When the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic struck earlier this year, lending departments across the country found themselves pivoting to remote work environments that still allowed them to engage with members and meet their borrowing needs.

“It’s been a challenge,” says Jon Paukovich, vice president of mortgage lending at $6.9 billion asset Ent Credit Union in Colorado Springs, Colo., and a member of the CUNA Lending Council Executive Committee. “The hardest part has been keeping the cohesiveness and culture of the group together.”

Responding to COVID-19 was one of many trends discussed during a series of panel discussions on consumer, mortgage, and member business lending (MBL) during the CUNA Lending Council Virtual Conference.