Recently I joined a panel called “The Trillion-Dollar Credit Union Ecosystem is About Trust” at Money 20/20, a leading provider of global money ecosystem and emerging financial technologies content. The title of the panel couldn’t have been more fitting. For credit unions, trust isn’t an aspiration—it’s an asset. It’s our brand. And increasingly, it’s our bridge to collaboration with fintechs that share our values.
A movement born of collaboration
The credit union story began not in Silicon Valley, but in 19th-century Germany. Faced with predatory lenders, a group of farmers pooled their resources to create something revolutionary: a financial cooperative owned by the people it served. That simple act of collaboration—neighbors helping neighbors—sparked a global movement.
When credit unions came to North America, they carried that spirit with them. From the early “banking by candlelight” societies in Nova Scotia to St. Mary’s Bank, the first U.S. credit union founded by immigrant mill workers in New Hampshire, collaboration was the foundation. Credit unions didn’t just share capital; they shared knowledge, resources, and purpose. They built cooperative leagues, insurance funds, and shared branching systems—long before “network” was a tech term.
Collaboration in action: The financial first responders
That cooperative spirit isn’t a relic of the past. It’s what makes credit unions the financial first responders in times of crisis.
When the COVID-19 pandemic brought economies to a standstill, credit unions didn’t wait for direction from above. They restructured loans overnight, offered 0% interest emergency relief, waived fees, and stood up skip-a-payment programs, often before policymakers acted. During hurricanes, wildfires, and now during a federal government shutdown, they continue to do what they’ve always done: put people before profit.
Like many credit union leagues and associations in the U.S., Cornerstone is gathering stories of how credit unions are helping their members during the current challenges of the federal government shutdown. Some Cornerstone member credit unions are helping members bridge pay gaps with zero-interest loans. Others are extending counseling, budgeting assistance, and payment deferrals. That’s what collaboration looks like in practice: a network of institutions working independently but united by shared purpose.
From shared ATMs to shared innovation
For 11 years, I worked at CO-OP Solutions, which began with 30 California credit unions agreeing to share their ATMs—a small collaboration that turned into a network of more than 30,000 surcharge-free machines. That sixth cooperative principle of “cooperation among cooperatives” has always been our competitive advantage.
Today, that same principle is propelling us into the fintech era. At our own organization, we operate both an advocacy and educational association and a service corporation. The association side amplifies our collective voice in legislative and regulatory arenas. The service corporation side scales technology solutions that a single credit union would be hard-pressed to build alone.
In September, service corporations from across the U.S. participated in a Shark Tank-style demo where they explored fraud-prevention technologies. We came together not as competitors, but as collaborators hungry for innovation that safeguards members.
Innovation without losing our soul
Fintech partnerships are an evolution of that same cooperative instinct. They give credit unions access to sophisticated tools—AI, data analytics, payment rails—without losing the intimacy that defines member relationships.
I firmly believe artificial intelligence can help us preserve that intimacy at scale. And I believe stablecoin could open new doors for safe, efficient payments if credit unions choose to lead rather than observe. That’s why our league is poised to assist with state-level legislation aligned with the GENIUS Act, and why our service corporation has partnered with Metallicus to launch a sandbox where credit unions can safely test stablecoin applications.
The future of finance is cooperative
Collaboration has always been the credit union movement’s currency: whether by pooling deposits, sharing innovation costs, or showing up for communities in crisis. It’s the force that transforms our collective resources into something larger than the sum of their parts. As fintechs and credit unions increasingly find common ground, the opportunity isn’t just to modernize finance; it’s to humanize it.
Because when we collaborate, we don’t just build networks. We build trust and that’s the true currency of the credit union movement.
