Without Data, It’s All Just Vibes

Glen kicks off the 2025 BIGCast season with Bancography President Steve Reider and a deep dive into branch dynamics. We all know the number of branches is declining but a close look at the data reveals several intriguing subplots (psst… it’s not the credit unions downsizing). Plus the return of BIGCast movie reviews!
Making Sense of FedNow’s Data Dump

Almost precisely sixteen months after launching its long anticipated network of instant payment rails, in late November the Federal Reserve finally shared volume metrics for its FedNow service. While a welcome addition to our understanding of the landscape, the data is of the “glass half full/half empty” variety, and so far raises as many questions as it answers.
Identifying the Standouts at Money 20/20

Round 2 of our Money 20/20 highlights includes Glen’s interviews with a trio of founders- Andre Vellozo of DrumWave and Brittany Kaiser of the Own Your Data Foundation about a model allowing consumers to control and monetize the data they generate, and Eli Wachs of Footprint about combating fraud by whitelisting the good guys. Also- Bitcoin blows up and Cap One/Discover makes a comeback.
A Path to Member Prosperity

Glen speaks with the founders of Starlight and Credit Mountain, two award-winning startups with a goal of smoothing the turbulent patches of consumers’ financial journeys. Also- a first look at the CFPB’s 594-page magnum opus on personal data rights.
The Future of Cash (Yes, it has a future…)

Glen recaps the highlights from last week’s global Future of Cash conference, including interviews with Alex Bau of the Fed’s Cash Product on new research re: US usage, and Ron Delnevo on ATMs and “keeping cash local.” Plus more uses- and more pay?- for gig workers?
A Bluetooth for Open Banking?

Glen speaks with Financial Data Exchange Managing Director Don Cardinal about efforts to establish an industry standard to enable open banking and bid farewell to screen scraping. Also- an artistic approach to deepfakes, and cash meets its demise at Death Valley.
The Inside Pitch on Fintech South

An insightful chat with Cardlytics’ co-founder and former CEO Lynne Laube- now a partner with Valor Ventures- and Fintech Catalyst Robert Daniel of Georgia Tech’s ATDC, about September’s exciting startup competition including a few pitch tips from insiders. Also, Glen’s thoughts on PayPal’s new stablecoin and the Premier League’s payments connections.
Breaking Weekly Digital Gridlock Tip #13: When do you need a Data Governance Committee?

This week, John gives tips on the right time and the right way to start a data governance committee.
Getting Your Data In Order – A Recipe for Digital Success

Data is fundamental to your digital transformation. Customers must be able to efficiently and effectively manage transactions online. Credit Unions must be able to infer customer needs from those transactions and reach out to customers where they “live” online, whether through email, social media, or text. This blog post presents a simple recipe for getting your data in order as a foundation for digital success.
A Credit Union’s Biggest Cultural Challenge: Its Smart Use Of Data

Many credit unions are successfully building the fundamental skills and infrastructure they need to utilize data more effectively. They’re aggressively investing in analytic tools, staff skills, and warehouses, but less so in the newer tools of decisioning, fraud, and predictive machine learning and AI technologies.