fi-linx

Back in May 2007, the Federal Reserve issued a legal opinion on Deposit Reclassification and how it should be administered in financial institutions.  If you feel like reading a legal opinion on a really fun topic, follow the link.  The longer I work in the CU world, the more my opinion on innovation grows stronger.  While I hate the fact that we’re more regulated then airlines and the regulators are very stuck in the past, being in such an locked down environment forces people to be innovative to succeed.

First it was Dell.  Then it was Ubuntu and now we have Starbucks.  It seems everyone wants to know what their customers want now.  Imagine that. 

Dell launched IdeaStorm last year and they’ve had wonderful success doing it so far.  Surprise, surprise, everyone wants Linux pre-installed.  I mentioned it in a post on my personal blog last year referencing IdeaStorm and New Zealand using a wiki to let their citizens help create some laws.  Since Dell really kicked this off, Ubuntu, probably one of the most mainstream desktop distributions of Linux, launched Brainstorm.   Even Starbucks recently got in on the game with My Starbucks Idea.

Brady at Grow Your Bank and Jim at NetBanker both also picked up this idea as well.  So the big question is how do credit unions and banks take advantage of this?  Is each FI going to need their own version specialized for them?  Is it better off that their is one dumping ground for all FI related complains/ideas and then FI could just use it as a resource when designing new products? 

Bottom line, this is a huge opportunity for the financial services industry.  But what is the best way for us to take advantage of it?

For the past few months, we’ve been working with CUES to develop a partnership between our two companies and it has finally come to fruition.  The press release has gone out, websites updated, and the fun can now begin!  We’re greatly looking forward to working with CUES and can’t wait to serve the CUES membership. 

PS - go check out the CUES webpage on deposit reclassification!

We’re prepping to head out for the GAC this next week.  Should be a great event from what I hear.  We’re meeting with our local rep Darlene Hooley and we also get some face time with Gordon Smith (R) and Ron Wyden (D), our state senators.  We’re also meeting up with the folks from CUES, Ongoing Operations, Brent from Trabian, Morris @ EverythingCU, and quite a few others.  Also looking forward to meeting up with a bunch of other CU folks for some cold, frosty beverages Tuesday night at Capitol City Brewing.

On a side note, I’m flying out of Salem, OR for the first time!  We just got service to Salt Lake!  Most of the time we have to drive up to Portland, but for anything on the east coast, flying out of Salem is going to rock!  Can’t wait to see everyone out there and met a bunch of new faces!

We were interviewed for a CU Times article a while back and it looks like it made it into the most recent issue.  I’ve yet to see the actual print copy of the mag as ours gotten eaten by the post office, but I have read it online.  Here is the link.

The Federal Reserve proposed some changes to Regulation D this week that will be of interest to those reclassifying their deposits.  While the proposed rule changes do make a few tweaks, I will only focus on those relevant to Deposit Reclassification.

The Fed is actually trying to make life a little easier for FI’s by changing some of the wording relating to the Six-Three area of Reg D.  In the past, the regulation has limited "convenient" transactions to only 6 per cycle, with check and debit card transaction to only 3.  The new proposed rule would change to wording to continue to allow for 6 transactions and eliminate the other "3" limits.

There were also a few changes related to pass-through accounts and their legality in certain situations, but that’s getting a little down in the weeds. Long story short, these proposed changes do not directly impact an FI’s ability to reclassify their deposits.

Here are the new proposed rules from the Fed.  By the way, I can’t stand reading regulations, but unfortunately, I’m getting pretty good at it and somebody’s got to do it!