It will be an exciting 2018 for credit unions if just apercentage of the industry forecasts listed prove foretelling.However, expect continued cybersecurity incidents and threats tosteal some attention.

The following are capsulations of some pertinent 2018 insights,expectations and predictions offered by financial services industrycompanies and experts on a range of topics such as digital, mobileand retail banking; payments and cryptocurrency; data security;application programming interfaces; fraud; the Internet of Things;core deposits; credit union bank acquisitions; machine learning andartificial intelligence.

Mike Morris, systems partner, Porter KeadleMoore:

• Data security and risk management remain a hot topic.Regulators increase their review and oversight.
• Credit unions will need to place greater focus on riskmanagement programs to ensure they hold up to this amplifiedscrutiny, particularly as it relates to vendor management.
• Financial institutions will begin to explore blockchain'spotential to create secure transactions at lower costs.

Robb Gaynor, co-founder and chief product officer,Malauzai:

• Open API will be a focused topic. Expect a shift from accessingdata to distribution. Fintech vendors want access to real, livecustomers. Credit unions will and should play a critical role inthis process.

Mickey Goldwasser, vice president of marketing,Payrailz:

• The credit union industry prepares for growth in all aspects ofthe payments experience. Members believe technology should simplifyor eliminate mundane aspects of their lives. Credit unions mustaddress this cultural “do it for me” expectation by providingsmarter digital payment experiences.

Gary Singh, vice president of marketing, Ondot Systems,Inc.:

• Consumers demand more control and protection of their data.Credit unions will need to provide card controls in 2018 to givemembers the ability to stop fraudulent activity immediately,control spending and have a tool to weather the data breaches asthey occur.

Kristopher Bishop, founder and president, IntegratedLegacy Solutions:

• Credit union acquisitions of banks has risen consistently fromonly one transaction in 2012 to five transactions in 2017.Acquiring a bank can be a lucrative strategy for credit unions asit allows for an increase in the asset base and membership fieldwhile spreading out regulatory costs.

Michael Ball, vice president of markets and strategy,IMM:

• Credit unions have to adapt and evolve to provide a moremodern, digital experience with simplified and convenientengagement. Delivering digital tools and services will be apriority in 2018, enabling credit unions to better engage withmembers.

Larry Nichols, president/CEO, MDT:

• Credit unions advance how they leverage digital channels suchas implementing AI to automatically present cross-saleopportunities to members. Mobile apps become more sophisticated,encapsulating everything a member wants and needs such as retailcoupons, shopping news, restaurant deals, etc.

Mark Vipond, president/CEO, D3 BankingTechnology:

• More credit unions will try to consolidate individual pointsolutions to streamline operations, improve members' experience andlower overhead associated with managing IT environments. Savvycredit unions will lay the foundation for a digital bankingplatform strategy built on API-driven architectures, allowing themto bring new innovations to the market quickly.

John Waupsh, chief innovation officer,Kasasa:

• Increasing core deposits will be top of mind in 2018,especially for credit unions, but we anticipate big challengesahead in doing so. The marketing tactics historically leveraged toacquire core deposits and increase market share are no longereffective. Instead, credit unions will look to data-cleansing andenriching processes, paired with data-driven acquisition andretention strategies, and supported by marketing automation.

Joe Salesky, CEO, CRMNEXT, Inc.:

• Investment ensures digital capabilities in financial and callcenters also work for credit union staff and allows them to focuson consultative member conversations. Personal financial managementwill turn from a member self-service experience to a collaborativefocus for financial health discussions and member actionplans.

Brad Downs, CEO, Strategic ResourceManagement:

• More credit unions will seek to augment and automate therequirements associated with managing and negotiating vendorcontracts, utilizing benchmarks to ascertain if the deal they aregetting is above, at or below market. This will be especially truein the payments space where network brands have gotten increasinglyaggressive in establishing their brand footprint.

Ted Bilke, president, Symitar:

• Urgency around branch transformation and digital banking willpush credit unions to advance technologies like AI, bots anddistributed ledger.
• Credit unions will embrace more fintech partnerships to speednew product development and differentiate digital services.
• Internal processes and organizational design will alsoformalize cultures of innovation and intelligence via specialtypositions.
• The call to outsource IT will become more about strategicallydedicating resources to focus on emerging critical trends.

David Eads, founder/CEO, Gro Solutions:

• We will continue to see the evolution of the mobile/digitalchannel as a catalyst for credit unions' growth. This includeshighly targeted, relevant marketing campaigns to existing andprospective members to more cost-effectively expand theirfootprint.

Mark Anderson, CEO, Banc Intranets:

• Credit unions will primarily focus on how they can improvetheir bottom line by reducing expenditures and streamliningoperations internally. Operational technologies, whether anemployee intranet, customer onboarding system or new loanorigination system, will become an integral part of a creditunion's efforts to further minimize expenses and drive long-termgrowth.

Tim Keith, co-founder and chief strategy officer,Infusion Marketing:

• Rate-based competition for deposit dollars will acceleratefaster than anticipated. As strong lending companies have becomehungrier for deposits, aggressive deposit rate offers have begun toappear. Deposit rate pricing deployed through strategic marketingoffers credit unions a unique competitive advantage.

Suzi McNicholas, vice president of marketing, SourceTechnologies:

• Consumers will expect greater levels of continuity betweendigital channels and the branch experience. Credit unions willshift toward implementing in-branch technology that can bridge thegap in these channels, transform branches into more high value,advisory-based centers, and leverage self-service technology.

Scott Hess, VP of user experience, consulting andinnovation, Fiserv:

• The fast pace of change in mobile payments will intensify,driven by advances in technology and changing consumer habits.
• As consumers become more comfortable with voice-enabledtechnology, they will begin using it for financialinteractions.
• Faster payments will continue as a priority across paymenttypes. Paying others digitally becomes the familiar and preferredoption.

Chad Conley, senior product strategist, retail banking,Fiserv:

• Financial institutions try to balance high-tech innovationswith well-timed human interactions.
• AI is set to enhance capabilities such as fraud detection andcustomer support.

Matt Wilcox, SVP, marketing, strategy and innovation,digital banking, Fiserv:

• Digital banking developments using a variety of innovations –including analytics, voice banking, facial recognition andbiometric capabilities will help make the experience morecompelling and intuitive.

Jack Henry & Associates:

• The Clearing House's Real-time Payment system nears the pointof critical mass.
• Real-time payments will achieve significant progress towardubiquity within the next two years.
• Deposit disintermediation will continue to increase. Moneypreviously stored in regulated deposit accounts is becomingscattered among prepaid cards, mobile wallets and even in P2Pservices.
• Consumer debt is returning to pre-recession levels. Financialinstitutions develop strategies to address this.

Matthew Honea, Cyber Director at Cyence, aproduct family of Guidewire:

• Cybersecurity budgets will continue to grow, but executiveswill be more strategic with how they tailor budgets to addressmodern day threats.
• Crypto-ransomware will be a major threat to companies in2018.
• As autonomous vehicles and transportation systems becomeincreasingly digital, they also become attractive targets forcyberattacks and vulnerabilities.

Mike Massaro, CEO, Flywire:

• Cross-border payments become optimized for a specific set ofcustomers and requirements such as type of transaction, specificindustry regulations, connected accounts, internationalrequirements or payment-related customer support needs.
• Different countries collaborate more closely to create morepredictability in their markets, and protect their commoninterests.
• Different players in the international payments and receivablesprocessing realm will increasingly incorporate AI and machinelearning.

Tom Donlea, vice president of global marketing,Whitepages Pro:

• Identity verification will become a part of the regulations andcompliance for lending, payments and other online businesses.
• The combination of machine learning and quality data willrequire any serious lender to make sophisticated decisions in thefast-moving online banking market.
• Larger online lenders will bring fraud fighting in-house ratherthan rely on a third-party platform. They'll trade out rules-onlydecisioning platforms in favor of a hybrid platform that also usescustom models.
• Blockchain for Identity will finally move beyond prototype. Thefirst deployment will occur with high value financial industriesand for health-related data.