The way we live, work, and do business continues to evolve as innovative technologies connect people in new and differentiated ways. And, every day, Mastercard is providing choice to businesses, people, and communities to meet this reality and make an impact on all aspects of their connected lives – from cybersecurity protection, to open banking, to new ways to pay.  

Join Mastercard at Money20/20 in Las Vegas from Sunday, October 23 to Wednesday, October 26, 2022, to experience how Mastercard is enabling a frictionless world through simple, safe, and smart solutions. Throughout the show, the Mastercard Booth (#2021) at the Venetian Convention & Expo Center will showcase interactive demos highlighting payments innovations such as cryptocurrency, installments, fraud prevention, and much more. 

In addition, several Mastercard leaders will also participate in panels and sessions throughout the event: 

Sunday, October 23 

9:30-10am PT – Fintech Marketing Excellence Summit: “How Financial Service Brands Win with Marketing” featuring Cheryl Guerin, executive vice president, Global Brand Strategy and Innovation 

Marcello, Junior Ballroom, Level 4  

Hear from WARC, the global authority on marketing effectiveness, and Mastercard, who WARC recently named as the most effective financial services advertiser in the annual WARC Rankings, on the answers to these questions and more. 

9:30am-12:30pm PT – Startup Competition: “America’s Got Access” featuring Sherri Haymond, executive vice president, Digital Partnerships  

Galileo, Junior Ballroom, Level 1 

Ten startups will present a live pitch, followed by a Q&A from an expert panel featuring industry leaders. The top 4-5 startups will then pitch to the most engaged audience of senior executives from Mastercard, Commerce Ventures, Precursor Ventures, and Money20/20. One startup will win the Money20/20 and Commerce Ventures prize of $100,000 and be crowned the champion of America’s Got Access. The winner can look forward to receiving Priceless resources from the Mastercard Start Path program. 

Monday, October 24 

9:30-10am PT – Mastercard InConversation: “Demystifying the Metaverse for Your Brand” featuring Sherri Haymond, executive vice president, Digital Partnerships and Cheryl Guerin, executive vice president, Global Brand Strategy and Innovation 

Mastercard Booth (#2021) 

Imagine a space where possibilities are limitless, and the only constraints are your own creativity. Welcome to the metaverse. Join Mastercard’s Cheryl Guerin and Sherri Haymond for an exploration of what this radical evolution means for brands and how to prepare for this boundless future. 

11:30am-12pm PT – Mastercard InConversation: “Optimizing the Fintech Lifecycle” with Les Matthews, executive vice president, Services, North America 

Mastercard Booth (#2021) 

Great news! You’ve launched your fintech and are on your way to changing the world. So, what now? Les Matthews and leaders will discuss the fintech lifecycle, including the greatest needs leaders should be considering when establishing a presence and building with customers and the importance of always-on engagement. 

1-1:15pm PT – Presentation: “Open Banking & Beyond: Building the Future of Financial Services” featuring Jess Turner, executive vice president, Global Open Banking & API 

M Pulse, Expo Hall, Level 2 

Consumer-permissioned data is transforming financial services across virtually all industry segments and geographies. Jess Turner, EVP, Global Open Banking and API at Mastercard, will discuss the need and the vision to deliver both a trusted experience and a platform for innovation, empowering consumers to benefit from their data and empowering financial services.  

1:30-2pm PT – Panel: “The Hybrid Option – Can Industry-Led Activity & Government Regulation Really Deliver the Ideal Open Banking/Finance Framework?” featuring Tom Carpenter, senior vice president, Open Banking Policy, Industry Standards Engagement 

Between Two… , Expo Hall, Level 2 

Open banking, open finance and other innovative financial services frameworks are typically understood around the world as either regulatory-led or industry-led. Each model has benefits and drawbacks, but is a hybrid framework that utilizes the best of both truly attainable or is it a unicorn? Mastercard and U.S. executive and legislative branch leaders weigh in. 

3:30-4pm PT – Mastercard InConversation: “From Possibility to Reality: Open Banking Innovations Adding Choice to Payments” with Silvana Hernandez, senior vice president, Products & Engineering, and Patrick Pearson, vice president, Open Banking Platforms 

Mastercard Booth (#2021) 

Consumer expectations have evolved. People want more tech-driven, digital choices in how they use and manage their money. As new digital innovations come of age, customers and consumers are embracing them, including account-based and real-time payments. In conversation with Mastercard and Dwolla, hear how you can easily offer more choice through account-based payments. 

Tuesday, October 25 

11:45-12:15pm PT – Mastercard InConversation: “1+1=3 – The Power of Partnership” with Tim Montgomery, senior vice president, Digital Partnerships 

Mastercard Booth (#2021) 

Amid disruption, fintechs and other digital players have emerged to collaborate across the payments ecosystem, solving for some of the biggest problems impacting people, businesses, and the wider economy. Tim Montgomery and other industry leaders will discuss how to create new and differentiated products, the value of collaboration, and role of mission and vision alignment. 

1-1:45pm PT – Meetups: “Fraud Prevention & AML in Payments as a Service” with Liam Cooney, vice president, Cyber and Intelligence Solutions 

Mavericks of Fintech, Expo Hall, Level 2, The Venetian 

The global rise of digital transaction volumes has created great opportunities for the new power players in the payments ecosystem, but fraud and financial crime have increased in lockstep. Now they need more scalable and efficient fraud prevention and AML solutions. Join in on the discussion with payments experts representing the ecosystem’s three central pillars: issuing, acquiring, and payment networks.  

3:30-4pm PT – Mastercard InConversation: “Women in Fintech: Leveraging Partnerships to Grow an Inclusive Financial Economy” featuring Sabrina Tharani, vice president, Global Startup Partnerships 

Mastercard Booth (#2021) 

Join Sabrina Tharani, lead for Mastercard’s award-winning startup engagement program, Start Path, in discussion on how Mastercard is working with breakout women-founded fintechs to define the future of commerce and payments. You’ll hear from leading women entrepreneurs who are changing the face of digital payments, as well as learn about some of the unique challenges diverse founders encounter while building technology solutions and raising capital.  

Before you go: over the next few days, be sure to check in on the Mastercard newsroom to learn how we’re powering a frictionless world.   

Original Post

MemberSource Credit Union signs agreement with United Solutions Company to migrate to OnCore XP2, United Solutions Company CUSO’s hosted Fiserv XP2 core system.

October 19, 2022 – United Solutions Company (USC), a technology CUSO hosting core processing and many other technology services for credit unions, announced MemberSource Credit Union (MemberSource CU) has signed a contract to migrate their XP2 Core Processing System to USC’s Data Center. MemberSource CU has chosen USC as their
technology partner because of the excellent customer service. “United Solutions is excited to provide MemberSource Credit Union with our hosted core data processing,” commented Jim Giacobbe, President and CEO of USC. “Kenny Harrington, CEO at MemberSource, and his team are very professional and run a great shop. They are in a
growing market and will take advantage of all the XP2 System has to offer.” MemberSource CU is a not-for-profit, cooperative banking institution, serving its members since 1958 with a wide array of benefits designed to meet all the banking needs of its members and their families. The credit union comes from humble beginnings. When it all
began, it was only open for a grand total of an hour a day, offering loans of $200! Originally PT&T Federal Credit Union, it was not until June 30, 2000 that the credit union was known as it is now. MemberSource CU has now grown to a membership of 17,800 with assets of $221 million. “Our migration from an XP2 in-house environment to the United Solutions OnCore XP2 solution was a very smooth and seamless experience for our members and staff,” stated
Kenny Harrington, President / CEO of MemberSource Credit Union. “The advance preparation process that was led by the United Solutions staff made the weekend of migration very easy. Services were suspended Friday evening and we were back up servicing members with all systems online when we opened the doors Monday morning. Working with
United Solutions has been a great experience!” The OnCore XP2 account processing solution is designed for progressive credit unions and built on technology that will support their needs well into the future. OnCore XP2 uses a
browser interface leveraging internet and intranet technology to deliver unprecedented control and a more user-friendly experience. A relational database manages data securely, provides low-cost maintenance and ease of access with multiple off-the-shelf reporting tools. With OnCore XP2, any credit union can take advantage of strengthening their member relationships with built-in member relationship management tools such as the Cross-Sell
feature. MemberSource CU joined USC in June 2022.

About United Solutions Company
United Solutions Company is a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) and Application Service Provider (ASP) founded in 1983 with headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida. United Solutions provides a comprehensive menu of products and services to credit unions and other businesses all over the country. From core data processing and check 21 services, to collections and network management, our exceptional services and commitment to
innovation is what truly sets us apart. Visit www.unitedsolutions.coop for more information.

About MemberSource Credit Union
To find out more about MemberSource CU and their commitment to member service, visit them at https://www.membersourcecu.org/

October 19, 2022 – As the leaves begin to turn, the economy is chugging along. Unfortunately, it’s chugging too fast for the Federal Reserve’s comfort.

Employers have continued to add jobs at a strong clip, with non-farm payrolls growing by 263,000 in September, edging the unemployment rate down to 3.5%. The biggest gains were found in the leisure and hospitality sectors, along with healthcare.

Meanwhile, inflation continues its year-long hot streak. The producer price index, a measure of wholesale prices, posted a 0.4% gain for September, doubling consensus estimates of 0.2%. This doesn’t bode well for a relaxing of consumer prices and is likely to keep the Federal Reserve committed to its strategy of raising rates in an effort to cool what it sees as a too-hot economy.

Indeed, the Fed raised its benchmark rate by 75 basis points at its September 21 meeting, and Chairman Jerome Powell has signaled plans to bump it another 1.25% by the end of 2022. The stock and bond markets have not reacted well to these aggressive measures, with major indexes down by nearly 25% for the year.

Co-op Solutions’ September credit union card portfolio data showed generally flat to declining month-over-month results in both credit and debit. The Campers & Camping and Sport/Recreation categories were particularly hard hit this month with Entertainment (movie theaters, tourist attractions, museums, etc.), Lodging, Auto Rental, Airlines and Retail also showing moderate declines.

No need to hit the panic button yet, as categories displaying small to moderate declines are in line with prior years’ MoM trends from August to September as transaction counts tend to decline as summer travel ends, back-to-school shopping declines, and consumers start pulling back spend in preparation for the holidays.

Here are some of the key spending trends Co-op’s SmartGrowth consulting team are watching closely this month:

#1: Early Holiday Shopping Begins Now

The combination of continued supply chain issues and rising inflation is pushing the holiday shopping season up in the calendar cycle. Major retailers including Amazon, Target and Kohl’s are all promoting major sales in October, as a way to manage supply concerns and ensure they hit their holiday sales targets amid significant uncertainty.

“With inflation at the top of consumers’ minds, we anticipate many will do their holiday shopping a bit earlier and put their gifts away in their closets for a few months,” said John Patton, Senior Payments Advisor, for Co-op. “I do think that retailers are doing a better job of managing their stock levels than they did a few months ago. They are better prepared.”

#2: Entertainment, Travel Spending are Softening

While the Entertainment and Travel spending categories have shown strong increases throughout the year, as inflation has continued its sharp rise, consumers have begun pulling back on such discretionary spending.

Year over year, the Entertainment category is up a massive 40% in debit and nearly 62% in credit. Travel spending has shown similar growth of 18% in debit and nearly 50% in credit. But in September, Entertainment fell in both debit and credit by 11%, while Travel was down a few percentage points, led by double-digit declines in debit spending on Lodging.

#3: Shift to Credit is Slowing Down

Over the past year there has been a broad shift in spending from debit to credit. Credit is up by 12.4% year over year, while debit has remained virtually flat over the same period. But in recent months that narrative has begun to change. In September, debit was down by -4.0% and credit was down by -3.6% month over month. Households are carefully choosing to use debit or credit based on the context of the individual purchase and their own financial circumstances.

“Part of the reason why credit transaction volume is so inflated over the past year is that consumers are using credit more for everyday purchases,” says Beth Phillips, Director, Coop Solutions. “Consumers have traditionally used debit for such purchases, so a relatively small increase in such usage on the credit side can have an outsized impact on the relative percentage change.”

Month-Over-Month Category-Level Spending (Comparing September 2022 to August 2022)

Please note that the category spending below reflects month-over-month comparisons (rather than year-over-year) – i.e., compares September 2022 with August 2022, rather than September 2022 to September 2021.

	September MoM % Difference (Trans Count)
Category	Debit	Credit
Amazon/Bookstores	-6.0%	-7.4%
Campers & Camping	-31.5%	-28.2%
Computers	-4.6%	-3.1%
Digital Goods	-3.1%	-2.5%
Dining & Entertainment	-4.1%	-3.9%
Entertainment	-11.5%	-11.0%
Fast Food, Restaurants, Bars	-4.0%	-3.6%
Government/Gambling	+16.3%	+18.5%
Education	+27.6%	+18.9%
Gas	-4.8%	-3.5%
Grocery	-3.9%	-3.7%
Grocery	-3.8%	-3.7%
Wholesale	-4.6%	-3.8%
Home Improvement	-6.2%	-4.8%
Medical	-2.6%	-1.9%
Office	-2.1%	-1.5%
Other	-1.9%	-1.4%
Auto Dealers/Services/Parts	-5.5%	-3.6%
Cable, Satellite and Other	+0.2%	-0.1%
Furniture	-4.4%	-4.4%
Government/Postal Services	-10.9%	-10.5%
Professional Services	+2.9%	+1.7%
Real Estate	-3.6%	-3.0%
Self-care	-5.1%	-4.6%
Subscription Services	-2.4%	-2.0%
Utilities	-2.4%	-3.2%
Retail	-7.5%	-6.7%
Department Stores	-9.0%	-8.4%
Discount Stores	-6.9%	-6.8%
Retail	-7.8%	-6.3%
Specialty Retail	-2.1%	-1.8%
Florists, Antiques, Jewelers, Cigars, Stamps, Etc.	-2.1%	-1.8%
Sport/Recreation	-17.2%	-19.4%
Golf Courses	-26.0%	-25.4%
Sport/Recreation	-15.6%	-18.3%
Travel	-3.8%	-1.8%
Airline	-7.7%	-1.4%
Auto Rental	-7.6%	-8.2%
Lodging	-12.9%	-8.6%
Other Travel (Railroad, Taxi, Cruise Lines, Etc.	-2.4%	-0.3%
Grand Total	-4.0%	-3.6%

What CUs Should Do Now

With the holiday shopping season upon us, it’s a great time for credit unions to activate “spend and get” campaigns to keep their cards top of wallet for spending in the hottest merchant categories, such as Department Stores, Discount Stores and Digital Goods. Also, make sure members can easily access their preferred forms of payment, whether shopping in-store or online.

Leading into the holidays, credit unions should focus on providing exceptional member experiences. With the spirit of the holidays, this time of year can also bring financial stressors to members. Hosting lunch-and-learns and staff trainings to acknowledge the challenges this time of year may bring members can be a hugely beneficial opportunity to encourage (or better yet – incentivize) employees to keep their credit union values top of mind in trying situations to provide exceptional member experiences. Experience that will exceed client expectations and assist members with their financial journey.

More information on the Co-op SmartGrowth Consulting Team can be found here.

About Co-op Solutions
Co-op Solutions is the market-leading financial technology platform whose mission is to connect credit unions to the technology, strategic partnership and scale they need to best serve their members now and into the future. Co-op partners with credit unions to unlock their potential so they can compete; does the hard work of innovation, creating a one-stop opportunity to help credit unions grow; and offers knowledge and expertise in a world where everything must be integrated. For more information, visit coop.org.

Contact:
Bill Prichard, APR
Director, Public Relations
Co-op Solutions
(909) 532-9416
Bill.Prichard@coop.org

October 18, 2022 –

Today, PSCU – the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO) – published the October edition of the PSCU Payments Index, the goal of which is to provide information and insights to help financial institutions make informed, strategic decisions on the road ahead.

As the fall season begins and we enter the last quarter of 2022, the U.S. economy continues to face persistently high inflation, a looming recession and rising energy prices. Yet consumer purchasing activity showed continued resilience in both credit card and debit card volume in September. In our October 2022 edition of the PSCU Payments Index, our Deep Dive looks into the Utilities sector as energy forecasts become top of mind heading into the winter months.   

In the Labor Department’s Oct. 13 update, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up 0.4% for the month of September, bringing the 12-month rate of inflation to 8.2%. Increases in shelter, food and medical care were largely offset by a 4.9% decrease in the gasoline index. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in its September 2022 jobs report that 263,000 jobs were added for the month – fewer than August (315,000 jobs) and below the pace of the first half of 2022 (approximately 400,000 jobs per month).

The Federal Reserve will meet on Nov. 1-2 with subsequent interest rate hikes likely, influenced by factors including inflation, jobs and the housing market. An interest rate increase in November would mark the sixth increase this year, with the previous five increases raising rates by a total of three percentage points. The Consumer Confidence Index increased for the second consecutive month in September, following three consecutive months of declines.

“This month’s Deep Dive in the PSCU Payments Index highlights the dramatic impact of inflation within the Utilities sector,” said Leanne McGuinness, chief financial officer, The Summit Federal Credit Union (Rochester, New York). While telecommunications and cable/internet remained strong, purchases and transactions remained largely flat. At the same time, purchases and transactions in the electric/gas/water/sanitation portion of the sector were up substantially year over year, signaling the inflationary effects that our members will be faced with to heat and maintain their homes as the winter months arrive. We appreciate PSCU’s analysis of these trends and assisting us to help our members with options to plan for and meet their monthly obligations.”

A sampling of key takeaways from the October report includes:

• Consumer spending on cards remains strong, with credit cards continuing to outpace debit cards. For September, credit purchases were up 13% and debit purchases were up 6% year over year. Year to date through September, credit purchases were up 18% and debit purchases were up 6%. Current inflationary pressures continue to drive growth in purchases, outpacing growth in transactions. For September, growth in overall transactions was up 11% for credit and 3% for debit.
• The Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) decreased on an annual basis to 8.2% in September, influenced by lower prices in Gasoline and higher prices in Shelter, Food and Medical Care. The Fed meets next on Nov. 1-2, with another large interest rate increase anticipated.
• In this month’s Deep Dive on Utilities spending, the two main components of the sector detail the inflationary impacts of energy costs and potential concerns of “fuel poverty” as we transverse the winter months. Growth in purchases for electric, gas (propane and home heating fuel), water and sanitation was up 29% for credit and 15% for debit for September 2022. For transactions, credit was up 13% and debit was up 5% for September. The second half of the Utilities sector, comprised of telecommunications and cable/internet access, saw year-over-year purchases up 9% for credit and up 1% for debit. For transactions, credit was up 10% and debit was down 2% for September.
• The September average credit card balance per active account was $2,797, up 6.1% (or $160) year over year. Credit card balances surpassed the September 2020 results of $2,787 for the first time since the decline in card balances that began in early 2020. The credit card delinquency rate for September was 1.74%, 16 basis points lower than pre-pandemic September 2019 levels.

The full report is available for download here or can be shared as a PDF upon request. Additionally, feel free to subscribe here to receive updates when the PSCU Payments Index is published each month.