6 Big Ideas For 2016

With the books on 2015 officially closed, it's time to get excited about the new year ahead.

With the books on 2015 officially closed, it’s time to get excited about the new year ahead. This week on CreditUnions.com, we’ve identified 6 Big Ideas for 2016.

What’s the Big Idea in cybersecurity for 2016? The way we think about it.

Cybersecurity is not just for technologists any more, it’s for everyone. Today, cyberattacks pose the most dangerous and pernicious kind of reputation risk, threatening the most valuable and strategically significant asset credit unions have, member trust. Understanding this changes everything.

To read more about how cyber risk touches every part of a credit union and why CEOs and other members of the C-suite must prepare for real-time, hands-on management of such events, read Responding To Cyberthreats Is A Big Idea For 2016 by Callahan’s vice president of research, Chris Howard.

In today’s financial services world, day-to-day operations are complex and significant projects require cross-functional teams. Strategy is more important that ever that’s why more credit unions are turning to team-based learning to develop current and future leaders.

To see why three credit unions are turning to team-based learning to develop current and future leaders, read Callahan contributor Sharon Simpson’s Team Education Is A Big Idea For 2016.

Financial wellness was Callahan’s executive vice president Jay Johnson’s pick for one of the Six Big Ideas for 2016 as the New Year begins. And he has 16 good reasons why.

Fifteen of those reasons are the 15 credit unions Callahan is working with on a financial wellness initiative through its participation in the Credit Union Financial Services Limited Partnership (CUFSLP).

But the biggest reason is No. 16: Helping working American families achieve financial stability in their lives is the No. 1 way the credit union movement can show it is truly all about “people helping people.

To read more about why now is the time to double down on the credit union difference and spread financial wealth and wellness, read Financial Wellness Is A Big Idea For 2016.

Cooperatives cooperating. Now there’s a big idea for 2016.

Well yes, actually.

It’s not that credit unions don’t cooperate today, they do, and in many different, constructive ways. It’s that our movement faces new kinds of challenges that call for a new approach, a fresh paradigm that shifts scope, focus, nature, and priorities.

To learn more about how, through the embrace of collaboration 3.0, credit unions can become the disruptors rather than the disrupted, read Disruptive Collaboration Is A Big Idea For 2016 by Chris Howard.

In 2014, 30% of respondents to a Gallup poll reported having very little or no confidence in banks. Listerhill Credit Union CEO Brad Green says he sees opportunity in that lack of trust.

The biggest threat we face is people forgetting the unique value of the financial cooperative and how it’s supposed to work for the greater good, especially when compared to other options in financial services, Green says. It’s not regulatory. It’s not legislative. It’s not financial or economic.

In this Q&A, Building Relevancy Is A Big Idea For 2016, Green discusses fatal mistakes in the search for relevancy, Gen Z, and capturing extra business at the point of purchase.

The Securities & Exchange Commission made a move in late 2015 that sets the stage for what Callahan managing partner Jon Jeffreys sees as a big idea for 2016 and beyond for the credit union industry and the communities it serves.

The SEC approved a new rule that allows credit unions to maintain and transmit investor funds in equity crowdfunding transactions. Actually, the commissioners clarified an original rule part of the Jump Start Our Businesses (JOBS) Act of 2012 that had left out credit unions as depository institutions for bringing together small investors and the small businesses they would like to fund.

Regardless, credit unions can now participate, and there are four compelling reasons to consider whether it’s right for your credit union. To see why Callahan & Associates thinks it’s worth exploring, read Small Equity Investments Is A Big Idea For 2016.

Happy Reading!

January 4, 2016

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