News & Insights

The payments industry is ever-changing. There is a growing need for faster, seamless payments as new technology and competitors emerge. Compared to current fintech solutions, a funds transfer on existing payment rails may take hours or up to a couple days to settle and post to a customer’s account. Until recent years, however, there had been no united payments industry effort to provide additional alternatives for instant transactions. All of that is now on the cusp of change.

Credit unions are an essential part of the financial services sector, serving millions of people around the world. Therefore, it is crucial they operate with the highest level of accuracy to make sound business decisions and provide the best possible services to their members.

As 2023 unfolds, credit unions remain focused on expansion and growth, even though liquidity has tightened, and share growth has slowed. While near-term growth may be difficult to achieve, market indications suggest that share growth will rebound later in 2023 or early 2024.

Since the Fed began increasing the fed funds rate 11 months ago, credit unions across the country have been heavily impacted by the rapid ascent of interest rates. Credit unions experienced some benefits to the rise in rates, but challenges emerged as well. Therefore, it is no surprise that interest rate risk (IRR) tops the list of NCUA’s 2023 Supervisory Priorities.

In the digital banking era, credit unions can’t afford to be reactive to members’ financial needs in everyday life, given the rising competition of fintechs and neobanks, as well as traditional bank competitors. And being proactive doesn’t mean spending a ton of money to build out a stand-alone digital credit union or reorganize the entire operation.

In the U.S. payments industry, 2023 will be a significant year for “instantaneous” payments, and Catalyst Corporate will be actively involved in supporting credit unions’ needs through it all.

Think about interest rates the last 10 years before 2022. The world spent almost the entire 2010s decade in a zero or near-zero rate environment. Fast forward to 2022, and the FOMC has raised rates more than 4% in less than 10 months. After witnessing record mortgage refinances throughout 2021 due to record low rates, in under a year, credit unions were then facing worst case scenarios.

Investing in subordinated debt may offer an attractive yielding asset for your credit union’s balance sheet. Prior to investing in subordinated debt, however, it is important to perform thorough due diligence. Five key areas can help your subordinated debt investment analysis: growth trends, loan quality, earnings capacity, liquidity and planned use of the funds.

Typically, when you see a “crasher” at an event, your first thought might be: “Why are they here and how do we get rid of them?” Not so in the credit union industry. Credit unions are a prime example of true collaboration. We encourage professionals to crash our events – especially those who are uniquely positioned to bring fresh perspective and new ideas to credit union discussions.

Catalyst Corporate hosted four Young Professionals as “crashers” at their annual Economic & Payments Forum last month. The Young Professionals participated in anLeft to Right Wendy McKune, Jessica Wilson and Dezirae Bates application process and explained what would  make them a great fit to be crashers at the event. Out of many applicants, Financial Risk Management Supervisor Jessica Wilson and Support Services Representative Wendy McKune from AltaOne FCU emerged as winners.