First Entertainment CU launches digital brand in Atlanta | Credit Union Journal

• Key insight: First Entertainment CU launched a new digital brand across the country for creative professionals.
• Expert quote: “”There’s an opportunity to strategize with digital sub brands” — Dylan Lerner, Javelin Strategy
• Forward look: Expect financial market shifts as entertainment professionals move in pursuit of tax incentives.

First Entertainment Credit Union has launched a new fully digital credit union for entertainment professionals in the Atlanta area.
The digital credit union brand, called CineFi, opened last week for individuals living or working in either the Atlanta area or in Los Angeles County, California. Membership eligibility is also extended to members of the L.A.-based nonprofit Filmmakers Alliance.

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First Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based credit union that serves film and television professionals, built CineFi in partnership with the bank tech firm Nymbus as a digital extension of its current operations.

Stephen Owen, president and CEO of both First Entertainment Credit Union and CineFi, told American Banker that CineFi is “a fully-functioning digital banking experience of its own” and is built off of First Entertainment’s 60 years of serving the entertainment industry.

“Creatives from film and TV, social influencers, streamers and more will find that CineFi is truly built for them,” Owen said. “Our main focus is reaching creatives and production professionals in Atlanta and emerging entertainment hubs. Atlanta’s entertainment community has grown quickly, and many of those professionals don’t see themselves reflected in traditional financial institutions. CineFi is about meeting that demand and welcoming a new generation of entertainment professionals into the credit union space.”

CineFi’s financial products include round-up savings on debit card purchases, high-yield checking and savings accounts, early direct deposits, no account fees, access to around 33,000 surcharge-free ATMs and ATM surcharge rebates.

“The platform and user experience supports variable income, project-based work and periods of inconsistent cash flow,” Owen said. “We also offer specially curated financial education built around the unique careers of those within the creative industry. A lot of digital banks are built around predictable paychecks and traditional career paths. The experience has been designed with creatives in mind to make banking feel simpler and less stressful, not more complicated.”

All CineFi accounts will be held at and insured by First Entertainment through the National Credit Union Administration.

According to NCUA call reports, First Entertainment CU holds $2 billion in assets as of September 30, 2025. It also reported $6.73 million in net income for Q3 2025, a 19% increase year-over-year from $5.66 million in Q3 2024.

City National Bank, another Los Angeles-based financial institution primarily serving entertainment professionals, has also expanded to the Southeast United States in recent months. The bank, owned by the Royal Bank of Canada, had a round of mass layoffs in early 2024 in an attempt to cut costs following a difficult business year for the bank, but reported improvements in its earnings in 2025.

Dylan Lerner, senior analyst for digital banking at Javelin and a self-taught guitarist, told American Banker that the entertainment industry is geographically moving and CineFi’s launch reflects that shift.

“L.A. is losing a lot of business in the entertainment industry,” Lerner said. “A lot of them are moving to Atlanta, as Georgia is making it more attractive for tax reasons. I grew up in the Valley, it was very common for people who work in the entertainment industry to go where the business is. This might be a broader strategic play from a banking/credit union perspective of following the members and following their deposits.”

Launching a digital brand, according to Lerner, also enables First Entertainment to more easily make the geographic jump from California to Georgia.

“That’s the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to do it,” he said. “Digital is the quick way to expand your physical footprint. This probably would have taken them a lot longer if it meant boots on the ground, building a presence, hiring people in the area, visiting the area and acquiring branches.

“There’s an opportunity to strategize with digital sub brands,” Lerner continued. “Even a small credit union like First Entertainment has the ability to do something like this.”