The Allied Angle

Ripe for Change: The Evolution of Financial Risk Management

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, so the question is: How can you do more in that time to improve outcomes? Allied's Senior V.P. of Risk Management Operations, Doug Falvey, joins The Allied Angle to discuss innovation in RMO.
[:26] Meet Doug Falvey
[2:42] What is Risk Management Operations? 
[5:13] What does "staying innovative" mean when it comes to RMO? 
[7:45] The RMO team are problem solvers and solutions deliverers. 
[9:45] What needs are you seeing from the market right now, and how often are they changing? 
[11:30] How will AI impact RMO and what are the risks?  
[13:08] How important is the user experience when it comes to RMO? 
[15:16] New products are like fruit ripening in the field. 
[18:17] Tell us about Asset Recovery Management (ARM) and why it was developed.  

Take Care of Borrowers and Keep Regulators at Bay

Let's talk regulatory compliance. Governing bodies are cracking down on ancillary product refunds and more.  Allied's Peter Krall joins us to dissect the regulations and discuss how financial institutions can keep their borrowers protected. 
 
In this episode...
 
[:27] Meet Peter Krall
[4:20] What is Product Refund Liability?
[6:51] The state of Product Refund Liability in Q1 2024
[7:51] How do consumers know they could receive a refund?
[9:41] How are current market conditions affecting Product Refund Liability?
[11:53]  What should be a top priority when dealing with increasing regulations? 
[15:43]  The conditions that caused the increased scrutiny from regulators.
[19:03]  Allied's role as a leader in this period of increased regulations. 
[20:12]  Advice for an auto loan servicer navigating through the refund process. 
[22:41]  What can servicers do to reduce their risk? 
[24:19]  The role innovation plays in managing product refunds. 
[27:50]  Who regulates the dealers? 
[29:02]  The top challenges clients are facing. 
[31:09]  "Take care of your borrowers, or the regulators will take care of you."    

Achieve Organizational Success Through a Coaching Culture

The financial industry is not immune to challenges in company culture and employee retention. That's why sales coaching, leadership training, and other key investments are critical to ensuring your financial institutions are set up for success. Allied's own Julie ann Wessinger, Director, Client Performance Strategies, joins the podcast to discuss the ROI benefits of improving your culture. 
 
In this episode...
 
[:20] Meet Julie ann Wessinger
[2:51] What role has learning and development played since COVID, and why the increasing demand for it? 
[3:22] The need for training and mentoring tools
[3:40] COVID and remote work shed the spotlight on the lack of sufficient management training. 
[4:00] Managers are promoted many times with little or no formal training. 
[4:58] Did you see that time (COVID) really weeding out a lot of managers? 
[5:31] Are you seeing that companies are trying to get this coaching? 
[6:08] Why cultural transformation is so vital and what challenges or gaps are you seeing?
[7:16] Employees need to embrace a growth mindset. 
[7:49] Helping leaders understand how to communicate with diverse generations and styles. 
[9:21] 88% ROI with training with coaching, can you explain that for us? 
[10:26] How is technology changing the selling process for companies?
[11:50] When it comes to the salesperson, what kind of training and development are crucial to handling this new type of consumer? 
[12:34] The ability to build genuine trust is more important for salespeople than ever. 
[13:05] What business leaders are looking for in today’s landscape, and how does the salesperson of today provide value?
[14:51] Do you see the older generation of salespeople will retire earlier, or adapt to the new ways? 
[15:59] Three pieces of advice for leading today’s salesperson 

Redefining Innovation for Financial Institutions in 2024

From AI and analytics to culture and more, tune in for an in-depth look at how financial institutions can innovate to keep up with the latest trends. Allied Solutions' EVP and Chief Growth Officer Mark Bugalski joins us for an insightful discussion on growth and innovation strategies in the financial services industry. 
 
Stay up to date with current market trends by subscribing to the Allied Insights e-newsletter!
 
In this episode…
 
[1:03] Meet Mark Bugalski
[5:51] Allied’s focus in 2024
[6:48] In terms of technology and data, we’re probably going to spend about $75M in 2024
[7:31] We can’t lose sight of helping our clients maximize non-interest income
[10:00] Another area I think is a theme for our clients is ROA management, expense control, and operation efficiency
[11:58] Delinquency rates have always been an indicator of upcoming repossession activity and foreclosure activity
[13:50] GenZ, that demographic is pretty powerful
[15:37] When we think about innovation organizationally, we lump it into three groups
[18:31] Technology is awesome, AI is awesome, but you do run the risk of privacy violations, fraud…
[20:28] A hot topic for 2024 is….
[22:29] (AI) The impact has been profound, but there’s so much more
[25:44] There’s a difference in sounding great and deploying it to the real world
[28:00 ] From a credit union perspective, in a lot of cases when it comes to technology, tend to be a little bit more nimble
[30:33] “Innovators are thought leaders and thought leaders innovate” — what does that mean?

CEO Outlook 2024: Insights for Financial Institutions

The Allied Angle is back for Season 2! To kick off the new year, we're talking with Allied Solutions CEO Pete Hilger to discuss the outlook for financial institutions in 2024. Join us as we dive into innovation, digital transformation, and more. 
 
Stay up to date with current market trends by subscribing to the Allied Insights e-newsletter!
 
In this episode…
 
[0:39] Meet Pete!
[4:28] What are financial leaders saying about 2023?
[5:23] People got caught with their focus lacking.
[6:05] The ones who are challenged and up for the challenge will be successful.
[6:54] Summarize 2023 in five words.
[8:06] They (credit unions) need to understand what they (millennials and GenZ) need.
[9:20] You don’t have to hit a home run every time.
[10:02] What is an innovative mindset?
[10:45] You have to get the right technology because that will ultimately create the efficiencies and margins that you have.
[11:32] If you can’t figure out how to serve the newcomers….you will be irrelevant.
[13:12] The big need is going to be membership growth.
[14:12] Thinking you can go in and invest in AI and the problems are fixed isn’t true.
[15:22] There is so much movement on the consumer advocacy side of things today, I would tell credit unions and banks…
[16:11] Don’t worry about all of the regulatory oversight.
[17:04] If you take out food and fuel, how much inflation do you think we really have?
[18:40] Lending is about emotions.
[21:03] Parting words for the innovation journey.

A 2023 Recap Special

Featuring our favorite guests from 2023, join The Allied Angle team as we look back at the top moments from our inaugural season, including discussions around the liquidity crisis, optimism about new tech and so much more. Stay tuned to the end to hear some faux pas and bloopers from throughout the year. 

Special Edition: Allied Solutions + SundaySky Capturing Hearts in 5 Minutes

It's official, SundaySky and Allied Solutions have won the People's Choice Award for digital innovation in Finance. Join Allied's Charlie Peterson and SundaySky's Ian Gold in this special podcast release as they dish about gaining market advantage through video, digital innovation, artificial intelligence and more. 
 
In this episode…
 
[0:35] Meet our guests
[0:59] Congratulations, SundaySky!
[2:28] What is SundaySky?
[3:21] Three key initiatives for FIs today are tied to deposit growth, efficiencies, and an increase in consumer awareness.
[5:09] If the communication is clear enough, people will take advantage of it.
[5:27] What are some of the dangers of not accepting this type of technology?
[7:20] 83% of internet traffic is video and streaming
[8:09] Why now and not 10 years ago?
[9:05] The analytics have gone deep.
[9:29] There is still not enough video.
[10:21] What kind of changes should an FI expect to see when they embrace this?
[12:24] When you use an outside agency, you get in line.
[13:01] If we go back to the Z and millennial generation, do not waste their time.
[14:56] Back to the ROT (return on time), now your marketing team is free to do other things.
[17:30] I have never seen judges wowed by this type of technology.
[18:30] Generative AI is taking all of the different components of the video you want.
[19:35] The efficiency of the time savings and what we are creating is astronomical.
[19:40] Parting words of wisdom

Lending in Limbo: Decoding the Wonky Financial Forecast

In this episode, we discuss the wonky economic and financial challenges that financial institutions are facing, such as interest rate fluctuations, technology's influence, liquidity concerns, and the need for growth strategies in a rapidly changing financial landscape with Allied Solutions' Chief Lending Consultant Jack Imes. Read more about the wonky economy in the blog Wonkonomy.
 
In this episode…
 
[0:28] Meet Jack Imes
[2:41] Do you have any hidden talents?
[4:12] What is “wonky”?
[5:06] All of the financial institutions got caught flat-footed.
[6:55] We’re seeing credit card balances the highest they have ever been.
[7:52] FIs are budgeting for 5% growth [in 2024]. How are they going to get that 5%. That’s challenging in this market.
[9:00] How is technology affecting how FIs are positioning themselves moving forward?
[10:37] Credit unions are and should be proud of the fact that they are very cautious and conservative.
[12:40] What advice to you have to help FIs with their lack of liquidity?
[14:19] Are we out of the woods yet?
[14:43] With inflation and higher prices, at some point people are going to stop buying.
[15:48] It’s that repeatable approach to their members and communities so we can get through this together.
[16:06] I think we got lucky for a bit.
[16:45] I just want to avoid what they call the ‘R’ word [recession].
[17:21] We see credit unions do things that other financial institutions won’t.
[18:18] Remember, wonky doesn’t mean bad. Wonky is a great way to get someone’s attention.

The Transformation Blueprint: Talking About Organizational Change

Strategic planning is just around the corner and organizational transformation is a topic for many financial institutions. Allied's EVP, Chief Strategy & Technology Officer Dave Hilger joins the pod to discuss how to optimize your people, processes, and organization for future growth. 
 
 
In this episode…
 
[0:35] Meet Dave Hilger
[4:31] Why is planning for growth imperative to a company’s future?
[5:00] The next goal is how to prepare to be a long-term, successful company.
[5:49] Covid did not impede us or our success one bit.
[5:57] Should other companies consider OCT?
[6:30] How do we become a bottom-up-driven company?
[7:42] This [initiative] is wildly different from what we used to do.
[8:25] How did you lay the foundation?
[9:13] What do we want to do? Why are we here?
[9:20] Do you recommend using an outside partner?
[9:57] Threats are everywhere, the world is changing. Right now we are in a tough lending environment.
[10:38] We try to do too many things, in too many directions.
[11:31] You have to plan for change, you have to be willing to change. I think you always have to question.
[13:10] How did you get your team excited for change?
[13:54] Sometimes the folks steering the ship forget what it’s like to run the ship.
[14:34] We had open, harsh criticism.
[15:47] I get jazzed about the concept of change.
[16:30] Words of wisdom for the company looking to create or re-evaluate their strategic plan

Banking On Video: Turning Heads in the Attention Economy

Capture your customers' attention with video and by leveraging artificial intelligence.  Allied's own Charlie Peterson, Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, joins the pod to discuss how Financial Institutions can improve the customer experience. 
In this episode…
[0:30] Meet Charlie Peterson
[1:54] What is the Attention Economy and why should financial institutions be familiar with it?
[2:36] Video is the answer.
[3:50] 98% of all text messages are read within 3 minutes.
[4:32] Should FIs be worried about SaaS tools?
[5:25] You should have your eyes wide open to opportunities to be better at what you do.
[7:12] No special skills required to use video editing tools.
[8:17] How do we know that video is going to stick around?
[8:55] Viewers retain 95% of a message they watched via video compared to 10% when reading it.
[9:21] Why are some institutions hesitant to evolve and keep up with trends?
[10:25] Elevate your game and deliver what your customers are looking for.
[11:00] The cost of NOT evolving and transforming. 
[13:35] Best practices for using video.
[14:24] 83% of the internet traffic is dominated by streaming and video.