Welcome to February’s Priority Report. We will review current happenings at MCUL and then jump right to some updates on the CU Solutions Group side.

FEDERAL ADVOCACY AGENDA

February is a big month for credit unions. Our movement will be educating members of Congress on our legislative priorities and continuing momentum for legislation that will help us reach our 2020 goals. At the end of the month, we will join along with thousands of credit union leaders from across the country in Washington, D.C. for the CUNA GAC.

MCUL has scheduled meetings with our delegation offices and is looking forward to discussing the credit union difference and the need to advance legislation on data security and privacy, cannabis banking, modernizing the Federal Credit Union Act, reforms to the Bank Secrecy Act, and reforms to this country’s housing finance system.

Earlier this month, we were honored to host a credit union townhall meeting with U.S. Senator Gary Peters at LAFCU’s headquarters in Lansing. Going back to his time in the U.S. House, Senator Peters has been a key ally for credit unions. In addition to his support and leadership on important financial regulatory relief legislation in 2018, he’s been with us on other top issues like cannabis banking and CECL and will continue to be a critical voice on data security and privacy. As many of you know, Gary is running for re-election in 2020.

Finally, CUNA has been active on a variety of issues. They recently wrote House Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in support of two bills -- H.R. 5315, a bill that would codify the Treasury Department’s mentor protégé program to encourage collaboration between Minority Depository Institutions and large financial institutions, and H.R. 4458, a bill that would require federal regulators to each issue an annual report to Congress describing measures it has taken to strengthen cybersecurity. You will hear more about these bills in our monthly advocacy update.

STATE ADVOCACY AGENDA

Lawmakers are gearing up for the Fiscal Year 2021 budget process. Our team is meeting with key members of the appropriations committees to ensure that they are aware of our budget requests on e-recording and green lending.
 
Data breach legislation was introduced in the Senate late last year, spearheaded by Senate Banking Committee Chair Lana Theis. Rep. Diana Farrington will also continue to pursue greater clarity on notification timelines. Payday Lending expansion legislation has resurfaced this year, which would create a new small-dollar loan program under the Deferred Presentment Transaction Act. Our team is working to oppose this legislation. Military account escheats reform was unanimously voted off the Senate floor and should be taken up by the House shortly.

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

Be on the lookout for some changes to MCUL’s website for compliance resources and information. We understand the importance of compliance, so the League is taking a new approach in 2020: Advocacy, Information and Solutions. Through Advocacy, we’re working with regulators at the state and federal level to alleviate burdensome regulation. With League InfoSight, we’re providing free resources and Information to our member credit unions in the form of state and federal regulatory content, FAQs and policies with CU Policy Pro. Finally, we’re providing Solutions to help credit unions stay in compliance with management systems ComplySight and AffirmX, as well as assistance with vendor management through CUVM. Also, be on the lookout for our compliance webinar series.

We are also working on reviewing two anticipated proposals from the NCUA. At its January meeting, the NCUA Board issued a proposed rule and request for comment on Subordinated Debt, with a lengthy comment period of 120 days after publication, allowing credit unions and leagues time to properly research and review. They also proposed a rule clarifying the process and procedures for credit union acquisitions of banks, which has a 60-day comment period. MCUL is in the process of reviewing each proposal and will be issuing summaries with requests for comment in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the Examination Taskforce has wrapped up its survey. We received 76 responses and we thank everyone who participated. Your feedback is critical to our meetings with NCUA and DIFS.

CONSUMER AWARENES

While last year’s CU Link cooperative advertising campaign reached more than 13 million adults in Michigan, 2020 looks to be even more productive. The plan is to continue to place more than $2 million in advertising this year, thanks to your generous support, plus the matching funds from MCUL. 

Our consumer research once again confirmed that proof points -- such as the fact that Michigan credit unions provided 482 million dollars in direct financial benefits in a 12-month period to Michigan consumers -- really resonate with the audience. We are updating these points in our adds to hit home the positive results credit unions achieve. Thank you for your continued support of cooperative advertising.  
 
If you are not already a full fair-share CU Link supporter, we encourage you to reconsider a full-share contribution for this year. Michigan’s long-standing success in cooperative advertising is because of you. Be sure to look at the opportunities for integration with your own credit union brand at MCUL.org.

MCUF
This year, the Michigan Credit Union Foundation will continue to focus on supporting credit union community impact activities. With an emphasis on improving the financial health of Michigan families and communities through credit union activities, the Foundation will support several financial education programs including Financial Reality Fairs and statewide Money Smart Week programs. These programs reached more than 15,000 youth and teens and their families last year and we’re excited to see how many more young Michiganders we can reach this year.

Credit unions of all sizes are invited to participate in Foundation programs, which include community reinvestment grants, support for financial counseling certification training and support for our next generation of credit union leaders through the FUEL Michigan young professional group.

The majority of Foundation funding comes from you, our Michigan credit unions. So, if you have not already done so, we ask that you consider making an annual donation so that MCUF can continue to help our movement make a difference.

EDUCATION

As Patty Corkery and I travel the state and meet with all of you during our chapter meetings, we are pleased to hear how well the League is aligning our educational offerings to your ever-changing staff training needs. This seems to be even more heightened as credit unions focus on staff retention by promoting within and investing in professional development.

We're particularly proud of the great things happening with MCUL’s Leadership@Eleven executive development series. The seven-month course allows cohorts to focus on Leading Themselves, Leading Others and Leading Credit Unions, by identifying their strengths and strengthening their weaknesses. The 2020 series is launching in March and is a perfect solution for career-minded leaders. You can find more details on our website.

CU SOLUTIONS GROUP

Technology Solutions and LifeStep Solutions continue to focus joint efforts on expanding and implementing key mobile banking offerings, like Payzur’s white label platform for person-to-person – or P2P – transactions. With the prominence of payment apps like PayPal, Venmo and CashApp, ongoing member engagement is a growing challenge. But Payzur delivers ease and convenience, allowing your members to execute P2P transactions without leaving their credit union’s app.

Tax season is well upon us and is the perfect time for credit unions to promote the TurboTax Credit Union Member Discount. If you’re one of the many credit unions offering this membership enhancement, we have new promotional materials, email templates and member insights available in the LMCUR Partner Center. Also, by popular request, we’re once again sending approved TurboTax email promotions to members on behalf of their credit union. Contact the LMCUR team for more details.

If your credit union isn’t currently tracking member engagement, we encourage you to learn more about MemberXP. CUSG acquired MemberXP in mid-2019 to help credit unions obtain member feedback and actionable insights across the organization. We’re now working to develop and expand on new member insights, add extensive peer data enhancements and develop a new module to uncover employee sentiment.

As discussed in CU Insight’s February edition of CEO Connect, we know employee development, training, and culture enhancement are reflected in the member experience – this is a large part of what we uncover with MemberXP. The problem is, while this often leads to training and development, not every credit union can afford the resource of a Chief Learning Officer. In response, we’ve partnered with CU Training to fill this gap for a large number of credit unions.

Our new Performance Solutions offering, TLC360, allows credit unions and CUSOs to create their own digital university. Customized curriculums blend soft skills training with core system and frontline skills, as well as resources for leadership development. To enhance these resources, the Performance Solutions division is working closely with CUBE TV Studios on new and expanded video content. I invite you to read this month’s edition of CEO Connect for a deeper conversation around the topic, or reach out to our Performance Solutions team for a demo of the TLC360 application.

Finally, in early 2020, the Strategic Advisory Solutions team will focus on two new initiatives -- the development of an Elder Abuse Community Outreach kit and the expansion of hands-on workplace training.

The Elder Abuse Community Outreach kit will be leveraged by credit unions to educate their members while providing more community outreach to members and non-members alike.

And a new “Hot Topics” education bundle will roll out shortly that includes “workplace bullying and harassment prevention” training and “diversity and inclusion” training. As always, we welcome your input and encourage you to reach out with other potential topics or suggestions.

That’s it for this month. We’re excited to share our experiences from the CUNA GAC with you next month, and to continue working toward our top 2020 priorities.

As always, if you have any questions about any of our solutions, or about how they can help you better serve your members, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Thanks for reading this month’s Priority Report and thanks for your continued support in 2020.