ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

In Case You Missed It – 11.13.2024

All the fancy new and coming EVs. The undeniable power of tech security. A look at FedNow’s first year. Some new options for social media lovers. Here’s what we noticed, in case you missed it:

EV market maturing and expanding

In a recent podcast, Ford CEO Jim Farley stated that he’s been daily driving a sleek Chinese-made EV, the Xiaomi SU7 that Ford bought for testing… and it’s actually a great car. In fact, an SU7 recently lapped the Nürburgring in under seven minutes, which is considered quite impressive for a lightly modified production car. Although Ford, among other companies, have had to pull back on US EV production as the rate of sales growth slows in the US (Chinese EVs are mostly absent from the US due to heavy tariffs), the global EV marketplace and competition is red-hot, with compelling new EVs coming to market all the time, often from unexpected quarters. It’s worth paying attention to EVs.

What’s that got to do with credit unions? Keep reading…

Flood of off-lease EVs set to hit the market in 2025 and 2026

According to J.D. Power, nearly 280,000 EV leases will end in the next two years, leading to a flood of off-lease EVs at bargain prices, as well as demand for new leases as EV drivers upgrade. This leads to two questions:

  • Do you have EV-friendly financing for used EVs and EV chargers?
  • What’s your answer to factory leasing? As new vehicle prices rise, and used vehicle prices with them, leases have become quite a bit more popular for new car buyers in the past few years.

Security sells, especially for tech-savvy younger members

Over on Finopotamus, guest author Nick Weston from Apiture points out that robust security and anti-fraud measures are essential to attracting Gen Z and Millennial members. This makes a heck of a lot of sense; after all, without trust you can’t build much of a relationship. Your members need to know you’ve got their backs, and you’re proactively protecting their money – and their privacy.

We have seen a lot more CUs do more member education around fraud, security, and privacy lately, but so far credit unions have not really made these part of their core marketing and brand messaging. Maybe it’s time to re-think that, or at least toot your horn a little louder. The ideal is a partnership between your credit union and your members, where you work together to stay secure. There’s a real opportunity for meaningful differentiation here.

The first year of FedNow®

This article from Saman Kazmi over on (newly refreshed) CUInsight recaps a podcast discussion with Erik Van Bramer from Federal Reserve Financial Services, and is full of interesting nuggets about the first year of instant payments with FedNow. For example, digital wallets and earned wage access (EWA) were surprisingly popular use cases, and adoption exceeded expectations. They also discussed future enhancements and fraud prevention. And, of course, he encouraged every financial institution to jump in ASAP. “Any institution sitting on the sidelines risks being overtaken by the competition,” Bramer said.

The neXt best thing?

There have been rumblings this week about the social media platform Bluesky, which presents an alternative to TwXtter that many people appear to be looking for. Ever since it’s change in ownership the social media monolith has had something of an identity crisis, to put it mildly. A lack of moderation has caused many brands to leave TwXtter behind, and some holdout users are now jumping ship because they aren’t fans of the current owner’s political agenda. Overall, there’s a chance for competitors like Bluesky and Threads to become the next big thing. Don’t think it’s possible? Google “Skype.”

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