The State of Minnesota has launched a vaccine connector for those who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine.   
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The COVID-19 Vaccine Connector is a tool that helps Minnesotans find out when, where, and how to get a COVID-19 vaccine. By filling out the form the locator will:

• alert you when you are eligible to receive a vaccine;
• connect you to resources to schedule a vaccine appointment; and
• notify you if there are vaccine opportunities in your area.

​To sign up go to: https://mn.gov/covid19/vaccine/connector/index.jsp

Are you looking for a professional development opportunity or want to get more involved with the Network and make the most of your membership?

Network Committees are seeking interested members for appointment following the Annual Business Meeting in April. 
Board Committee members serve for one year – from their appointment through the following year’s Annual Meeting. Credit union staff may apply via a short application form, to get involved by serving on the Board committees listed below. 

Applications will be accepted through Friday, March 12, 2021. The Network Board Chair will appoint Board Committee members following the Annual Business Meeting in April.

Awards Committee -  facilitates statewide and national awards programs and judges other states’ award program entries. On the national level, the committee coordinates Minnesota’s entries for CUNA’s Dora Maxwell and Louise Herring Awards and the Desjardins Award for Financial Education. On the state level, the committee recognizes individuals through the Professional and Volunteer of the Year Awards. Network Staff Liaison: Julia Miller

Political Involvement Committee (PIC) - provides input and recommendations on legislative efforts at the state and federal level. Policy suggestions and regulatory roadblocks are brought to the attention of PIC to collectively formulate the Network’s positions on legislation. PIC is also responsible for political fundraising, and oversees the distribution of political contributions made to credit union-friendly candidates. Network Staff Liaison: Ryan Smith

Regulatory Review Committee -  provides input and recommendations on proposed rules from various federal agencies that have the potential to impact credit unions. The committee meets regularly to review proposed rules that are out for comment and determines whether or not a response is necessary. Network Staff Liaison: Tim Tacheny

CREW Advisory Group - credit union staff, 40 and under, help brainstorm, plan and facilitate programming geared toward young professionals throughout the year. The group meets quarterly and is encouraged to participate in CREW-related programming, major MnCUN events and industry initiatives. Network Staff Liaison: Ben Hering

Any specific questions can be directed to the Network Staff Liaison listed for each committee. 

Foundation Committees
Additionally, the Minnesota Credit Union Foundation committees – the Foundation Scholarship Council (FSC) and the Credit Unions for Kids (CU4Kids) - are currently accepting applicants from credit unions not represented in their group.

Members of the FSC committee conduct and raise funds for the annual scholarship through the Foundation. CU4Kids committee members facilitate and raise funds for Children’s Miracle Network, for the benefit of Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. Please reach out to Network Staff Liaison, Ben Hering, for more details and to apply.

The Minnesota Credit Union Network is pleased to announce the recipients of their annual Minnesota Credit Union Marketing Awards. Winners were honored during a webinar on Feb. 18. The Award program recognize outstanding efforts in the areas of branding, community impact and outreach, digital advertising, video, and complete campaigns.

“Minnesota credit unions are doing remarkable things to grow brand awareness and market to members and nonmembers alike,” said MnCUN Vice President of Communications & Engagement Andrea Molnau. “The statewide awards program recognizes the best of the best. We would like to congratulate the winners and thank all of the 2020 applicants for their participation.”

New this year is the Best in Show distinction, awarded to a high scoring entry for each category.

2020 Minnesota Credit Union Marketing Award recipients:

Branding

• Less than $100 million: Federated Employees Credit Union, "New Tagline for FECU"
•  $250 to $500 million: SouthPoint Financial Credit Union, "Putting Community First"
• $500 Million to $1 billion: TopLine Federal Credit Union, "Brand Awareness Best of Business Awards"
• More than $1 billion, SPIRE Credit Union, "New Mascot, Cash the Dog"

Community Impact

• Less than $100 million: Federated Employees Credit Union, "Give Back Campaign"
• $500 Million to $1 billion: Members Cooperative Credit Union, "12 Days of Giving"
• Best in Show: More than $1 billion: Hiway Credit Union, "#CUs4U"

Complete Campaign

• Less than $100 million: Federated Employees Credit Union "Employees & Family Onboarding"
• Best in Show: $100 million to $250 million: First Alliance Credit Union "Commons Branch Opening"
•  $250 to $500 million: SouthPoint Financial Credit Union, "Waconia Branch Opening"
• $500 Million to $1 billion: TopLine Federal Credit Union, "WINcentive Savings"
• More than $1 billion: Royal Credit Union "We Have it All"

Digital

• Less than $100 million: Federated Employees Credit Union, "Launching Social Media effectively"
•  $250 to $500 million: SouthPoint Financial Credit Union, "Non-Member Automated Email Journey"
• $500 Million to $1 billion: TopLine Federal Credit Union, "We Care Efforts"
• Best in Show: More than $1 billion: City & County "Say Hello to City & County Credit Union, Facebook Instant Experience"

Printed

• Less than $100 million: Federated Employees Credit Union, "Facelift to Brochures"
• $250 to $500 million: SouthPoint Financial Credit Union, "2019 Annual Meeting Report"
• Best in Show: $500 million to $1 billion: Members Cooperative Credit Union, "2019 Annual Report"
• More than $1 billion: Royal Credit Union "Business Development Efforts - Employer Partnerships"

Video

• $250 to $500 million: SouthPoint Financial Credit Union, "Putting Community First"
• $500 Million to $1 billion: Members Cooperative Credit Union, "Recruitment Videos"
• Best in Show: More than $1 billion, SPIRE Credit Union, "We Care"

The nearly 50 applications were evaluated by volunteer judges.

$300 Million Settlement Reached in Remote Deposit Capture Lawsuit
United States Automobile Association (USAA) and Wells Fargo have reached a $300 million settlement in their dispute over remote deposit capture technology (RDC) patents

Summary of NCUA Board Meeting
The National Credit Union Administration Board (Board) met last Thursday (2/18). This was the first meeting under the leadership of Chairman Harper.

Training and Overview of CUNA’s Compliance Management System in March
On March 11, from 10 – 11:30 the Minnesota Credit Union Network and CUNA will host a training and overview of CUNA’s Compliance Management System (CU-CMS).

Bureau Reconsidering Recent QM Rules
 
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) issued a statement yesterday regarding General QM Loans and the recently created Seasoned QM Loans. 

The Minnesota Credit Union Foundation is pleased to announce Zinta Pone, Operations Manager at Latvian Credit Union, is a recipient of the 2020 Financial & Audit Professionals Grant.

Funding from the Financial & Audit Professionals Grant program is intended to cover or defray the costs for credit union professionals and/or volunteers to attend timely and accurate educational events, conferences and seminars on financial and audit-related topics. Pone will use the grant for four training webinars through MnCUN’s Webinar Network.

The Financial & Audit Professionals Grant Fund was established in 2014 through a generous contribution from Rich Gabrielson, a CPA who worked with Minnesota credit union supervisory committees, boards of directors and management throughout his 36-year career. Gabrielson retired from CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP at the end of 2013. The grant is available annually, with applications open in November of each year.
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For more information on professional development grant opportunities, visit www.mncufoundation.org.

With the 2021 Annual Conference being held in November, the timeline for the Professional and Director (formerly Volunteer) of the Year has changed.
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Nominations for both awards will open in August with winners notified in mid-September. The opening of nominations will be communicated via email and the Pulse.

• Outstanding Professional of the Year recognizes the notable service of one outstanding credit union professional who has selflessly given time, effort and talent to the support and promotion of the credit union mission and who has gone above and beyond to improve the credit union culture in Minnesota.

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• Outstanding Director (formerly Volunteer) of the Year is given to one extraordinary credit union board member who best exemplifies the credit union spirit through dedication to, and belief in, the credit union movement. Grounds for nomination include involvement in the credit union movement at local and state levels and participation in other activities that support the credit union mission.

Contact Julia Miller, MnCUN Director of Communications with questions. Visit the Awards page for more information and updates.

MnCUN is scheduling virtual meetings with members of the US Senate and House of Representatives to discuss issues of importance to credit unions on March 4, as part of CUNA's Government Affairs Conference.

Although encouraged, you do not need to be registered for GAC to participate in these Minnesota-specific meetings. 

​Credit unions subject to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) requirements in calendar year 2020 must submit data to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by March 1, 2021. 

Hear from leading innovators and position your credit union for the future at the Ctrl.Alt.Innovate conference taking place virtually, April 7-8 . Patrick Schwerdtfeger, will provide the opening keynote: "Embracing Disruptive Innovation."
Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a business futurist specializing in technology trends including big data, artificial intelligence, Fintech and blockchain.
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He's the author of Pandemic, Inc.: 8 Forces Driving Business Failure or Fortune in the Post-COVID-19 Economy (2020, Authority Publishing) as well as five other books, and has lectured at numerous academic institutions including Purdue and Stanford Universities.

He is also a regular speaker for Bloomberg TV, founder of Trend Mastery Inc., and host of the Strategic Business Insights video blog (with over 28,000 subscribers and six million views on YouTube). Patrick has spoken about business trends, technology and digital marketing at hundreds of conferences all around the world including a session on Learned Intuition at TEDx Sacramento.

This event is a collaboration between eight Midwest credit union leagues and associations. Registration ends on March 31 and session recordings will be available 30 days after the event.

Ransomware developers and affiliates have been telling victims they must pay the ransom or stolen data and internal company secrets will be publicly released. Unfortunately, not everyone has been a believer. Six and seven-figure demands have become routine among ransomware attacks with the average ransom payment in quarter two of 2020 reaching $178,254, a 60% leap from the $111,605 average in quarter one according to the Coveware Quarterly Ransomware Report. [1]

“Credit unions need to be looking out for ransomware techniques. These cyber attacks have no boundaries and are truly a global issue,” reports Carlos Molina, Senior Risk Consultant at CUNA Mutual Group. “Ransomware has grown in frequency and severity significantly. The average ransom payments have climbed exponentially in the last few years.”

Ransomware payments in 2019 were three times as large as 2018 payments and four times as many extortion demands  were paid in 2019 versus 2018, according to incidents reported to Beazley. In fact, ransomware claims increased 239% and the total cost of ransomware payments has increased by 228% from 2018 to 2019. [2] 

According to Derek Laczniak, Director of Cyber Liability at M3 Insurance, “Ransomware developers threatened to release stolen data in the past. However, now with the actual release of confidential information, credit unions need to treat these attacks more like data breaches. Business interruption from these events has become a regular occurrence leaving both reputational and financial impacts.”

​How does Ransomware work?
Ransomware is a malicious software that restricts access to an infected machine, usually by systematically encrypting files on the system’s hard drive. Then the cyber-criminal demands payment of a ransom in exchange for the key or keys to decrypt the data. Ransomware can be devastating.
The most identified infection points used to deploy ransomware:

• Phishing emails
• Corrupt attachments
• Weak or poorly secured remote desktop protocols (RDP)
• Unpatched system vulnerabilities and untimely anti-virus updates
• Extensive reuse of passwords
• Lack of multi-factor authentication

Molina points out more criminal effort is being placed towards remaining undetected on a breached network. The time that exists between the first execution of malware and its discovery inside the network is commonly referred to as dwell time. “Increased dwell time provides threat actors with opportunities to escalate hijacked privileges while searching for data caches of sensitive information that can be exploited,” said Molina. The average dwell time is 43 days for ransomware according to an Infocyte report. [3]

There has also been a significant increase in criminals who purchase ransomware kits on the dark web, launch attacks in the hope of getting some payment, and care little about the data restoration experience of their victims.