In my thirty years of forming credit union collaborations, I have come to see common lessons, especially in multiply owned CUSOs providing one or more back office operational services. I examine twelve of those lessons in these types of CUSOs. (more…)
Events
2020 NACUSO Network Conference Update
3/18/2020: Unfortunately due to the events surrounding the coronavirus, the NACUSO Network Conference is cancelled and will not be held April 20-23, 2020 as planned. As we all navigate the ever-changing reality of our day to day work and personal lives, our first thought is for the safety and well-being of our members, partners, staff and conference participants. We are working with Disney to look for dates when we could possibly reschedule our 2020 Network Conference this fall. More details as they become available will be on our conference website at https://www.nacusonetwork.com.… Read more
2019 Next Big Idea Winner & CUSO of the Year Winners
The 7th annual Next Big Idea winner is Zogo Finance. Bolun Li, Founder of Zogo began his presentation by asking the attendees to raise their hand if they had teenagers, now or in the past. And then he did an amazing job explaining to a room full of parents how his product can both educate and motivate teenagers. A daunting task to be sure. Zogo received 55% of the audience’s votes to claim the victory. Click here for photos and to watch his post-victory interview with Mike Lawson, CUbroadcast.
Click here to see photos and read about who the winners of this year’s CUSO of the Year and New CUSO of the Year Awards were.
CUSOs in the News
The Veridian Group and TDECU announce joint investment in Illuma Labs
The Veridian Group and Texas Dow Employees Credit Union are announcing a joint investment in Illuma Labs, a Plano, Texas-based provider of voice authentication for enhanced security against fraud in call centers.
“Identity theft is an ongoing threat that can have a costly impact on credit unions and their members,” said Nick Evens, The Veridian Group’s president. “We’re excited about the solutions Illuma Labs is bringing to market and grateful for the chance to be part of their growth.”
Illuma Labs is the maker of Illuma Shield, a real-time audio authentication platform to secure voice communications. Illuma Shield uses signal processing, machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide faster, more accurate authentication than the use of PINs, passwords and personal questions. The platform runs passively in the background of each call, creating an easier authentication experience for the member.
“Our top priority is to keep members connected to their money in a way that is not only safe and secure, but also easily accessible,” said Stephanie Sherrodd, TDECU’s president and CEO.… Read more
COVID-19 Transaction Trends from PSCU – Week 21
PSCU, the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization, has updated its weekly transaction analysis from its Owner credit union members on a same-store basis to identify the impact of COVID-19 on consumer spending and shopping trends.
To provide relevant updates on market performance, experts from PSCU’s Advisors Plus and Data & Analytics teams today released year-over-year weekly performance data trends. In this week’s installment, PSCU compares the 21st week of the year (the week ending May 24, 2020 compared to the week ending May 26, 2019).
- Overall credit card spend was down 12.5% compared to the same week last year, and overall debit card spend was up 11.7% year-over-year. For credit, it was the sixth consecutive week of strengthening results. For debit, it was the sixth consecutive week of year-over-year growth since turning negative on March 29.
- The average debit card purchase amount continues to be strong, up 17.2% for the week year-over-year. This continues to be driven by larger transactions in segments such as Grocery, and strong growth in this merchant category (average transaction amount up 16.4% year over year) has changed the overall transaction mix. The volume of overall debit transactions improved last week, ending the week down 4.7% year-over-year compared to being down 6.6% in the prior week.
- The positive trend in consumer goods continued in week 21, with much higher year-over-year growth in debit card purchases. In this category year-over-year, there was a 37.4% increase on debit card spend and a 10.9% increase on credit card spend for the week ending May 24. The gains in the consumer goods category came from bookstores (Amazon), home goods and automotive goods, with continued negative impact from clothing stores.
- ATM deposits finished last week up 9.9%, while overall ATM transactions remained down, finishing week 21 down 24.2% on a year-over-year basis.
- Spending adjustments continue with “stay at home” orders in place, as card-present (CP) versus card-not-present (CNP) transaction counts and dollars spent have shifted. However, we are starting to see a shift back as consumers begin conducting more transactions at physical locations that have now reopened.
o In week 21, credit CNP transactions accounted for 48.2% of overall credit transactions and credit CNP purchasesaccounted for 56.3% of the total spend, up significantly from 31.3% and 43.8%, respectively, a year ago.
