After studying broadcast journalism, Mike Lawson spent a few years as a reporter before moving onto the PR/marketing side. He first worked in the semiconductor industry, “where millions — if not billions — of dollars are at stake,” he says. “In that space, nobody wanted to talk and give away their secrets, which made it really hard to tell a compelling story.”

In 2002, he moved onto the credit union industry and hasn’t looked back. For two decades, his firm DML Communications has helped credit unions enhance their exposure. For the last 12 years, he’s also hosted CUbroadcast, a credit-union talk show where he interviews interesting characters around the space. The difference between semiconductors and credit unions is night and day. “From a journalism standpoint, I really like it, because everyone is so eager to tell their story,” he says. “Everyone's so eager and willing to tell their story and share what works and what doesn't work.”

We gave Lawson a call to better understand what the public misconceives about credit unions and how fintech and credit unions joining forces has created a “win-win situation” for credit union members.    

What sparked the idea for CUbroadcast?

What sparked it? Well, I have a degree in broadcast journalism and I was doing marketing at the time in the credit union industry, and then opened up a PR marketing firm serving the credit union industry. But I always wanted to go back to my journalism roots. Then, I discovered this app that worked with Skype that did the split-screen format that we are now very familiar with on our Zoom calls. Barely anyone was doing video in credit unions at the time, and no one was doing a talk show format. So, I said, "Well, let's give this a shot." 

I experimented a few times on some friends and family and saw that the video part worked, so I just started contacting friends in the industry and doing interviews. Next thing I know, here we are 12 years and over 5,000 interviews later, doing this wonderful thing called CUbroadcast. I get to do my favorite part of the job interviewing really cool people. So, that was the spark.

What do you find that people most misunderstand about the credit union space and the bankers behind it?

Well, you have to educate people on what credit unions are. I was the same way when I first started in this industry. Like, "what differentiates a credit union?" So that's the hurdle: you have to educate the general consumer on what a credit union is, what it stands for, and what it represents. But when they find out, boy, that's when the light bulb goes on. Because what a credit union means goes way beyond the transaction. People helping people is the mission and the mantra. They're not-for-profits and the members are the owners. So, once you find out what a credit union is, they're really hard to ignore and hard to get out of your brain. They're such a good thing for business and for what we stand for as human beings. It's just a cool industry. On top of that, there are really great people in this industry as well. It's hard to find a bad apple. 

Initially, banks and credit unions viewed fintech as an existential threat. But recently, there’s been more of a partnership forming. How do you expect the rise of fintech to change credit unions? In what ways has that change already begun?

Well, it's definitely changing. It's fascinating to look at it from the core processor and see how the core has evolved. A big reason why core processors have evolved is because of the entrance of fintechs. There are so many choices out there for credit unions now to integrate and use all this really cool technology that's out there. Many credit unions don't have the resources to create in-house, so why not go out to this fintech and say, "Hey, you want to work with us?" They already have an engaged membership to use the technology. Once the fintech signs up and integrates with the credit union’s core and starts working in partnership with them, it's a win-win situation for both the credit union and the fintech. A lot of people are saying that credit unions are going to become technology companies, and fintechs are going to become financial services companies, and I see that becoming more and more of a reality. 

Like you said, initially, there was some animosity with the fintechs coming into the industry — it was like, "Oh, my gosh, they're going to take over everything." But while a few of the biggest fintechs are nipping at the financial services' heels, others really want to work with a bank or a credit union. I find that very refreshing and very exciting for what's to come. There's so much cool new technology coming out that's really going to benefit the general consumer and, obviously, the credit unions as well. That's kind of how I see it going.

Yeah, the idea of the partnership between credit unions and fintechs is definitely exciting to Unifimoney. We’re energized by a future where a customer could have the attention and service of a credit union with all the bells and whistles offered by a Big 4 bank.

Absolutely! It completely levels the playing field. Technology is that great equalizer, and it allows the little guys to compete with the big guys, which is really cool. As all of this stuff evolves and progresses. And the beauty of it all is that things are gonna get even better as we continue to progress. That's why the continuing merge of technology and finance is really going to be exciting to see here in the next few years. 

We love our Braintrust interviewees to use their bird’s eye views to see the future. So, tell me: in what way will credit unions be different in 2025 and beyond? And how will that change the way we bank?

Oh, my gosh, getting out the murky crystal ball. I'll warn you, it's really cloudy. [laughs]. 

But obviously, automation is already taking over a lot of mundane tasks. Automating back-office and bringing in chatbots and that type of AI implementation has already started to make the credit union member's experience that much better. There's this cool factor — this intangible thing — when you're like, "Oh my gosh, you'll never guess what my credit union is doing now." I mean, like I did this interview with a credit union a few months ago about new technology that lets members use their palm to identify themselves. Many others are also using Digital ID where members can identify themselves without security questions or a password. All these cool digital innovations can lead to a future where banking becomes both transparent and almost invisible. It can become a part of our lives, where we don't have to think about it anymore.

Technology can make it so there are no more of these hurdles like calling into a call center and answering 15,000 different questions about who you are. Instead, the person on the other line can automatically know who you are and even anticipate what you're going to ask. Therefore, they can offer you the relevant solutions that are coming down the turnpike. So, I foresee a lot of proactive services and a banking experience that is a lot more personalized. With data, we can really personalize down to the individual: what they're doing right now and anticipating what they're going to be doing in the near future. 

I'm not much of a seer when it comes to specific future technology, but I see a banking industry that will become so transparent and so proactive that it almost becomes invisible. And that's going to be really cool to watch.