00:00Pleased to say that the CEO of USAA joins us right now, Juan Andrade, to discuss a little bit more about that initiative called Honor Through Action.
00:08And we should point out, of course, for those folks who don't know, USAA is a massive bank that primarily serves our military members and veterans.
00:17Juan, great to have you here on a day like today.
00:20Talk a little bit, not so much just about the money that you're ponying up, but why you're putting that money out there.
00:25Absolutely. And thank you for having me. And happy Veterans Day to all of our veterans.
00:31So for us, this is our mission. We have been around for 103 years, and we were created by 25 soldiers who needed insurance.
00:42And you roll the clock forward 100 years, and now we are a Fortune 100 company that is focused on serving the military community.
00:49But for us, it's also about recognizing that there's some issues that we can help our members and the broader military community to better deal with.
00:59And those three issues are a successful career transition from active duty into the civilian world and a quality job.
01:07It's about financial security, and it's also about overall well-being.
01:11And so our commitment of $500 million over the next five years is really aimed at going deeper into each of these issues.
01:18Talk a little bit about the transition from folks who are retiring from active duty in the military and presumably going into a civilian life.
01:29What type of support, I mean, beyond just the current program that you just announced, what type of support does USAA traditionally offer?
01:37Yeah, so for our company, we have a very robust hiring program for our veterans.
01:42We essentially have an 18-month program in the company with three rotations of six months and mentorship the entire 18 months.
01:51So our service members can really understand what it's like to work in the private sector and, frankly, how their skills can transfer.
01:58And, Juan, you are USA's second chief executive without a military background.
02:02Of course, you are a veteran in the insurance industry.
02:05So I'm curious what you have learned after you joined USA about your particular community's needs.
02:11How are their financial demands or needs unique?
02:16Absolutely.
02:17And, look, our members are the reason we exist at the end of the day.
02:21I had the honor of serving on the USA board for five years before becoming the CEO.
02:26And so for me, I've had the opportunity to observe our employees, to look at our strategy, but more importantly, to interact with our members in a very measured and intimate way, whether it's in person, via email, via video calls, et cetera.
02:44And so we have a pretty deep understanding of some of the issues that they face.
02:48For instance, with the government shutdown, we initiated a government shutdown program and funded over $400 million in loans for all of our eligible service members, in addition to additional payment relief, et cetera, with the goal of creating financial stability during this difficult time for some of those families.
03:09And, of course, you mentioned the government shutdown.
03:11As we wait for the House to pass the bill funding the government and the president to sign that bill, it's looking like the members of the government are going to miss a third straight paycheck.
03:22Can you just provide some color on how your members, how the military community is coping with these missed paychecks?
03:30Absolutely.
03:31And I'm optimistic that the government will reopen by the end of the week.
03:35But this is one of the reasons why we initiated the government shutdown program at USA back at the beginning of October.
03:43And as I mentioned, what we have provided is over $400 million in zero interest loans with flexible repayment, as well as additional payment flexibility on credit cards and mortgages and auto loans, lines of credit, et cetera, to be able to help during this period of time.
03:58Again, the military has been getting paid, but it's important to remember that about 30 percent of our federal workers are also veterans.
04:06So if they haven't been paid, that dual income household will be losing ground.
04:11And so this is where we stepped in.
04:13Well, I want to talk about specifically a little bit more about your business.
04:16Just a couple of months ago, the company made some announcements about restructuring some of the organizational structure there, particularly around technology, putting a greater focus on what you call, quote, member value.
04:28I know that announcement was just made, I think, at late, early September, late August.
04:33But how much progress have you made in implementing those changes?
04:36We have made actually quite a bit of progress.
04:38On my first day as CEO back on April the 2nd, I laid out five priorities for the organization.
04:46And five months later in September is when I reorganized the company to make sure that we had the organizational design and structure to be able to implement on those five priorities.
04:56So I'm very proud of what the team is doing.
04:59And ultimately, it's about putting the member first with everything that we do.
05:03Do you anticipate that you're going to have additional job cuts based on that program?
05:10No, I don't.
05:11Not based on that program.
05:13I mean, for us, this is really about making sure we have the right structure in the company and the right people in that structure to be able to serve our members better and to provide that value that they get when they become members of our association.
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