CBX sets the foundation for the core
As the day moved forward into deeper dives on software and development, CU*Answers EVP of Client Experience Dawn Moore joined Geoff on stage to share the latest updates on the CBX rollout, CU*Answers’ upcoming core platform transition. CBX will replace the existing platform CU*BASE GOLD in the near future with over 20,000 GOLD screens converted to the new web-based platform.
The CBX rollout arrived initially as an Alpha release, in which the platform was put into the hands of credit unions to test alongside CU*Answers quality control experts. To date, 336 credit unions have had the platform installed with thousands of concurrent sessions. As the CU*Answers teams work hard to complete the final rounds of QC, they are pushing for a sunset of the GOLD system by year-end.
AVP of Programming, Solution Architecture Sari Rahal replaced Moore on stage to talk about the exciting future for CBX. While the current work is on the transition and providing a stable platform for credit unions, the future of CBX promises a great deal more. The newer infrastructure and more modern codebase will give development teams opportunities to build faster and use a wider range of coding languages, as well as using APIs to integrate different tools and programs.
Expanding capacity out West
Following the exploration of CBX, Johnson was joined on stage by EVP of Technology Dave Wordhouse to talk about CU*Answers’ expansion west of the Rockies and what that means for the future of the CUSO.
Currently, the network has a production server in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with data replication to a High Availability server in Yankton, South Dakota. But as CU*Answers has expanded its reach as far west as Hawaii, it saw the need to improve its infrastructure. To accomplish this, the teams at CU*Answers have been hard at work to secure data center space in Las Vegas, Nevada, with plans to set up a second production box there, as well as move the HA computer in Yankton to Vegas. The end result will be production and HA boxes in both Grand Rapids and Las Vegas.
“This is an important investment in the future of our CUSO—one that will serve us for decades to come,” said Johnson.
An update on the world of cards and payments
The presentation returned to product and service development as CU*Answers VP of Client Interactions Heather French came up to share some insight on the marketplace for cards and payments. She shared tidbits on consolidations from FIS, Velera, and iPay/Payrailz and how they will affect clients. Then she provided updates on progress being made on instant issue and digital card issuance, two areas of development that have seen a change of philosophy.
Cards & Payments Manager Nicole Cooper then joined Geoff on stage to discuss exciting projects the CU*Answers team have worked on, such as the creation of Retailer Groups in CU*BASE to connect with credit card cashback rewards and debit card activity rebate programs, as well as a new chargeback tracking tool to improve credit unions’ record keeping.
There have also been some new developments in the world of instant payments, with Cooper announcing that Payrailz A2A is now available, complementing the Payrailz P2P and Zelle product offerings available. RTP® Receive from the Clearing House has been available for the last year with credit unions jumping on board, but the real highlight is that receiving funds via the FedNow® Service is in active beta with transactions processing smoothly—a major achievement years in the making.
The presentation takes a detour to talk about regulatory mayhem
Veering off from the norm, Johnson invited Compliance Analyst Joshua Velasquez and Risk & Legal Analyst Alex Fleming to talk about the Wild West that is the regulatory landscape. A great deal of uncertainty exists in Washington with agencies getting shut down or cut back severely. Velasquez and Fleming gave their insight on the changes going on and how credit unions can expect to be affected.
Speaking first, Velasquez got into some of the bigger picture issues, including credit union taxation, a one-person NCUA board meeting, and an update on the CFPB. He also announced that the team is working on an RTP self-audit workbook guide to assist credit unions with that regulatory requirement.
Compliance Analyst Joshua Velasquez speaks with CEO Geoff Johnson about the NCUA’s one-man board meeting.
Fleming spoke next about some more specific rules and legislation either taking effect soon or currently floating through Congress that could impact credit unions, such as the Regulation CC adjustments coming July 1st.
Succession planning is also a hot topic with the NCUA’s rule set to go into effect in 2026, to the chagrin of some, like America’s Credit Unions. Some other bills moving through Congress include the Board Modernization Act (which would reduce the number of required board meetings for CUs), Credit Union Lending for Business Growth Act (likely to find opposition from banking lobbyists), and the Financial Reporting Threshold Modernization Act (a popular one for those filing CTRs and SARs).
Lending, Imaging, and a Top Secret Project
Getting back into the meat and potatoes of CU*Answers’ latest work in developing exciting new tools and features, Vice President of Lender*VP Ashley Melder came up to share what the CUSO has been working on in the world of lending, from 1Click loans, to new functionality for FUEL, a stable of loan payment integrations, and an exciting concept the team is researching.
1Click Offers have been a huge success since their implementation back in 2020, with many updates and enhancements only strengthening the product. At its most basic, 1Click Offers are vetted loan offers placed directly in online and mobile banking for members to quickly and easily take advantage of. In addition to the recent and upcoming enhancements, the team is also working towards moving 1Click out of the world of lending to provide targeted offers to members for non-lending products.
Melder was also excited to share an idea she’s working on with eDOC Innovations that will give lenders an easy, secure way to communicate with members over text without having to use their own personal devices.
VP of Lender*VP Ashley Melder takes the stage to share the latest developments in the world of lending at CU*Answers.
Then AVP of Imaging Solutions Kyle Karnes came up to share the progress their team has made in making CU*Forms available for lending forms. The success story of CU*Forms is in the power it has placed in the hands of credit unions to program forms themselves, rather than paying to have them put in the system. Karnes shared that nearly 8,000 forms templates have been created by credit unions themselves, with over half a million forms generated from those forms.
Following the update on imaging, VP of Marketing Services & Creative Director David Damstra joined Johnson on stage to discuss the topic of skunks works-type projects, as pioneered by Lockheed Martin in the late 1930s. The idea: take engineers and developers and give them the freedom to invent.
As it applies to CU*Answers, Damstra and his team were given the keys to a variety of different CU*Answers products and integrations and tasked with dreaming up new ways to package them into something an innovative way to handle online loan and membership applications. By taking a few key products and then adding some other modules, the team is excited for the possibilities, which they have given the name Mosaic. The first iteration is already in development with a preview available on the CU*Answers website.
The evolution of custom development at CU*Answers
The last two guest speakers to join Geoff on stage were VP of Professional Services John Beauchamp and EVP of Software Development Brian Maurer, who came up separately to talk about the natural evolution of custom development and the future with respect to the prevalence of APIs.
CU*Answers’ inventory of APIs has grown impressively over the years with over a thousand different endpoints, resulting in a need for improved documentation and support. As such, the team is working on creating a CU*Answers API Portal to improve the process through which third parties can integrate with the CU*Answers core and ancillary products.
There have been many successes over the years, but the big announcement was that CU*Answers is working with Bankjoy, which would be the CUSO’s first integration with an online banking provider outside CU*BASE. The project, which will be entirely API-driven, is slated for a beta release later this year.
Wrapping up the day
With the day’s festivities beginning to wind down, Johnson took center stage again to award another leader within the CU*Answers family. Jeff Jorgensen, former CEO of Bluestone Federal Credit Union in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was awarded the 2025 “Spirit of CU*Answers” Inspirer Award not just for his work as long-time CEO of the credit union, but also for his many years of service on the CU*Answers Board of Directors.
Jorgensen told a story about first bringing Bluestone FCU (then Sioux Empire FCU) to CU*Answers in 2005, and how prior to converting he was visiting the CUSO and was invited to sit in on a programming meeting and asked his opinion about a new product. “It was right then that I knew that we were going to go to CU*Answers,” said Jorgensen. “All the other vendors I had talked with had never asked for anything that I thought would be important. Or even bothered to invite us to the “sausage-making” session. It was then that I knew that I wanted to partner with this cooperative that was going to ask for my input.”
CEO Geoff Johnson looks on as former Bluestone FCU CEO Jeff Jorgensen accepts the “Spirit of CU*Answers” Inspirer Award.
Following an update on the state of the cuasterisk.com network of CUSOs, which today supports 382 credit unions in 44 states on CU*BASE, Johnson closed the festivities by thanking the community for its spirit of collaboration, the staff for helping make the day a success, the board for its support, and invited attendees to take him up on his challenge of getting involved and living into the Cooperative Principles that define the industry.
