2 minutes
From the editors
When we planned this issue several months ago, we didn’t set out to make it all about the perils credit union face. But perhaps it’s fitting that it worked out this way. After all, the Halloween month is about embracing fear and darkness.
What’s keeping you up at night this October and throughout the year? We have a hunch it might be one of the topics we’re covering in this issue. If so, we hope you find some relief in the tips and strategies suggested in the articles.
In “Which Way is Up?,” freelancer Karen Bankston finds that even the pros are challenged in applying current market trends to asset/liability management. Volatile might not be the best word to describe the economic environment, but unprecedented certainly fits, says Steve Williams, principal of CUES Supplier member and strategic partner Cornerstone Advisors, Scottsdale, Ariz. How do CUs manage ALM risk in today’s up and down world? Read more, p. 20.
Online account opening is risky whether you offer it or not. If you don’t, you risk losing millennials who expect a high-tech experience. But if you do, the threat of fraud and identity theft is high. Add in a lack of full control for the CU—most use third-party vendors to implement the technology—and the danger can seem even higher. What do experts suggest, and what are CUs doing? Find out, p. 24. Balancing security with convenience is also tackled in our special report on mobile banking security, p. 27.
Something else that may scare us about technology is how it is impacting the way we live day to day. With a smartphone in hand, we can work from pretty much anywhere. But what are the consequences to our personal and family lives? Writer Lin Grensing-Pophal explores the answer on p. 38.
“But of all of the risks a credit union must manage, reputation risk is always the most important,” says Jeff Chesky, president/CEO at Insuritas, an insurance management agency in East Windsor, Conn. He and other experts discuss just how far insurance coverage can go to safeguard your credit union’s good name on p. 32.
What else worries you? Please let us know (lisa@cues.org or theresa@cues.org) so we can cover it the future.
Lisa Hochgraf & Theresa Witham
