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If I gave you a tip in early January on a stock that proceeded to triple in price in less than a month you’d be pretty happy, right? That’s hardly the prevailing attitude about GameStop, however. Of course, this is because the until-recently disregarded stock was briefly up more than twenty-fold in the interim.

You’ve probably seen the bumper stick that reads, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” Based on recent news I’m offering a new spin for leaders of credit unions and community banks: If you’re not terrified, you’re not paying attention.

For a few weeks in December, the SolarWinds software breach was big news. Like so many events these days, however, it was soon crowded out of the headlines- which I suspect is just fine with security experts, who prefer to combat these threats outside the glare of attention.

It already feels trivial to revisit 2020’s twists and turns, but we at BIG believe it’s important to hold ourselves to account. Our last blog assessed the accuracy of several of the fintech predictions we made as the curtain raised on 2020, including Big Tech incursions, strategic acquisitions and security breaches.

A blessing/curse of posting to the internet is that it’s virtually impossible to destroy evidence of past statements. Not that we’re looking to hide anything.

One of the biggest financial stories to emerge from the pandemic has been the forward jolt to digital adoption for services like banking an e-commerce. Of course, the overall trend toward digital channels has been underway for some time. We at BIG have been preaching to credit unions for years the criticality of providing state-of-the-art online and mobile solutions to members in order to remain relevant in today’s marketplace.

Last week we recapped five of the most important fintech stories of the past year (don’t worry; none of them involve pandemics or the election). Let’s continue with a few more, including some late-breaking news:

John Best and I decided to bypass our annual Year’s Top Fintech Stories podcast and proceed directly to 2021 predictions- after all, isn’t everyone ready to move on without further discussion of coronavirus and the election?

The gig economy is driving one of the greatest labor market transformations in generations. Such shifts rarely occur without havoc and discomfort- which is precisely what we’re seeing today. On November 3 California residents voted on Proposition 22, a ballot initiative designed to reset the rules governing drivers for app-based services like Uber and DoorDash. The story is already compelling, and we’re nowhere near the final chapter.

As people from both ends of the political spectrum took to the streets Saturday in reaction to election news, many were quietly asking themselves, “Wait- what does this mean for banking and fintech?” (just kidding- sort of)