Nook, a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) and pioneer of niche experiences, proudly welcomes Anne Legg, an award-winning, internationally recognized credit union industry leader, as its newest Strategic Advisor. With her background as an industry expert and member-centric data strategist, Legg brings a unique perspective and is highly equipped to offer strategic solutions to Nook. Legg will work closely with Nook’s executive team in this role to facilitate new growth opportunities and overcome marketing obstacles. Her guidance will utilize her experience as a member-centric data strategist to help Nook/ navigate the evolving financial landscape and capitalize on new opportunities for success. "We are incredibly excited to welcome Anne to Nook's advisory board," said Austin Wentzlaff, Co-Founder & CEO of Nook. “Her distinguished career in the credit union industry assures us that she will be an indispensable asset to Nook’s ongoing niche banking strategies.” Aside from her position at Nook, Legg is the founder and CEO of THRIVE Strategic Services. She has guided over 600 credit union leaders on a mission to simplify their data transformation, identify new revenue sources, lessen member friction, and increase talent productivity to truly change member lives. Legg is also an author, educator, and marketplace presenter with an MBA thesis on the credit union business model and two internationally published whitepapers on credit union business strategy. She is the author of Big Data/Big Climb: A credit union playbook for leveraging data and talent to achieve revolutionary member relationships. Recently added to America's Credit Union Museum's Ensweiler Research Library. "I'm thrilled to join Nook as a Strategic Advisor," expressed Anne Legg. "From my firsthand experience working with credit union leaders and researching methods for leveraging data and talent to achieve revolutionary member relationships, I’m eager to contribute to Nook’s mission of bringing relationship- based banking back to credit unions.” Nook is confident that Legg–accredited as “A Woman to Watch” by the Credit Union Times–will serve a vital purpose as the company continues to expand its ecosystem of credit union owners, partners, and collaborators to empower financial institutions to build trust and enhance engagement among members.
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Finastra today announced that Cache Valley Bank, a community bank with $2.9 billion in assets serving Utah and Southern Idaho, has expanded its collaboration with the financial software provider, gaining increased flexibility and agility through its cloud-based solutions. The bank will leverage Finastra Phoenix for its core, Finastra Digital Banking for consumer and business mobile banking, and a suite of ancillary solutions to enhance its operations and future-proof its technology stack. Cache Valley Bank expanded its relationship with Finastra to modernize its core banking infrastructure and to reinvent its business with cutting-edge abilities and increased efficiencies across its operations. The bank is enhancing its Finastra core solution while replacing its digital banking infrastructure with Finastra’s robust end-user engagement platform, making it well-positioned to quickly and efficiently adapt to emerging opportunities and to better deliver an enhanced user experience for businesses and consumers across the markets it serves. When the bank recognized that its legacy digital banking solution could not offer the enhanced customer experience it wanted to deliver, it chose Finastra for its underlying technology, flexibility, and ecosystem. “For more than two decades, we have worked with Finastra to power our bank through their innovative, thoughtful, and efficient solutions,” said Mike Lemon, chief financial officer at Cache Valley Bank. “When it came time to seek a new partner for our digital banking needs, we knew it made sense to expand our relationship with Finastra, as they offer the experience, stability, and access to innovation we need to deliver an enhanced customer experience.” The bank has a strategic vision to migrate all on-premises software to the cloud over time. Finastra Phoenix and Digital Banking support this goal and are designed to seamlessly migrate to the cloud, enabling the optimization of back-office resources and architecture. This shift will allow the bank to focus on its other priorities, such as the customer experience, more closely. “To enable future growth, Cache Valley Bank needed an intuitive and user-friendly tech stack powered by the latest innovations in financial services,” said Swathy Parthasarathy, chief operating officer, Universal Banking at Finastra. “Our core solution, digital banking, and our overall suite of services give the bank the agility and innovative capabilities needed to continue to be a leader in the market, grow its footprint, and increase efficiencies. We’re honored to be a part of their growth journey.” Recognizing the importance of applying data to inform decision-making, the bank has added Finastra’s Fusion Analytics business analytics tool as well. The solution helps community banks gather and aggregate their customers’ current relationships, behaviors, and lifestyle attributes to identify opportunities for growth and profitability. As part of the bank’s migration to its new suite of services, it also benefits from access to Finastra’s fintech ecosystem, leveraging partners such as Glia, a digital automation platform offering enhanced customer service. The bank additionally will implement Enterprise Content Management, Item Processing, and Rapid Wires from Finastra’s suite of ancillary solutions. Shastic Launches Mago: The Future of AI Banking Workforce for Community Financial Institutions5/16/2024 Shastic, the leading provider of workflow automation solutions for financial institutions, has announced its latest platform, Mago™. This end-to-end AI workflow automation platform will revolutionize the industry by providing community banks and credit unions with state-of-the-art, AI banking workforces.
Mago’s approach allows these institutions to dramatically expand their workforce capabilities without the need for additional staff. As opposed to offering a single feature or automating one specific task, Mago can automate an agent’s workload augmenting the current team or reducing the need for full time equivalents (FTEs). Mago allows banks and credit unions to expand their workforce 1,000 times without increasing their headcount. “Mago is not just about automating tasks; it’s about enhancing productivity and moving our industry forward,” said Joseariel Gomez, founder and CEO of Shastic. “By integrating AI with workflow automation, we’ve created a solution that delivers ten times more efficiency, transforming everyday work life for financial institutions giving time back to their teams to focus on more meaningful interactions with members.” Mago has demonstrated the ability to reduce processing time for common financial operations by 85%, making these processes 6.7 times faster. Mago can automate lending processes from application to funding with the exception of underwriting. It can also help with onboarding new members, collections practices, mass marketing and much more. Eltropy, a pioneering conversations platform for credit unions and community banks, today launched Voice+, integrating traditional voice capabilities with digital channels like text messaging, video, and chat into a unified contact center solution. Voice+ provides a “single pane of glass” experience for agents to seamlessly handle voice and digital interactions, with unified routing, AI agents and assistants, and analytics across all channels. "Voice+ bridges the gap between traditional voice and cutting-edge digital conversations that today's customers expect," said Ashish Garg, Eltropy Co-founder and CEO. "This future-proof solution allows community banks and credit unions to meet and exceed customer needs through effortless, unified conversation experiences. Providing Voice+ is a major milestone in executing our vision for a Unified Conversations Platform. We couldn’t be more excited for our customers to leverage Voice+.” Eltropy Voice+ offers comprehensive voice capabilities including softphone controls, call transfer, conferencing, voicemail, call recording, outbound dialing, callback, priority queues, skill-based routing, and IVR. A visual call flow designer allows credit unions and community banks to easily implement routing strategies based on business hours, queue stats, data dips and other dynamic information – from simple to highly sophisticated flows. Eltropy's AI capabilities automate simple calls and assist human agents, allowing them to resolve customer issues more quickly on the first interaction. The platform enables a smooth handoff when escalating a call from an AI virtual agent to a human agent, with full context passed along to the human. "Voice+ is built directly into our Unified Conversations Platform in the cloud,” said Jack Chawla, VP of Product and Strategy at Eltropy. “This allows it to seamlessly blend voice capabilities with all our digital channels like text, video, and chat. While Voice+ brings many innovations to the market, we recognize that customers moving from legacy voice solutions need assurance on core Call Center functionality. In this first release of Voice+, we are providing a complete solution – with all the expected voice features, analytics, supervisor tools, and more.” With Eltropy Voice+, credit unions and community banks can now:
"Voice+ will dramatically improve the service we provide members," said Howie Meller, President & CEO of People First Federal Credit Union. "By allowing our agents to combine voice with digital channels like text, video, co-browsing and AI assistance, we can resolve issues faster and more effectively in a single unified experience." Other customers who have signed up for Voice+ include: Edwards Federal Credit Union, Natco Credit Union, Novations Credit Union, and Oregonians Credit Union. Voice+ is available now for all credit unions, community banks, and other financial institutions. For more information, visit eltropy.com/products/voice-plus. As the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues continue to advance its alliance with Utah’s Credit Unions, the Leagues’ board of directors are moving to the next phase in this transition plan with respect to the chief executive officer's (CEO) responsibilities. These responsibilities are effective May 15 through July 1, when Diana Dykstra retires. This week, Scott Simpson became CEO (effective May 15) of both the California Credit Union League and the Nevada Credit Union League (the Leagues). Dykstra will retain the position of president of the Leagues until her retirement. This approach provides Simpson with the needed authority to manage and lead teams, operations, and advocacy efforts of the California and Nevada leagues. As president, Dykstra will continue providing Simpson and the boards of directors for California and Nevada valuable support and insight while also winding down her responsibilities at the Leagues, as well as her industry leadership roles. “As the Leagues embark on these changes to facilitate this transition, it would like to extend a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Diana for her exceptional leadership,” said Larry Palochik, executive vice president of the Leagues “Her guidance has been invaluable, and the Leagues and its credit union leaders are grateful for her dedication to the organization.” Simpson’s wealth of experience and visionary leadership will undoubtedly steer member credit unions toward continued success. The Leagues look forward to keeping credit unions updated throughout this transition process and thanks credit union leaders for their continued support. California Credit Union announced today that it has launched VoiceID, a new technology solution enabling its members to verify their identity through their voice when calling the credit union. Through VoiceID, the unique characteristics of each individual’s voice are used to confirm their identity, allowing immediate access to accounts without the need to enter passwords or answer security questions. Beyond adding more convenience for members, the service further secures member accounts. Like a fingerprint, each individual’s “voiceprint” is unique and virtually impossible to replicate, adding an extra layer of security to protect against unauthorized account access. “We are continually innovating to bring our members greater value from their credit union, leveraging new technology solutions to enhance their banking experience. We’re excited to launch this new service that not only makes it easier for members to access their accounts, but also increases their security,” said California Credit Union President/CEO Steve O’Connell. “Through this new service and our other technology partnerships, we will continue to take a user-centric approach to providing a best-in-class, personalized digital experience for every member.” Recognizing that technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the member experience, California Credit Union established a dedicated Innovation Department to drive its efforts to deliver efficient, convenient, and personalized digital experiences for its members. Its focus on launching new technology solutions and developing fintech partnerships has significantly enhanced its online banking platforms, mobile applications, and self-service options, along with internal technology systems geared to improve the member experience. Members can enroll in the free VoiceID service by calling California Credit Union’s Contact Center at (800) 334-8788. Texans Credit Union (Texans), a leading financial institution with a 70-year legacy of dedicated service to the North Texas community, proudly unveils its new logo. The redesign represents a bold step forward, embodying the organization's commitment to its Texas Instruments (TI) heritage, tradition, innovation and the vibrant spirit of Texas. Since 1953, Texans has been dedicated to enhancing the economic prosperity of its members and the communities they serve. Originating from a group of 11 TI employees who pooled together their savings, ‘Texins Credit Union’ was established to promote thrift and provide affordable loans to colleagues. Four decades later, Texans expanded its eligibility criteria, embracing a community charter and extending membership to employees from neighboring local businesses. This expansion led to the organization’s first rebranding initiative in 1998, renaming the institution from Texins to Texans. "The new logo reflects our dynamic evolution as an organization," said David Frazier, president and CEO of Texans. "With this redesign, we convey our dedication to being a financially sound credit union while showcasing our unique business model and our commitment to transformation and progress. It serves as a visual representation of our promise to continuously enhance value for our members for decades to come." Throughout its storied history, Texans has undergone various redesign efforts, each reflecting its evolving identity and commitment to its members. However, this latest redesign marks a significant milestone, representing Texans' dedication to its core values and signaling a bold step forward into the future. With a renewed sense of purpose and identity, Texans is poised to continue its legacy of service and innovation. Recent research conducted by The Tech Report indicates that a staggering 90% of a brand's initial impact is attributed to its logo, signifying the impactful role visual identity plays in shaping perceptions and building trust. Within the new logo, the T in Texans remains the hero element, symbolically weaving and connecting the community while propelling it forward. It blends Texans Blue and Texans Tangerine, representing loyalty, trustworthiness, generosity and success. The chosen fonts, Azo Sans Medium for "TEXANS" and Neuzeit Grotesk Regular for "CREDIT UNION," embody modernity and authenticity. The redesign will be featured across various platforms, including digital channels, physical locations, marketing materials and promotional items. This includes digital platforms like the official website, mobile app and social media, as well as physical locations such as branch offices, ATMs and signage. It will also be used in marketing materials like brochures, flyers and advertisements, as well as in correspondence and promotional items, solidifying Texans’ brand presence in the everyday lives of its members. SELCO Community Credit Union’s annual scholarship program received a record number of applications in 2024 after opening the program to continuing, vocational, and nontraditional students for the first time. In the end, 21 deserving students were awarded $77,500 in scholarships. SELCO awarded 20 scholarships to eligible students worth $3,500 each, an increase from $2,500 each in 2023. In addition, SELCO awarded the $7,500 Richard Metzler Opportunity Scholarship to Victor Yanez, a Lane County student who demonstrated excellence in education, leadership, or civic responsibility despite adversity or lack of opportunity. The award for the Richard Metzler Opportunity Scholarship increased 50% from the $5,000 that was awarded in 2023. Now in its 34th year, SELCO’s scholarship program was reimagined for 2024 as part of the Oregon credit union’s new SELCO Steps Up program, which aims to create positive, innovative, and lasting change through community giving, volunteerism, and educational support. One of the key goals for SELCO Steps Up is to evolve its programs to meet the changing needs of the community, including a shifting academic landscape. Once limited to high school seniors headed to two- or four-year colleges, the scholarship program was expanded to accept applications from vocational school students, nontraditional students returning to school, and those already attending an accredited college, university, or vocational school. The response was immediate. SELCO received a record number of applications in 2024, doubling the total from 2023. “This year’s applicants were as impressive as any group we’ve seen,” said Craig Carpenter, SELCO’s Senior Vice President of Lending & Business Banking. “The growth in interest this year is exciting, and the Selection Panel had a challenging time selecting the most deserving recipients. Ultimately, the increase in interest showed us that these scholarships are keeping up with students’ priorities. These students have exciting futures ahead of them, and it’s rewarding to help give them a running start.” To qualify, applicants must be a SELCO member or the immediate family of a SELCO member. Applicants must also hold a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 from a four-year accredited high school or have earned a GED, and plan to attend a vocational school or an accredited two- or four-year college/university. The 2024 SELCO Scholarship recipients are: $7,500 Richard Metzler Opportunity Scholarship (Name, hometown, and school planning to attend)
$3,500 SELCO Scholarships (Name, hometown, and school planning to attend)
SELCO started its scholarship program in 1991 as an important component of its mission to help members reach their financial and educational goals. In the past five years alone, SELCO has awarded nearly $300,000 through this program. Unlike many scholarships, these funds can be used for educational expenses beyond tuition. Each recipient will be invited to attend a ceremony at SELCO headquarters in Springfield on Thursday, May 23. For more on the recipients, visit www.selco.org/steps-up/scholarships/2024-recipients/. Are you one of the millions of Americans silently struggling as groceries, gas and housing costs skyrocket? According to a 2023 survey by Payroll.com, over three-quarters of people in the U.S. share this burden, and it’s no wonder as the cost of everyday items, like gas and groceries, continues to skyrocket. Telhio Credit Union was selected by the producers of Opportunity Knocks, the award-winning personal finance reality TV series that recently premiered Season 2 on PBS.org, PBS Passport and on WOSU on Monday, May 6, 2024, and continues to air every Monday for 12 weeks. Opportunity Knocks creates an interactive experience in which viewers can use the show’s grant-funded tools, The Opportunity Finder and The Opportunity Coach, to empower themselves to take the same actionable steps as Wesley and Maegan Scherer took on their journey from financial stress to financial stability. "We are thrilled and honored to be featured in this award-winning television series," shared Derrick Bailey, CEO of Telhio Credit Union. "This recognition is a testament to the critical financial services our team provides to change lives every day and underscores our values of caring and commitment.” Telhio Credit Union was selected to participate in the series because of its dedication to financial empowerment and efforts to serve communities that historically have been abandoned by mainstream financial institutions. All credit unions are not-for-profit. Additionally, Telhio is Community Development Financial Institution-certified, which means that it has a mission to provide financing to underserved communities. In the series, it provides a personal loan to Wesley and Maegan Scherer, which is a pivotal point in turning their financial despair into a strategy to keep more of their own money. Jamie Strayer, creator of The Opportunity Initiative and Opportunity Knocks and executive producer, wants viewers to know, "Everyone deserves financial opportunities. Opportunity Knocks levels the playing field and breaks down barriers for families to get ahead. Telhio’s work with the Scherer family shows the miracle that happens when people receive fair access to affordable credit.” Brian Spoor, showrunner, director and executive producer, shared, “This is a show that gives meaning to my life’s work.” Spoor is a Prime Time Emmy-nominated director/producer of Wahlburgers and 70 other reality TV hits, including Undercover Billionaire. Opportunity Knocks is distributed to PBS stations nationally by American Public Television (APT) and presenting station WXXI Public Media. The show is funded by the nonprofit National Council for Financial Opportunities, The Wells Fargo Foundation, Balance and Callahan and Associates. Spoor, Strayer and Jenn George Hunter executive produce the series. In its first season, Opportunity Knocks won the Silver Anthem Award, honoring mission-driven media worldwide; a prestigious Silver Telly Award for Best Reality Television Program; and The Opportunity Finder received a Gold dotComm Award. Check local listings for your local station’s viewing times. It will also be streamed on PBS.org, the PBS Passport app, and opportunityknocks.net. Velera – formerly PSCU/Co-op Solutions, the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO) and an integrated financial technology solutions provider – announced a total of $140,000 was raised in charitable and philanthropic donations at the THINK 24 conference. The total included $125,000 from Transaction Network Services (TNS). “We are honored to continue to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals,” said TNS Chief Executive Officer Mike Keegan. “We made the $125,000 donation to help ensure every child receives the best possible hospital care. TNS employees volunteer and raise funds for numerous charities each year. Like Velera and its credit union partners, we believe that it is our collective responsibility to give back to the communities where we operate. I want to thank all TNS employees for their charitable efforts. I know those efforts make a significant difference.” Additional contributions beyond TNS’ substantial donation stemmed from two charitable and philanthropic opportunities during THINK 24:
“The high level of giving at THINK is a testimony to the people-helping-people ethic of credit unions,” said Velera Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Tom Pierce. “Everyone in our industry really is committed to the well-being of others, and it was particularly evident at THINK this past week.” The THINK conference attracted more than 800 credit union attendees for the May 7-9 event held in Nashville, Tennessee. |
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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