Blog

While attending Money 20/20 last week I received a text from a colleague asking if I’d heard rumors about PAX terminals being pulled by a payment processor. At first I thought it might have been a typo, but soon enough I began hearing corroboration in the conference hallways. But the story got even juicier- the FBI had raided PAX’s Jacksonville warehouse.

When Google pulled the plug on its closely followed checking initiative on October 1, the news was a bigger surprise than it probably should have been. The Big Tech firm has long subscribed to Silicon Valley’s “fail fast” mantra, and has a graveyard of abandoned products to show for it.

The Finovate crew did an impressive job of bringing their winning formula of seven-minute live demos back into a live New York City setting in mid-September. By my visual estimate, 300-400 vaccinated and judiciously spaced attendees were in the Marriott Marquis ballroom at any given time.

With each passing day, fewer business practitioners have direct experience dealing with the disruption caused by inflation cycles last felt in the US 30+ years ago. Are such skills coming back into fashion?

We at BIG spend an unhealthy amount of time pondering the future trajectory of cash usage and its implications for credit unions- you’ll find some of our earlier analysis here.

Voice assistants are fast becoming the way we interact with everything from our banks to our cars- we're already watching this transition play out in real time. The technology isn't limited to humans either, with artificial intelligence (AI) also being embedded into voice interactions to aid decision making and improve customer experiences

Based on the industry’s reaction, you’d think the banking sector had been singled out in the Biden Administration’s recent Executive Order addressing market competition. The wide-ranging document actually encompasses 72 initiatives, with financial services the last category listed- well after healthcare, agriculture, and transportation, and in less detail.

It’s a familiar story. Credit union signs up to roll out an exciting new product or service with a fintech provider; months later, the project remains mired in the implementation process. What went wrong? The CU found itself playing defense after the compatibility of its data system was lost to the uncertainties of platform integration.

The Federal Reserve is hardly one to court controversy. Given the polarized history plaguing interchange, not to mention persistent rumors of back-office plotting to revisit the Durbin Amendment, it’s nearly impossible to stay above the fray- even with a “just the facts, ma’am” report like the Fed recently released.

Best Innovation Group recently partnered with my friend, longtime industry expert, and KnowBe4 Defense Evangelist Roger Grimes to discuss the steps credit unions can take immediately to improve their security posture. You can watch the full session here, but let me share a few of my favorite takeaways.