Chip Filson
The Seated Boxer, an iconic ancient Greek work of art, shows a grizzled veteran of the ring, equal parts resigned and ready to spring into action.
What I like is a sense of respite from competition, the powerful athletic physique and the tiredness that surrounds his humanity. Is he a winner this day? Are there more fights to go? How will his efforts be remembered?
These are questions that all of us encounter, in literal or figurative ways, in our daily efforts.
On June 1, 2025 Thrivent FCU converted to a state issued Industrial Loan Chatered (ILC) bank with FDIC insurance. There are only 24 such charters operating in the US,
The process took three years and had to be approved by the credit union’s member-owners with at least 20% voting on the change.. The conversion resulted in the full payout of the members’ collective equity, plus a bonus dividend on shares. The full details are reported in the post Thrivent Members Approve Sales to a Bank.
In its June 2 launch announcemnt, Thrivent Bank reported $1.09 billion in total assets. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Thrivent Financial.
The parent company,Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, is a member-owned, fraternal benefit society. It is a non-profit , managing over $193 billion in administered assets, with a tax exemption based on religious affiliation.
According to Thrivent Financial’s 2024 Annual Report, it holds $18 billion in capital and serves 2.4 million members. Its primary products inlude insurance, annuities and health care programs. The Report has statistics on its community contributions and volunteer efforts.
The parent company’s CEO said the new charter: “combines our legacy of trusted financial advice with a modern, client-first banking solution. Thrivent Bank will help us build relationships with younger clients earlier in their financial journeys – who we can then serve throughout their lives.”
In a November 12, 2025 interview with a Banking Dive reporter, the CEO outlined his focus. The conversion “aimed at broadening the financial institution’s reach nationally and attracting new clients.”
Located in Salt Lake City, the bank is digital only with no branches.
The CEO. Brian Milton’s value proposition is to combine its digital platform with live personal advice and the financial expertise of the Thrivent organization: “everything that we see out there seems to be having to pick one of those two,”
The new web banking platform is still under construction. The current site provides a fairly standard listing of consumer services. Savings rates would appear to be at the lower end of the market. Auto loan rates are based on a matrix of model year and loan term.
The bank’s business financial services appear targeted to the non-profit sector:
It takes organization, planning, passion and vision to run a business, church, school or charity. It also takes the right financial institution to help you navigate the nuances of business and nonprofit banking. Whether you’re a new or established business, church or foundation, business banking tools from Thrivent Bank will help you every step of the way.
The one unique prodict focus would be its specfic contact center for studen loans.
The web site is still under construction so there is not a lot to see at this time. The CEO stated the bank would rely on ouside vendors to meet its technology (presumably digital banking) solutions.
The banking charter gives the possibility of national reach for younger geneations of retail customers. Those at the beginning of their financial lives may not be the sponsors prime target for insurance products today. Rather loans may be their first financial need along with basic transaction services.
The bank’s differentiation will be personal service: “We’re not going to be putting bots in front of clients, The human piece is extremely hard to replace.” This approach is called “purpose based advice.”
The de novo has a lot going for it. A 120-year old non-profit financial sponsor-owner with deep pockets; the experience and start up relationships from the credit union; and a philosophy of service seeking life-long member relationships. It has an affinity client base from the parent as an initial focus.
The critical question is whether a digital only delivery strategy can effectively compete with local, personal credit union service centers staffed with experienced personnel. Being present in and an active part of the communities served is both the foundation and special advantage of credit unions.
Digital offerings for most credit unions, compliment but do not replace the option for in-person service. And community presence and involvment. In the few cases where digital-first is the primary go to market effort, those credit unions are struggling compared to the performance of their more grounded peers.
The Thrivent Bank is very unlikely to fail. The real question is how successful the digital only strategy will be? And at what cost to create a clear value advantage for users? Especially in a virtual world where options are just a click or AI search away?
I received a communication from an experienced, throughtful and committed credit union leader last week. He believes in the unique role of cooperatives in the American financial system.
But he is throwing in the towel, so to speak. He has been an advocate for member value, especially in merger situations. That strategic choice, he believes, should be especially well-documented with data and plans. Because it ends the independence and member choice of a long serving institution.
Most importantly he supports the position that owners, whose loyalty created the credit union’s mutual equity, should benefit from such combinations.
No more though. For his stance for cooperative integrity has resulted in an anti-merger reputation. In his words: We live in a capitalist society, and we have a cooperative movement that often co-opts cooperativism while fully embracing capitalism. . . So rather than spending my energy in opposition to that current, I’m shifting toward supporting the institutions that actually want to grow strategically and maintain themselves — the ones who want to remain independent, sharpen their execution, and live more fully into their cooperative identity.
He will find that there are plenty of cooperative leaders who still embrace that approach.
But there is another rationale I hear repeatedly from credit union leaders defending the growing merger frenzy. This logic asserts: Mergers are the wave of the future; everyone is doing it; so let’s not be left out of this treasure-scavenger hunt now going on.
This defense, everyone is doing it, is common in many areas of life, not just in business. It quickly leads to moral relativism. That is, some asset, cooperative values must keep up with the times and current practices.
Last week the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece of this frequently stated defense for leaders’ actions. Here are excerpts from that article by Gerard Baker: (link)
Moral relativism is enticing. It enables me to establish the moral value of everything I do by reference to the behavior of others. It allows me to avoid censure by judging my intentions, choices and actions not on the basis of whether they are intrinsically right or wrong, but by the lesser standard of whether someone in a similar position might have done something similar.
It is deeply corrosive of personal mores and social trust. Over time it dulls the conscience to any moral hierarchy. It is never a legal defense and shouldn’t be a moral one.
Moral relativism is hardly new in public life. Self-exoneration through false moral equivalence by public figures is as old as time itself. But when it becomes the controlling ethical architecture of public behavior, we are in serious trouble. Its effect is to give leaders permission to do just about anything they want, unconstrained by guilt, shame or political sanction.
Moral relativism and the ratchet effect will ensure that there is always some precedent close enough to persuade people to shrug even when confronted with some evidence of genuine turpitude on their own side.
Isn’t it time for credit unions who believe in the special role of cooperatives to ask whether this increasing frenzy is really serving members or merely the acquisitive ambitions of CEO’s and passive boards?
Only about 3-4% of of credit unions will complete a merger in any one year. Yet the vast majority remain silent as some of their peers become coop predators.
Are leader’s uncritical acceptance of this restructuring a sign of the system’s strength or a fundamental weakness?
There are many more questions that should be asked. (link) But the most important one is Qui bono, Latin for who benefits?
Required disclosures in the NCUA approved Member Notices suggest it is rarely the members.
Last week the Trump team floated the concept of a fifty year mortgage as a means of improving housing affordability.
It is a dubious financial proposal that would bascially turn a new home owner into a “long term renter with a mortgage.” It gives the appearance of building wealth without any substance.
Home ownership is key to longer term personal financial well being. But a twenty year extension of the 30 year standard mortagage means that almost all of the initial decade of payments are for interest only. Little equity is being built.
The average life of an initial home purchase, before moving up or on, is generally under ten years. Equity accumulation would most likely come from a gain in market value on sale versus any paydown on the mortgage loan itself.
Most first time home owners are in their late 20’s or early 30’s. The idea of paying on a mortgage till age 80 would not appear to be a realistic financial plan-unless one hopes to refinance with a shorter term when higher income permits.
In the short term, a 50-year mortgage may appear cheaper. The payment on a 50-year mortgage, for instance, for a $200,000 loan at 6% would be about $1,052, where a 30-year loan would have a payment of $1,199.
However, a long term mortgage is always likely to have a higher rate than a shorter term or an adjustable rate loan.
Finally if for reasons not otherwise obvious at this time, if a 50 year mortgage did increase purchaser’s buying power, it would likely increase demand for homes. When demand goes up, so do prices.
The 50 year mortgage is not a solution for housing affordability. Rather other creative innovations such asf coop ownership, shared equity or creative financial terms would appear more in the member’s best interest.
Housing affordability is a fertile area for credit unions’ ingenuity. Because they still portfolio mortgages they can invent new financial approaches to home ownership and not merely conform to secondary market requirements.
From John McCain: Glory is the act of being constant to something greater than yourself.
A young person explains his decision to attend the US Naval Academy. This recent video, sent to his high school college counselors, was forwarded to family friends by proud grandparents.
His grandfather attended college on an ROTC scholarship. He became an Army ranger during Vietnam. Afterwards he was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and closed his many career endeavors as a college political science professor. A life of service beginning with the call of duty.
Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, The apple does not fall far from the tree. When values liked these are handed down, America’s future is in good hands.
(https://youtube.com/shorts/ENDGNI_HxpI?feature=share)
Credit unions are stewards for vital member owned assets: shares and their loan IOU’s. Both are critical in any member’s financial life. Wise deployment of members’ funds is critical to their confidence and an institution’s reptation.
Cooperative stewardship has many aspects beyond financial soundness. A failure in any of these responsibilities, whether big or small, can create cracks in the foundation of member-owner trust.
Market events this past week raise important questions on two initiatives that are central to some credit unions’ strategic priorities. The first is out of market mergers/acquisitions for growth. The second is offering to assist members purchase of digital assets, for a fee, as an extension of the credit union’s service profile.
As local merger opportunities become less available, credit unions have increasingly sought acquisitions far beyond their core markets. These involve out of state mergers where there is no prior connection by occupation, sponsor or other affinity. The continuing credit union brings no prior market recognition.
Sometimes these out of area mergers result in the jettisoning of all prior local relationships and branding legacies for both institutions. (link) A complete makeover of market positioning is necessary for the surivor in both its old and new markets. This can sacrifice generations of member goodwill, attention and loyalty.
Last week a major regional bank pushed back against this opened-ended territorial expansion in a presentation to his banking peers. The story was reported in the Daily Banking Dive on November 7: M&T eschews the temptation of national presence. It reads in part:
The Buffalo, New York-based lender remains focused on dominance in its current markets, said CEO René Jones, expressing some doubt that banks can perform at optimal levels as they expand.
“The most active bank merger-and-acquisition environment in years has lenders chasing scale in far-flung areas of the country. But regional bank M&T is taking a different tack. . .
The $211 billion-asset bank has about $162.7 billion in deposits and 960 branches across 13 states from Maine to Virginia. Jones, for his part, seemed to cast doubt on banks’ ability to execute at the same level as their footprint expands.
“As you get further and further away from home and [add] more geographies, I think the management challenge goes up, because you’re really an organization that is built around culture, and cultural norms, some of which are documented, many of which are not.”
“Having enough people to deploy across that kind of a geography, who will make the same decisions that you make, I think, becomes more and more challenged as you get larger,
He acknowledged buzz around national scale, “but the question is, what is your reputation and the awareness and how well you do your job for those people that you concentrate on?”
“We’ve decided not to be a national bank, so we better be focused on achieving our goal where we are.” He added. “Mergers of equals “don’t make sense.”
The article has further M&T history. But he is taking a public strategic position that is at odds with many of his peers, industry consultants and forecasters of banking’s future.
Is there a message for credit unions from his experience and performance? For credit unions, what is the track record of member benefit with out-of-area acquisitions? How do such efforts help the surviving credit unions member-ownes?
Offering members the ability to invest in digital assets in partnership with third parties has become a front line service extensions for an increasing number of credit unions.
This past week the value of bitcoin declined about 15% from its peak. This has resulted in sharp declines in the stock of firms holding significant crypto assets (sometimes called treasury- companies). These stock traded firms buy bitcoin or other crypto currencies intending to benefit from the increasing investment hype in these new assets.Their value proposition is to provide consumers indirect exposure to these assets without the hassle of direct ownership.
The market leader in this effort is the company Strategy. Here is the November 9th Wall Street Journal story about the performance of these indirect crypto investments so far this year: The Year’s Hottest Crypto Trade Is Crumbling.
It describes hownthe recent market selloff in bitcoin and other digital tokens has hit these crypto-treasury company stocks . It provides multiple examples of price declines of over 30% in one month. It documents how ”the hottest crypto trade has turned cold” gives multiple examples of wealthy individual investors and companies who have lost money.
These October events have caused some to reiterate their skepticism of crypto as a store of value. With no performance or use, it is pure market speculation. While true believers say this is a “buying opportunity” asserting “bitcoin is on sale.”
The Trump administration is certainly crypto-friendly. There are numerous efforts to bring crypto into the financial mainstream as a “routine” financial investment.
But should credit unions be facilitating diect or indirect transactions at this very uncertain point in the future of alternative currencies? The fees can be attractive when members both buy and sell. The credit union would seem to have little to no risk exposure in the traditional understanding of that term. The payment is in cash and a third party offers and holds the asset.
But is it wise for the members whom the movement was formed to serve? Credit unions present themselves as expert in many areas of a member’s financial life. They offer through third parties, or CUSO’s, insurance products, mutual funds and stocks, and financial advice, planning and consultation.
Crypto as a financial assetand has a vary different character than other currency assets. The coins are offered via third parties (not governments-yet). Some stable-asset coins are in theory backed by government issued currency or bonds. But the oversight of this structure is unclear.
Yes, members can go elsewhere to purchase crypto assets directly or via EFT’s or “treasury company’s” stocks.
But I know of no one recommending that a large part of a person’s savings be put in crypto. The future value is a gamble. All of he experience so far is at best erratic and uncertain, exuberance followed by quick periods of decline. Crypto based options appears to be speculation, not an asset of proven value.
Sometimes the best response a credit union can give a member request is No. We don’t believe the member’s request for a loan for a specific car, or selling lottery tickets or crypto is a wise decision for our member(s).
Oftentimes we recall persons in institutions that said No to us. Especially when we wanted something strongly. Even though it is hard to understand the No, later we realize it was a decision made for mutual interest-yours and the institution’s reputation. I believe in time, we remember and respect these moments of wiser concern than what we can grasp, at the time, on our own.
The market is saying something important in both of these recent examples. Are we willing to examine other’s judgments, not just take our own counsel?
For our purpose is to be wise stewards of our members’ financial well being through example and deed. And not simply join a herd heading to who knows where in the future.
Will Rogers: There is no credit to being a comedian when you have the whole government working for you.
The Maple Leaf-A Metaphor for Life
by Rondalyn Whitney
I hope my death is like a maple leaf,
a final, radiant show.
Not a storm of sudden, brutal grief,
but a gentle, amber glow.
To fade as autumn comes to call,
to loosen its grip with grace.
Not cling to the branch, but simply fall,
and find a new resting place.
A flash of crimson, orange, and gold,
a final, vibrant hue.
Then, a slow drift, stories untold,
a journey forever new.
To spin and twirl on the final breeze,
a dance upon the air.
Rustle softly through the autumn trees,
a beauty beyond compare.
And when it lands, a soft, hushed sound,
upon the forest floor.
A new beauty on the cold ground,
until it’s seen no more.
The ordinary human being does not live long enough to draw any substantial benefit from his own experience. And no one can benefit by the experience of others. . . each (generation) must learn its lessons anew. (Albert Einstein) October 26, 1929)
On October 20, 2025 Callahan published an analysis with multiple charts showing how mergers are changing the institutional character of the credit union system. The graphs have ten and twenty year times lines documenting the number, size and source by peer group of this consolidation.
The analysis, Credit Union Mergers on the Rise, provides essential macro trends to track how this consolidation is affecting the institutional structure in the credit union system. One example is that over the past ten years the average credit union asset size has increased from $188 million to $538 million.
There are many other data points one might take from the article to help frame critical questions that should be considered, but are often overlooked. For many view this consolidation as inevitable and necessary.
The basic financial math of a credit union mergers is simple: 1 + 1 = 1. There are no added members, shares, loans, employees or outlets. Instead in most cases a financially strong long-standing coop has turned over all of its members’s assets, equity and future direction to another organization whose leadership they had no role in evaluating or choosing. Sometimes the new management’s head office is hundreds or even thousands of miles distant with no connection to the merged credit union members and community.
Credit unions are built on relationships/bonds and generations of member-owner loyalty. That commitment was their initial capital and the foundation for much of their public reputational goodwill today.
So it is important to consider whether these trends and sometimes questionable activity are helping or hurting the system’s future. Are mergers a symptom of a system’s weakness, an inability to sustain organic growth, or a strength?
Other questions that could help member-owners and cu leaders better understand and evaluate what is occurring could include:
Is consolidation resulting in fewer charters inevitable?
How has the coop system’s approach to merger changed over the past decades? What role and benefits are third parties gaining in these combinations?
What are options for credit unions who feel the need to merge?
What should member-owners know when asked to approve the transfer of their entire coop’s assets and legacy about the performance, business priorities, and leadership of the continuing credit union?
What is the fiduciary duty to the member-owners when leadership decides to seek a merger? How should the conflicts of interest be addressed with CEO’s negotiating their own merger benefits?
What is the regulator’s role when reviewing merger applications? What is their obligation to the member-owners? Are they responsible for the information owners receive when approving the Member Notice announcing members’ voting role?
Has there been any multi-year studies of well capitalized credit union mergers and the before and after performance trends over a fiveyear period? How did members value change? What happened to their community relationships and employees? What are the additional immediate costs incurred by mergers?
How one introduces an issue will often determine what actions are necessary. With mergers occurring at an average of three to four per week, there has been no industry discussion of the implications and the benefit or hard to the members-owners.
Now, not later is the tme to understand the consequences of mergers.
Individual instances of multibillion dollar cross- country combinations or when one credit union completes three mergers in one month (and ten in one year) are routinely announced. But these apparent individual actions will have significant consequences for every other credit union.
For no credit union stands alone. All are part of an interdependent system that creates individual opportunities and vulnerabilities.
Merger activities are having important conseqences for the member-owners, their communities, and the shape of financial options in America.
The future of the coop system’s will be different. This is not an effort to go back to what was. Rather it is a necessary examination as Einstein might suggest, to plumb our wisdom now and not wait for future generations to assess past events.
First, a recent CEO’s update to staff on the federal governments shutdown and the credit union’s response for members:
SHUTDOWN ASSISTANCE: The credit union is offering numerous options to members impacted by the government shutdown. We are offering unsecured loans based on the member’s normal net weekly or bi-weekly pay with a 7.25% APR up to 12 months. We have also extended the interest free period to 90 days and allow for a term up to 48 months to assist even more members through this tough time. From the beginning of the shutdown through November 1st, we helped 387 members with total loans of approximately $1,911,167.00. We have also processed a considerable number of skip payments for members without any fee.
CEO’s introduction: This month’s Impact Maker is a great example of living our mission and doing good for people. We’re a lending organization and love to help members with their borrowing needs. But any loan needs to be in the members’ best interests. In this situation, not making the loan was the better decision.
“Tammy recently spoke with our member, Betty (name withheld), who expressed interest in opening a Home EquityLine of Credit. Over the course of the conversation, the member divulged that she was taking out this loan to give funds to her daughter for flooring and renovation expenses.
Tammy dug in further – uncovering that the member really didn’t want to do this loan or assume another loan payment given her fixed income but was being pressured to do so by her adult daughter.
Tammy listened to the member’s situation but advocated against taking out a loan she wasn’t comfortable with, and explained to the member the loan options available to her daughter, should she want to apply in her own name.
Later on, the member texted to Tammy, detailing that her daughter was screaming and banging on her door, irate that Betty wasn’t moving forward with the loan. Tammy continued to support and encourage the member, advocating for her safety and for her choice to do what is best for her own financial situation.
Betty was extremely grateful for this support, thanking Tammy for her “thought provoking” conversation.”
This CEO’s story is about Jose (name withheld), who was aided by Isaiah a financial coach at a local Member Center.
“Isaiah opened Jose’s membership in February of 2024 at the Member Center. Jose is an older gentleman with very limited credit for his age, but he wanted to start building it. Isaiah was able to help him obtain a $500 First Time User Credit Card in addition to his checking account and debit card.
The member would reach out to Isaiah from time to time and update him about his credit score. Overtime, Jose was able to qualify for a higher credit limit. He started the process of trying to buy a car. However, he was challenged by his limited credit history, car prices and the loan to value on the cars in which he was interested.
Overtime, Jose continued to pay on his new credit card and qualified for a larger limit again, but he still was not having success with purchasing a vehicle. Isaiah worked to get him pre-approved for a dollar amount and began reviewing specific vehicles with their price and loan to value compared to blue book values. Finally, Jose found a vehicle he liked and qualified for. The credit union approved his financing.
Recently, the loan was closed, and Jose was driving his “new” car. The loan took over a year and the credit building process was over a year and a half.
Thank you, Isaiah, for your persistence and caring approach with Jose. You lived out our purpose to build hope by being a caring financial partner.”
Starting an odyssey to change cooperatives. Before you read this CEO’s statement from LinkedIn, consider a brief thought from Emily Dickinson, By a Departing Light:
By a departing light
We see acuter, quite,
Than by a wick that stays.
There’s something in the flight
That clarifies the sight
And decks the rays.
I have always been a bit of a square peg struggling to go into a round hole. I have always pushed against the grain regardless of my role. Sometimes that has been appreciated. Other times, it has been criticized.
I have debated for years how I can best serve this wonderful industry. In a space that is riddled with hypocrisy and attrition, I have concluded that I am of more value outside the bubble than inside.
I’m not only stepping down as a CEO. I’m stepping away from working inside credit unions altogether.
There is never a good time. There are always what ifs. Unfinished work.
December 18th is my 25th anniversary in the credit union industry.
In my 25 years, we have lost more than 50% of our neighborhood or community credit unions across the country.
So what are my motives? Family. Opportunity. Change. Fit.
Change. Something has to change.
I could sit in a credit union trying desperately to conform to my round hole. To complacency. To status quo. To fit.
Or…
I can dedicate myself to change. Change to challenge complacency. Change to disrupt the status quo.
I’m betting on myself. For my family. For opportunities. But also for a chance to make an indelible change to our industry.
If we want future generations to know credit unions, we must be about the work of saving them.
If I am fortunate, I have 25 years left in my career. During that time, my priorities will be God, Family, Career. In that order.
The second half of my career will be focused on finding as many ways as possible to help our credit unions win. Creative Strategy. Next Level Results.
I won’t stand by idly watching credit unions get regulated out of existence or go quietly into the night.
So this is not a goodbye. This is a hello.
I am not leaving the fight. I’m just getting started.
November 14th. I close one door so that I can run through another.
See you then.
(James McBride, CEO, Connects Federal Credit Union)
For several decades Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion with Lake Woebegon updates was a Saturday night destiny for many via public radio. (link)
Now in his early 80’s he continues his Prairie Home shows as live performances at 8-10 venues per month around the country.
He continues to write, not fiction, but incisive observations about his life in New York City and from his travels. He also emails prior broadcasts of his five minute daily The Writer’s Almanac from NPR. They are well researched briefs of writers born on the day or historical events. (e.g. founding of Harvard University).
His virtual engagements with his followers include monthly poetry contests and a periodic Q&A on reader’s questions and concerns. Here is his response to a Marylin H.’s question on our current national mood.
Q. As someone who believes in being “cheerful,” I’m wondering how you manage to feel this way during the mess this country is in right now. I find myself almost despondent; I’m filled with a deep sense of dread and sadness. You and I have seen a lot over the past 80 years (I’m 81), and we’ve managed to make it through, but this feels different. I’m almost glad my years are about over so I don’t have to watch the ongoing destruction. Maybe I’ve lived long enough. Marilyn H.
A. The election of 2020 was one of the closest ever and a paper-thin margin put in office the gentleman who, if you watch his speech to the generals at Quantico or the sailors and Marines on the aircraft carrier in Yokosuka, is putting on a show and enjoying himself, taking great pleasure in trolling people like you and me and driving us to despair. But this adolescent adventure is not going to end well for the GOP. Speaker Johnson and Senator Thune and other Republicans are intelligent people and they know they’re being sold down the river and there will be no way back.
I don’t know about “destruction” but we’re seeing corruption like never before and it’s right out in the open. This is not going to pass. We are a better nation than this and this will be made right. OM