Two Conferences, Two Coasts, One Exhausted Fintech Geek

Glen gathers highlights from the annual conferences for both Nacha in San Diego and NACUSO in Orlando, including conversations with Nacha CEO Jane Larimer on Same Day ACH milestones, Duome Co-Founder Eric Berg on a Next Big Idea for housing, and the Digital Sovereignty Alliance’s Molly Woodman on the state of stablecoin.
Agents & AI & Trust & Narrative Control

Glen connects with Senso Co-Founder/CEO Saroop Bharwani about his firm’s approach to addressing some of the greatest disruptions emerging from the Agentic AI explosion. Also- Gen Z perspectives continue to evolve and surprise, and behavioral science gets a sidecar.
Is the “Underbanked” Concept Ripe for a Rethink?

Glen speaks with Andrew Warren about the Financial Health Network’s new report which makes the case for modernizing the definition of underbanked consumers. Also- X Money makes its long-promised debut, and the OCC potentially rides to the rescue of interchange (and workable payment processes). Plus a discount code for May’s fast-approaching EMERGE conference.
Join John Best at the next CU Town Hall Wednesday, May 20th, 2026 at 3 PM ET

Recorded live for the first time ever at ACU’s Strategic Growth Conference, this CU Town Hall took on a lively “Pardon the Interruption” format as John Best, Joe Keller (Visions), Karen Bejarano (TruWest), and Glen Sarvady (154 Advisors) tackled today’s most pressing industry issues. From the CFPB, open banking, stablecoins, AI & quantum, branch strategy, next-gen members/wealth transfer, fraud, and fintech partnerships—this fast-paced session delivered candid insights, audience interaction, and plenty of laughs.
CU Town Hall Episode 146: Credit Union AI Fear Factory

In this session, the conversation centered on how AI is rapidly reshaping the credit union landscape, from fraud prevention and operational efficiency to member experience. We discussed real-world use cases, risks, and the growing need for thoughtful governance as institutions begin to adopt AI more strategically.
Keeping It Small, Sustainable

Glen speaks with the CEOs of two sub-$100 million CUs (Josh Urbick and Doug Wadsworth) about their respective efforts to advance the small credit union cause. Also, the latest developments at Anthropic and Coinbase highlight the perils facing CUs- and financial services in general.
Mission (Rock) Accomplished

Glen recaps an action-packed CU Unplugged “un-conference,” featuring unique perspectives from leaders of three participating credit unions (Keys FCU, Mid Hudson Valley FCU, State Department FCU) and real-time reflections from Defense Credit Union Council President & CEO Tony Hernandez.
New Analysis Supports Credit Union “Everyman” Claims

Based on the size of the audience Americas Credit Unions’ economic team attracts, I’m clearly not the only one who considers their Economic Update one of the highlights of the annual government Affairs Conference.
The State(s) of Financial Regulation

Our final batch of America’s Credit Unions GAC coverage- Glen speaks with Ncontracts’ Stephanie Lyon about the shifting yet inevitable regulatory/compliance landscape. Also- another Domino falls on Paze’s roadmap, and Illinois’ interchange debacle proves too geeky for prediction markets- but not for a punk rock reference.
Stablecoins and AI- Need We Say More?

Continuing our Americas Credit Unions Government Affairs Conference coverage, Managing Director Brian Kaas discusses TruStage’s new stablecoin designed specifically for credit unions, and CEO/Co-Founder Dan Michaeli shares data-driven insights from Glia’s new Banking AI Benchmarks Report. Also- fintech’s answer to the NBA Slam Dunk Competition.
