union to be fully integrated in early 2023. Together the combined organization will operate under a unified brand but will continue to keep their individual names. The existing Rivertown branches will be designated as “Rivertown Branches.” The combined credit union will however operate their unique, individual brands under one unified brand. The organization’s combined assets will be approximately $160 million, and they will serve nearly 14,000 members with 5 branches in Western Michigan. Kristopher Lewis has been serving as dual President/CEO of Allegan and Rivertown Credit Union and states, “I want to thank the members, board members, and employees of Rivertown Community Federal Credit Union for their commitment to their credit union.” Lewis goes onto say, “We are excited to continue to serve our members in the same capacity they have grown to love. Our future looks very bright with this new partnership and we are committed to serving our members, employees and communities with excellence for many years to come.” As the merger process continues to move forward, both credit unions will provide information to their respective Memberships via their websites (www.allegancu.com and www.rivertowncu.org), and other applicable communication channels. Hanscom FCU Charitable Foundation provided an accounting of major gifts granted in 2022 at its 10th annual meeting. The milestone meeting was held virtually to accommodate more members attendance. The Foundation, founded in 2012, provides resources, primarily financial, to worthy charitable causes. “The Foundation’s focus is on providing donations and assistance to organizations that are doing great things for our community,” said Teresa Conrad, Chairwoman of the Foundation. “Our supporting members share a mutual interest in social welfare and overall betterment of quality of life that truly captures the spirit of the credit union motto of ‘people helping people.’” Conrad explained that the non-profit 501(c)(3) organization distributes all proceeds to charity and provided details of the Foundation’s extensive philanthropic support in 2022 that included:
Conrad concluded the meeting by addressing the members in attendance and thanking them for their continued support over the years. “You each play an important role by lending talent and services that help the foundation achieve its mission of creating a lasting impact in our community,” she said. “Thank you for being a supporting member and for your commitment to our mission.” Glia, the leading provider of Digital Customer Service (DCS), announced today that its digital-first solution is now accessible through Jack Henry’s Banno Digital PlatformTM. This integration will allow more banks and credit unions to embrace Digital Customer Service, reimagining how they serve and support customers in a digital world. Integrating Glia’s communication and collaboration capabilities into Jack Henry’s digital banking platform enables institutions to meet customers online and provide support across all digital channels—including SMS, chat, voice and video banking. Glia recently acquired leading bot provider Finn AI, resulting in a unified solution that allows financial institutions to provide customers with a seamless digital experience across both virtual and human assistants, ultimately boosting customer satisfaction while driving new operational efficiencies. “Glia is making Digital Customer Service accessible to a growing number of banks and credit unions, empowering them with powerful tools to digitalize and transform customer service,” said Steve Kaish, SVP of Alliances for Glia. “Our integration with Jack Henry accelerates that mission, allowing more institutions to facilitate digital-first engagements within the digital domain. As part of Jack Henry’s ecosystem, we are helping community institutions create competitive advantage.” Glia leveraged the Banno Digital ToolkitTM, the same set of APIs on which the Banno Digital Platform is built, to embed its DCS technology into the digital experiences offered by community and regional financial institutions. Access to Jack Henry’s API, design, and authenticated frameworks has enabled Glia to directly integrate into the digital platform, providing a seamless banking experience. This integration contributes to Jack Henry’s growing ecosystem of over 850 fintechs, providing approximately 8,000 financial institutions with relevant financial products and services for their account holders. Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Senior Economist Dawit Kebede, PhD, issued the following statement in response to the Labor Department’s November Consumer Price Index Report: “Inflation slowed down in November as the price of gasoline, used cars, medical care, and air travel declined. Increases in food and housing prices slightly offset these decreases resulting in monthly price bump of one-tenth of a percentage point. The headline inflation declined in November to 7.1% from 7.7% in October over a 12-month period. “Most of the monthly increase in the consumer price index (CPI) comes from housing which is a lagged indicator. It takes over a year for the CPI to reflect current market trends. Tight monetary policy which recently pushed mortgage rates very high led to home price declines in several places. However, it takes time for this current market trend to show up in the CPI. “The Federal Reserve is expected to increase the fed funds rate by 50 basis points tomorrow moving away from the aggressive consecutive increases in the last four meetings. This CPI report shows that price trends are going in the right direction although inflation is still very high above target.” Ascend Federal Credit Union Donates $175,000 to Support National Financial Education Initiatives12/13/2022 Ascend Federal Credit Union announced today that it has donated $175,000 to the National Credit Union Foundation (the Foundation) to support the organization’s financial health and well-being initiatives. The bulk of the donation – $150,000 – was given to the Foundation’s FinHealth Fund, while $25,000 will support other Foundation programs. Ascend’s previous donation to the Foundation was $25,000 in 2020. “One of Ascend’s most important goals is to help our members be excellent stewards of their hard-earned money so they can achieve their financial goals,” said Caren Gabriel, Ascend president and CEO. “This donation will help the National Credit Union Foundation create and implement sustainable programs that provide credit union members and employees across the country with the resources and knowledge to build a better financial future.” “This sizable contribution to the FinHealth Fund is yet more validation that credit unions recognize the need to improve financial well-being for all, and are willing to fund the work,” said Gigi Hyland, National Credit Union Foundation executive director. “Having a partner like Ascend Federal Credit Union make such a visible commitment as this should serve as a rallying cry to the rest of our system. It tells other credit unions that the three outputs of the FinHealth Fund are important, necessary and, perhaps most exciting of all, happening right now.” The Foundation’s FinHealth Fund, which was officially launched at the end of January and had a fundraising target of $10 million, will finance a five-year program focused on three interrelated efforts:
The donation comes from Ascend’s Charitable Donation Account (CDA), which was established in November 2017 by its Board of Directors. The CDA allows Ascend to generate revenue from investments to support various charitable endeavors. The National Credit Union Foundation is the charitable arm of the U.S. credit union movement, serving as a catalyst to improve people’s financial lives through credit unions. Through the Foundation’s own means, grants program and commitment to impactful partnerships, they provide research, insights and tools to ignite understanding in credit unions – helping place employee, member and community financial well-being at the center of a credit union’s strategy. For more information about the Foundation and Ascend’s charitable efforts, visit: www.ncuf.coop and www.ascend.org/community. Finalytics.ai powers segment of one digital experiences for community financial institutions. The company predicts that in 2023, more community financial institutions will invest in their digital capabilities to create segment of one digital experiences for prospective and current members/customers that go beyond simple personalization and broad segmentation. To do so, community financial institutions will:
For example, by knowing what university a prospective member/customer is attending, a community financial institution can suggest promotional content specifically targeting students at that university with dynamic messaging designed to increase the likelihood that the student will open an account. This hyper-personalized experience will improve acquisition and retention metrics, as well as conversion rates and wallet share.
Craig McLaughlin, CEO and Co-founder of Finalytics.ai, says, “Leading community financial institutions are turning the corner into the future, converting data into insights, and delivering relational, rather than transactional experiences, on digital channels. In 2023, the winning financial institutions will be the ones improving how they engage with their members/customers and prospects even before they log in to their digital banking. The next chapter for community financial institutions hinges on their ability to create the segment of one experiences accountholders and prospects have come to expect from digital providers of products and services.” Bankjoy, a digital banking provider, announced that three credit unions have expanded their relationship with Bankjoy and implemented its business banking platform to provide their business members with a best-in-class digital banking experience. Among the latest credit unions to select Bankjoy’s business banking platform are:
Bankjoy’s business banking platform is an expansion of the company’s current world-class digital banking solution, which includes comprehensive mobile and online banking features, online account opening, integrated online loan applications, and more. In addition to these robust digital features, Bankjoy’s business banking platform offers one portal for multiple business accounts, the ability to manage multiple users, control permissions, and send transfers to multiple recipients, as well as a dual approval process to reduce fraudulent activity. Earlier this year, Bankjoy was invited to demo its business banking platform at FinovateFall in New York City, a testament to the growing demand among businesses for better digital banking tools. In response to this growing demand, Bankjoy has also recently expanded its business banking functionalities with several new features, including an admin transfer hub, which serves as a centralized location for financial institution administrators to manage transfers, and the ability to initiate and manage various ACH payment types. All of these features are designed with a superior UX, helping business members and account holders efficiently and effectively manage their finances. “Our goal at Lafayette Federal is to serve our community’s financial needs and provide the best member experience possible by offering modern digital tools that make banking easy,” said Bryan Bast, Principal Vice President of Operations of Lafayette Federal. “We are thrilled to partner with Bankjoy and extend the same level of digital convenience we offer our retail members to our business members. By providing them with a superior digital banking experience, we can empower them to achieve their financial goals as a business.” “Over the last 12 months, 43 percent of small businesses have increased their use of online banking services via computers or tablets, and 40 percent used more mobile banking services, according to Ernst & Young data,” said Michael Duncan, CEO of Bankjoy. “Clearly, a majority of businesses now expect to be able to engage with their financial institutions through digital channels and this is what Bankjoy’s business banking platform was designed to solve. Bankjoy is proud to collaborate with our credit union clients and help foster stronger relationships with the business members in their communities by introducing new and enhanced digital banking features designed to help their businesses grow.” "According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), headline inflation and core inflation moderated for a second consecutive month while remaining elevated above historic levels. Headline CPI increased by 0.1 percent m/m in a marked deceleration from October’s reading, while also beating consensus estimates of 0.3 percent m/m. This decline was principally driven by lower energy prices, which contracted by 1.6 percent m/m, but offset by increased shelter and food costs, which increased by 0.6 percent m/m and 0.5 percent m/m respectively. Used vehicle prices, a major contributor to the initial inflation surge this year, also declined by 2.9 percent m/m. Against the backdrop of another, and final, FOMC meeting for 2022, November’s readings make these disinflationary trends harder to dismiss and provide grounding for the dovish faction of the FOMC to argue for a pause to rate hikes early next year. These numbers also compliment recent readings of consumer sentiment, which are improving and which reflect less anxiety over inflation. Markets jumped on the news, and credit unions should anticipate a healthy holiday shopping season as households absorb the combination of a still-strong labor market, moderating inflation, rising investment values, and stable or falling borrowing rates." - NAFCU Economist Noah Yosif ValleyStar Credit Union’s Administrative Campus won the Interior Design Excellence Award (IDEA) for Virginia and West Virginia in the corporate category for the ValleyStar Administrative Campus in Rocky Mount, Virginia. Spectrum Design of Roanoke was the Architect and Interior Designer for the project. The IDEA award is the highest prize for interior design given by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and International Interior Design Association (IIDA). This year’s contest had almost 400 entries, and ValleyStar won the highest award in its category. “We are honored to receive the IDEA award for our administrative campus,” said Kevin B. Laine, executive vice president of ValleyStar Credit Union. “Spectrum engaged our entire team throughout the design and construction process to ensure that our vision and values were realized in the architecture and interior design of the building. The idea was to create a great place for great people to work.” ValleyStar Credit Union strives to be a “best place to work” organization. Efforts to do so include providing a state-of-the-art facility that features a stocked snack bar, outside space to work, a lactation room and a fitness center that is open to all ValleyStar employees. The building was designed with expansive views and natural materials, making the landscape a key feature of the interior. |
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
May 2024
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