ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

In Case You Missed It – 4.9.25

Gen Z workers, housing incentives, AI financial services, coffee addiction and the bidding war for Apple’s cards. Here’s what we noticed, in case you missed it:

Refreshing take on Gen Z workers

Every generation seems to complain about the next; it’s a pointless bad habit as old as humanity itself. Here’s a more productive take on unlocking the value of Gen Z employees at credit unions from Paul Robert at FI Strategies, LLC. But only if you’re brave enough, and flexible enough, to do things a little differently. For example, “Many Gen Zers want to learn at a faster speed than an organization’s trainers may be used to delivering.” and “Don’t expect them to conform to your culture; modify your culture to attract them and position them to thrive.”

For all Parks and Recreation fans looking for a house

Pawnee City, Nebraska is actively trying to grow their town by building 25 new homes ($325K list), and even including the $50K down payment. The town of 930 residents is located about 90 minutes from Lincoln and Omaha NE, about 2 hours North of Kansas City MO, and is proud of their “affordable living, excellent schools, medical facilities, parks, trails, pickleball courts, excellent child care, and community events.” For some of you, the down payment assistance may be tempting, but the ability to say you live in Pawnee as a “Parks and Recreation” fan might be even stronger.

Risks and realities of AI in financial services

This was an interesting CUbroadcast interview with Theo Lau, discussing her new book “Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence: Navigating the Realities of AI in Financial Services.” She seems to have one of the more balanced and hype/hysteria-free outlooks on the risks and rewards of using AI in financial services, and she addresses the looming questions of governance and risk management up-front. We’ve helped several of our clients dive into AI agents and assistants already, and of course much more is coming. I’ve ordered the book (old-fashioned paper, I’ll admit…) and I look forward to reading it!

I’ll admit I’m addicted

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I would survive without my morning coffee. And obviously I’m not the only one. “More than 1 billion coffee drinkers consume an average of 2.25 billion cups of coffee each day, making it one of the most consumed beverages in the world aside from water.” How did coffee become the earth’s most accepted addiction?

Bobbing for Apple’s cards?

It looks like a bidding war of sorts is breaking out to run Apple’s branded card program, after Apple decided to exit the partnership with Goldman Sachs late in 2023. Both companies have said little about the reasons, but Goldman Sachs has been pulling out of consumer banking for a while and the Apple branded card and savings program has seen significant losses, thanks to some frankly bonkers rewards, terms and rates, without the revenue to actually support the effort.

In sum, the Apple card program is set to become a lot more, well, “ordinary”. Could be an opportunity for credit unions with slightly more “boring” (but steady and sustainable) card programs that offer a better deal for tech-savvy members.

Did we miss something? Let us know!

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