CUNA announced on Monday that the 27-member COVID-19 Restart and Recovery Task Force was disbanded at the end of January, citing that the sense of urgency had subsided.
Since the creation of the task force in June 2020, the group met eight times and released two "industry outlook" reports, including one released on Monday. The task force consisted of more than two dozen credit union industry leaders from CUNA, credit unions, leagues and credit union-supporting agencies.
According to CUNA Chief Engagement Officer Greg Michlig, "Our task force discussions allowed us to further the credit union system work on financial well-being and to collaborate on efforts around technology."
"We plan to build upon these efforts going forward, but also want to acknowledge that the urgency related to the rapidly changing environment early in the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided and taken new form," he said in a statement.
That focus on technology has evolved into the creation of a new group whose focus will be on digitization in the age of the pandemic, according to CUNA. "This new working group will leverage industry voices to help credit unions execute on digital transformation," read a statement from CUNA.
According to a spokesperson for CUNA, this new digitization group will consist of new members and not those who served on the COVID-19 task force. The new members of the digitization group have been identified and CUNA is currently working to confirm the final roster of participants. The spokesperson also said that the working group will begin meeting in a couple of weeks and meet monthly, at least at first.
As far as the findings in the final report from the COVID-19 Restart and Recovery Task Force, CUNA released the following highlights:
- Promoting Financial Well-Being. The pandemic has brought the health-wealth relationship into the spotlight. The Industry Outlook detailed ways that credit unions can position themselves to advance financial well-being.
- Shifting the Employee-Employer Relationship. COVID-19 has changed the way that companies are engaging with their employees. The Task Force discussed opportunities and challenges for credit unions looking to modify their human resources strategies.
- Racial Equity and Resilience Investment Fund. Inclusiv recently launched a $20 million secondary capital investment fund to expand economic relief and financial inclusion for credit unions serving communities of color. CUNA, Inclusiv and other system partners are working together to ensure interested applicants have access to funding.
- COVID-19 Insights. The Restart and Recovery Task Force discussed other topics such as measuring work around financial well-being, creating models for small-to-midsize credit unions, and using payday lending as an assessment tool for member vulnerability.
"Credit unions are regaining a sense of normalcy as our country looks to restore health, economies and societies," Michlig said. "We are looking ahead to create a more sustainable response to the pandemic and to serve our members in new and innovative ways."
A link to the full report can be found here.
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
