Hello, and welcome to the Michigan Priority Report for May 2018. This has been a busy spring, so let’s get right to it.
Starting in Washington D.C., the House is expected to vote on Senate Bill 2155, “The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act,” in just a matter of days. By the time many of you watch this video, the bill may have already been taken up. However, at the time of this filming, we have reason to believe that the House will vote to pass the bill and it will soon be on its way to the president’s desk.
Getting this bill through the Senate and into the House was the result of tireless effort from MCUL, CUNA and credit union leagues across the country. We’re especially proud that, here in Michigan, our own Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow joined together with senators from both sides of the aisle to craft and support this common-sense, bi-partisan legislation.
This bill brought together credit unions and banks looking for common-sense reform for Michigan consumers. For the first time in history, Michigan banks and credit unions conducted joint hill visits to promote the regulatory reform bill. Following a joint letter to congress from MCUL, the Michigan Bankers Association and the Community Bankers of Michigan, Michigan Bankers CEO Rann Paynter and I made a joint visit to Capitol Hill. There, Rann and I met with Representatives and staff from most of our Congressional delegation.
All this was in addition to countless emails, calls and letters from Michigan credit unions, banks, businesses and citizens. This underscores why grassroots action is so important to stay focused on advocacy. We’re now just days away from what many thought was impossible: a regulatory relief bill that reforms Dodd-Frank with targeted relief for credit unions.
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Back here in Michigan, we continue to see positive movement on legislation to address data breaches. Senate bills 632 and 633 were introduced to the Senate Committee on Banking and Financial Institutions by Senator Booher back in October of 2017. Since then, MCUL has been working closely with the Michigan Bankers Association, the Community Bankers of Michigan and the bill sponsor on a compromise that would give much needed relief to Michigan credit unions.
The first of two hearings on this package was held on May 1st. Seventeen credit union leaders were in attendance, some of whom testified on how data breaches have specifically impacted their credit union. Many leaders who were not able to be present at the hearing sent in cards of support backing this legislation. Workgroups will continue through May; watch for more details in the coming weeks.
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And now, taking a look at PAC fundraising...
Our annual Lapel Pin campaign is off to a strong start with more than 1,700 lapel pins raising close to $135,000 for our state PAC. These, of course, can be ordered online, and will also be available at AC&E this June.
Springtime brings warmer temperatures and our Annual Grand Raffle, which supports the federal PAC. As you know, the Grand Raffle is one of the largest fundraising events in the entire credit union movement with a grand prize of $20,000.
Please do your part by buying a PAC pin and participating in the Grand Raffle.
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The 2018 “Strength in Our Numbers” CU Link cooperative advertising campaign is moving full speed ahead. As we transition into the second quarter, media spending is shifting from cable television to streaming radio with Pandora and iHeartRadio. Social media continues to be a successful platform for featuring digital ads and video.
We continue to strongly encourage credit unions to participate in the CU Link integration program, as it’s a critical element of the campaign. Integration magnifies the campaign’s message, making a $2 million annual campaign much larger across the state.
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And now on to awards — CUNA Award nominations opened on May 1st.
We had a truly inspirational showing in 2017. Michigan credit unions were recognized with 11 state-level awards, with four of those going on to receive national awards. It’s a great honor to be represented so well on the national credit union stage, and we encourage you to look inward and don’t be shy about entering your credit union into the mix.
Again, nominations are being accepted now through July 15th, so there’s plenty of time for your credit union to submit a nomination. Visit the nomination portal on mcul.org for details.
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MCUL and CUSG are heading to Traverse City June 6th through the 9th for our Annual Convention and Exposition. In our past few Priority Reports, we previewed several keynote and breakout sessions for AC&E, but I’d like to highlight Friday’s agenda which features three cannabis-focused sessions — two of which have been just added to the lineup.
We’ll start the Friday cannabis track with "Cannabis Banking: What’s the Big Deal?" as a Lunch & Learn session that will be facilitated by Sundie Seefried, CEO of Partner Colorado Credit Union. Sundie is a nationally recognized expert on cannabis banking and we look forward to learning from her experience.
New to the agenda is "Cannabis Banking: Boots on the Ground Perspective" with Rachel Pross, chief risk officer of Maps Credit Union, located in Salem, Oregon. Rachel will offer best practices, lessons learned, cautionary tales and practical advice for credit unions considering a cannabis banking program.
Finally, the third session will feature Elizabeth Khalil and Lance Boldrey of Dykema law firm. Their session, "Marihuana Businesses: What Credit Unions Need to Know," will cover the current and future legal landscape for medical and recreational cannabis in Michigan compared to other states.
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Switching focus to CU Solutions Group, on Thursday, AC&E attendees will be treated to a recently expanded presentation by our own Dave Adams. Dave’s mainstage session, The Leadership Imperative, discusses how credit unions can effectively balance change in a digital world.
Specifically, he’ll be covering three emerging innovations from CUSG and detailing how they meet the unique needs of credit unions. One innovation, as many of you know, is CUSG’s LifeSteps Wallet. This mobile banking enhancement suite is designed to position credit unions top of wallet and top of mind with members. With unique functionality built around home, auto, shopping and financial wellness, the suite is designed to enhance a credit union's mobile offerings while matching important solutions to its members’ major life events and everyday financial decisions. The truth is, there are opportunities in the mobile banking market that neither credit unions nor banks are capitalizing on, and fintech companies like Venmo, Square and Shopify are more than happy to step in. Dave will walk us through the current landscape while considering whether we want to chase the status quo, or make a move and set a new standard with mobile banking.
He’ll also discuss the Just Getting By campaign. We rolled out the feature-length documentary at AC&E last June. The hour-long video is broken into 19 short video vignettes. Each tells a story of a person struggling to get by financially. The root causes of these challenges include student loan debt, job loss, medical emergencies, divorce or a lack of financial education. Since the release of the film, CUSG has worked to build a social media campaign surrounding the documentary, and we have some exciting developments to announce.
Finally, Dave will be rolling out CUSG’s reinvented model for Strategic HR Advisory Services. CUSG’s HR Performance Solutions division has consistently generated strong growth over the past several years. Building upon a solid foundation that includes core solutions Compease and Performance Pro, the team recently launched Planning Pro. This cloud-based software helps organize plans and prioritize tracking in a way that meets the needs of a wide variety of planning styles. Just months ago, the team finalized a partnership to offer CUSG Executive Search powered by Angott Search Group, and in the coming months is preparing to release a new, robust board governance resource. As Dave will explain, the reinvented model for Strategic HR Advisory Services brings all of these powerful tools together in a dynamic and cohesive way.
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Each of Dave’s CUSG product updates come at a pivotal moment. The LifeSteps Wallet application has just entered its tenth revision process. In addition to updates to “deals” and “directory services,” CUSG Technology Solutions is making continual improvements to the app’s interface. Enhancements to both performance and aesthetics are ongoing and we continue to hear positive feedback from credit unions.
The product now hosts seven clients with dozens more in the pipeline. In addition to launches with Flint’s Security Credit Union and the Houston-based PrimeWay Federal Credit Union, four additional credit unions have executed contracts and will begin implementation between May and July. Several more contracts are in the final stages of negotiation and are expected to close in the coming weeks.
Looking at Marketing Solutions, the Love My Credit Union Rewards team just wrapped up a successful Mother’s Day themed campaign for Sprint Credit Union Member Cash Rewards. Running April 23rd though May 2nd, the campaign generated strong results, particularly with online advertising. On May 14th, the new campaign “Summer of Hundreds” began with A/B testing. Starting with different messaging and creative, the summer campaign will be the first batch of promotions to feature the updated Sprint offer that took effect May 18th. Relatedly, Sprint credit union marketing materials in the Partner Center are currently being updated to reflect the new offer as well.
As Sprint moves into a strong summer, the 2017 tax season ended strong for CUSG and Intuit TurboTax. Love My Credit Union Rewards generated a 4 percent boost over last year’s results, and ended with revenue approaching $2.3 million. This performance continues to grow our partner program — a program that had already entered the tax season as Intuit’s top affinity partner in the financial services sector. Intuit and CUSG teams have set up post-season review and collaboration sessions to gear up for a new, productive and profitable 2018 tax season.
Finally, Performance Solutions is gearing up for its highly-anticipated release of Performance Pro 4.0. Features to be completed by the end of May include the ability to run concurrent appraisals, a finalization of the third appraisal section, customizable alerts and the ability to calculate merit increase without Compease.
Also, just released earlier this year, Planning Pro is off to a good start. With well over a dozen presentations completed and four contracts signed, the Michigan Solutions team is now in the process of setting up state-wide webinars. As I mentioned earlier, more details on this and Strategic HR Advisory Services will be included in Dave Adams’ AC&E address.
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That’s all for this month’s edition of Priority Report.
We covered a great deal this month. For more information on federal or state legislation, regulation, compliance, education or events, visit mcul.org. For content pertaining to products and services pertaining to technology, marketing or HR performance covered in this video, please visit CUSolutionsGroup.com.
Thank you once again for joining us, and we’ll see you at the AC&E in June.