As we all know, hitting our revenue and budget commitments to Colibri is critical in every quarter, but this quarter is especially important. With headwinds in our mortgage market, we must seize momentum through improved go-to-market strategies, product, and service innovation, and providing best-in-class learning experiences to our students and the companies we serve. We have every opportunity to grow and exceed our goals in mortgage, securities, banking, and insurance. Now is the time for us to execute and to win.

None of this is possible without you, and we only succeed when you succeed. As I think about the road we will travel in 2023, supporting you as employees and building the most incredible team in our industry is vitally important. We will be providing opportunities to expand your skills and explore potential new roles, and we will be owning our commitment to expanding the training we offer to our leaders and staff to make us all more effective in our work. Supporting our teams also means improving the diversity and spectrum of skills within our ecosystem. You know we are working aggressively to align our teams, systems, and processes so we can work together better and leverage our combined strength. We do better when we have varying perspectives, different backgrounds, and different core skills all contributing to our success. Increasing the diversity of our teams in all these respects will make our teams better, more innovative, and more open to change and growth. We can always do more.

It is fitting that in February we celebrate Black History Month, where we honor the successes and challenges of African Americans in American history. African Americans have a storied history in financial services, often blazing new trails, challenging status-quo and building new services and solutions with a perspective that did not exist before. Jeff James sent a note detailing incredible stories of courage from around our ecosystems, and you should check out the financial service individuals he highlights. click here  As I sat down to study accomplishments in our markets, so many other names and faces stood out. O.W. Gurley moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1906, and purchased 40 acres of land that became Greenwood, sometimes called Black Wall Street, a thriving community of financial, culture and business institutions. Shamefully, it was destroyed in 1921 in the Tulsa Race Riots, a dark moment in our history. Ernesta Procope founded the E.G. Bowman insurance company in Brooklyn, NY in 1953, moving it in 1979 to become the first minority owned business on Wall Street. Ernesta was a strong and eloquent voice throughout her life, advocating for fair insurance options for lower-income Americans. In 1952, Norman McGhee Sr., an attorney and real estate dealer, founded the first Black-owned brokerage firm licensed by the National Association of Securities Dealers. His efforts paved the way for more African Americans to start financial businesses.  Over the course of the month, I encourage you to learn about more incredible stories of diversity, challenge, and triumph within financial services.

I hope you enjoy this month’s addition of the Financial Services newsletter and as always, we welcome your feedback.

All the best,
Josh

In 2022, we introduced adaptive courseware, which we will continue to develop and expand in 2023. We will also upgrade existing courses to the E3 standard and develop new solutions to address opportunities within our current offering.

In addition to our GRC offerings, we recognize the growing demand for solutions specific to the fintech and money services industries. To meet this need, we will develop a specialized offering tailored to the unique needs of these organizations. This will include focusing on learning objectives, content, and overall experience that align with their specific needs.

Here is a list of courseware releases for Q1:

• Adaptive Courseware
  • 2 courses (already released – January)
    • Expedited Funds Availability Act: Regulation CC – E3 Adaptive Course
    • Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) – E3 Adaptive Course
  • NBFS E3 Courseware
    • 4 courses being released (February)
      • FSC – Protecting the Front Lines: AML Policy and Procedure – E3
      • FSC – Detect and Report: Complying with Suspicious Activity Reporting – E3
      • FSC – Electronic Funds Transfer Act: Regulation E – E3
      • FSC – AML Practical Applications – E3
    • E3 Course
      • Bank Broker/Dealer Exemptions: Regulation R – E3 (already released – January)
    • DES
      • Board Diversity Mandates and Evolving Expectations (January)
      • February Release: ESG Update for the Board (February)
      • March Release: Climate Risk and Opportunity Governance (March)

BCU Webinars products are also undergoing significant changes in 2023. The pandemic has shifted the competitive landscape in the banking webinar space, and we have seen an increase in the number of competitors. As we continue to differentiate ourselves, we are focusing on leveraging our expertise in the industry by offering more comprehensive programs and tackling unique and emerging topics. We are also expanding our partnerships with third parties, including our SBA partners, to pilot and release new programs. In addition, we are exploring how we can leverage common instruction to bolster our credit union webinar offering as we expand our partnerships in that market. Here are some highlights from Q1:

• Understanding Bank Performance Pilot Program – 8-part series in partnership with Washington Bankers Association
• 2023 IRA Bundle – renewed bundle following significant updates for 2023, high-performing topic
• 2023 Big Webinar Wins (as of January 24^th)
  • IRA Webinar (1/18/23) had 501 registrations ($110,000 in sales)
  • Regulation E webinar (1/19/23) had 138 registrations ($30,000 in sales)
  • Escrows (1/24/23) had 158 registrations ($33,500 in sales)
  • State of HMDA in 2023 (1/31/23) has 112 registrations (29,000 in sales)
  • Basic Real Estate Loan Documentation (1/31/23) has 119 registrations ($25,700 in sales)
  • Employment Compliance Priorities for 2023 (3/9/23) already has 58 registrations ($12,600 in sales)
• BW/CU Crossover Pilot Program (in progress, reviewing success metrics 1/31/23)
• Talks Series (All BCU Channels)
  • Teller Talks (February Release)
  • BSA Talks (February Release)
  • New Account Talks (March Release)
• Ecommerce WSS offering 

These are just some of the exciting solutions in store for 2023! To “Become the most admired professional learning company in the world!” you must define what it means!

Migration of Insurance Courses to Absorb – Insurance courses are only offered to the following 12 states on Xcel’s Absorb platform: AK, CO, CT, HI, IN, MS, NC, ND, SD, VT, WV, WI join AL, CA, FL, IL, MN, NV, NY, OH, OR, TN, & WA. The end of life for the next 12 states will be February 28 and communication was sent to all affected students on January 23. Users must complete their courses by February 28, as we will no longer be a provider or able to issue credits after February.  

IAR CE – Curriculum is testing six new products and practices courses and they will soon be live on the platform. In addition, we have launched a self-service tool that allows Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) the ability to earn FREE CPE credits for many of our courses. The ability to earn extra credits is a huge perk for our CFP clients and will make STC the destination for IAR CE. Students can simply click on this link, which will be located in their course, and fill out the accompanying form.  

Qualtrics Implementation – We are in the process of updating questions within the feedback button located on student dashboard.  We will be gathering NPS scores by Series (7 SIE, 66), as well as by product (progress exams, final exams). This new software application provides us with the tools to ask the right questions, anonymously listen to the voice of the customer, and monitor detailed feedback on future student dashboard enhancements.