In an announcement of its launch, the council said it will focus on developing best practices for risk and fraud management, including: complying with PCI standards; working with local and national law enforcement agencies; developing ongoing data security standards; and assisting credit unions in educating their members on ways to minimize exposure.

"The council's participating institutions see the value of aligning into an advisory group that can work with government and law enforcement agencies and credit card companies to share knowledge and develop new ways for credit unions to detect and combat fraud," said Steve Ruwe, chairman of the council and chief risk officer of PSCU Financial Services.

"This council is a great example of the credit union philosophy of people helping people, and we are excited that so many of us were able to come together and collaborate for the benefit of all credit unions," said Robert Hackney, president, Card Services for Credit Unions.

"This cooperative environment is the best way to combat fraudulent activities and allow the credit union industry to develop effective deterrents that ensure lower risk for the credit unions as well as the safety of members' account and financial information," said Jeff Russell, vice chairman of the risk council and chief innovation officer of the Members Group.

Russell added that the Credit Union Risk Council will also include a small number of credit unions that perform in-house risk management and data security processing. Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union is the first of these institutions to join the council.