Resource Center

No matter the rising rate environment or the direction the yield curve takes, hedging allows your credit union to help its commercial members mitigate risk and take advantage of market opportunities. Some credit unions may think of hedging as an inaccessible tool that requires managing complex derivatives, but that does not have to be the case. With the right solution, you can add hedging to your lender toolbox and even educate your commercial members easily. 

This guide discusses how to get started with hedging in detail, including: 

• Using interest rate swaps for your loan hedging strategy
• Benefits of a correspondent hedging program
• Developing your loan hedging strategy
• Mitigating risk within budget
• Key features to offer members in this rate environment

Despite advancements in vulnerability management over the last decade, most organizations continue to rely solely on CVSS scores from vulnerability scanners or CVSS scores in conjunction with threat intel feeds to prioritize their remediation efforts. Because these strategies do not consider most of the context about network, host configuration, user activity, or permissions, prioritizing using them is little better than guessing. 

Download this infosheet and see how RiskAnalyzer stacks up in a range of capabilities including:

• Assess current & future vulnerability
• Reveal exploitable data
• Prioritize risk for each host
• Determine end-to-end attack scenarios
• Calculate business risk each vulnerability poses

Fraud is a lucrative business that continuously adapts to the same market forces driving the behaviors of modern organizations. As the dynamics of the digital economy and virtual era evolve, the manifestations of application fraud are generating complex, quickly growing risks for credit unions and substantially influencing fraud control investment priorities. 

Download this eBook and learn about:

• Trends & drivers of synthetic identity fraud
• The fraud-accessible enterprise climate
• Balancing the scales between growth & risk
• Closing the gateway to fraud with a multi-layered defense
• Stopping synthetic identity fraud with end-to-end protection

Credit unions saw their members embrace online and mobile banking when branches closed during the pandemic yet ATMs remain a crucial part of the member experience. But credit union members also want access to all available options to interact with their accounts – physical branches, phone branching and ATMs – and they are willing to move their business elsewhere to ensure this. In addition, members want the interaction with their credit union to be seamless regardless of the delivery channel, so outdated technology or inadequate processes that hinder this experience are now a liability. 

Download this white paper and learn how to:

• Work smarter, not harder with SaaS
• Streamline ATM management
• Bring more value to members
• Gain increased control over your ATMs
• Improve operational efficiency

76% of all fraud attempts feature a wire transfer – the increase in originators, volume, and dollar amount and other inherent characteristics of wire payments make them very attractive to fraudsters. Rules-based solutions being implemented by many institutions to detect fraudulent wires are time-consuming to set up and maintain, generate a large number of false positives and still miss fraud. It’s more important than ever for financial institutions to implement cost effective wire security solutions. 

Using behavioral analytics to understand originator and beneficiary behavior has proven its effectiveness regardless of how a wire request originated, how an account is compromised or the overall fraud scheme in play. Download this ebook and learn about:

• The diversity of fraud schemes 
• Sample fraud schemes featuring wire payments
• Total cost of wire fraud
• Available solutions for detecting wire fraud
• Advantages of behavior-based anomaly detection

One-third of members surveyed said that their financial institution's lack of support for local charities would persuade them to move their accounts elsewhere. 

In this report, you’ll discover how important supporting the community is to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. Findings include:

• 93% of consumers who say their FIs are generous with charitable contributions and are "very or extremely satisfied."
• 42% of Millennials would move their accounts over to FIs that donate to local communities.
• Millennials, on average, volunteer 50% more than Baby Boomers per year.

Elan understands that supporting partners goes beyond credit card servicing. In 2022 alone, Elan has donated over $625,000 on behalf of credit union partners to nonprofits in their local communities.

The popularity of “buy now, pay later,” or BNPL (also known as installments payments, installment loans and any point of sale lending solution), has accelerated and is showing no signs of slowing. In recent years, BNPL volume has been growing approximately 20 percent year-over-year, with a market opportunity of $1.7 trillion. The industry’s response has been everything from the rise of new upstarts to deep partnerships and a convergence between traditional issuers and fintechs, as well as some consolidation as the space evolves.

Read this article and learn how you can offer members BNPL options and capitalize on the market opportunity, as well as:

• Why BNPL fintechs have taken off in the last five to 10 years
• How BNPL is coming of age with the rise of connected devices & digital commerce
• An installment solution that provides benefits for all
• Different approaches to pay-over-time options
• The most popular BNPL loans among consumers

When traditional loan demand for mortgages began to decline and personal loan demand rose with stimulus drying up, the executive team at Sharonview FCU knew they had to act. Download this case study and learn how they were able to find a fintech that enabled them to grow loans and members safely in a challenging macroeconomic environment.

Download the case study for discussions around how Sharonview FCU:

• Found the right fintech partner
• Got their internal teams on board
• Configured their program to meet their specific credit parameters, profitability and volume targets
• Scaled volume safely without hiring any additional staff

For the past 20 years, the most common method for cybersecurity teams to prioritize vulnerability remediation efforts has been the CVSS. However, the rating scale is becoming increasingly risky as it does not account for modern threats and unique infrastructures. Gain a better understanding of how to prioritize vulnerabilities based on true business risk and how to best remediate them without wasting time or resources.

Download this whitepaper to learn why Credit Unions are finding value in context-based risk prioritization to help their cybersecurity programs, including:

• How to determine the actual threat landscape within your organization
• What the future of vulnerability prioritization looks like
• How to prioritize vulnerabilities with modern, contextual, risk-based frameworks
• Implementing additional tools to seal up risky vulnerabilities

Traditional banking is experiencing a crisis. Their systems aren’t built to service customers holistically, leaving the door wide open for competition from tech titans and digital challengers. Yet, this presents an unrivaled opportunity for credit unions to change for the better – by leveraging a unified platform that is built around the member. 

In an exclusive preview of “The Engagement Banking Revolution,” this excerpt of chapter 5 shows you how to:

• Architect banking around the customer
• Make the right technology investments
• Shift to a platform operating model
• Create new banking revenue streams
• Build a culture that embraces innovation 

This white paper provides an introduction to the work of data scientists in the context of using machine learning to fight fraud in digital businesses including credit unions. It discusses the main activities, goals, and challenges at play in the intersection of data science and fraud detection with the main purpose of facilitating communication between data scientists and engineers and the other members of fraud prevention teams. 

Download it now and learn about:

• Why data engineering is crucial to machine learning
• The two core steps for fraud detection: Data set construction and transformation
• How to level up your organization's fraud strategy
• And more!

DataVisor is the world’s leading fraud and risk management platform that enables organizations to respond to fast-evolving fraud attacks and mitigate risks as they happen in real time. Its comprehensive solution suite combines patented machine learning technology with native device intelligence and a powerful decision engine to provide protection for the entire customer lifecycle across industries and use cases.

How are consumers engaging with financial institutions like your credit union? This eBook explores that question as well as where financial organizations are meeting customer needs, and where they are falling short. A panel of senior financial professionals outline actionable guidance for credit unions looking to build offerings that will delight tech-savvy members - all based on survey data from 2,250 financial services customers.

Download this eBook and learn why members expect experiences that are easy, transparent, and show concern for both their financial health and security. Discover how to meet those expectations through:

• Meeting members where they are
• A strategic approach to automation
• Making better business decisions with better data 
• And more!

Credit unions have long recognized the value of digital experiences and unsecured personal loans for both members and the bottom line. But the global pandemic led to unprecedented deposit growth and a sharp decline in branch traffic due to changing member behavior. 

When launching new digital marketing initiatives, it can be difficult to meet origination volume goals and find high-quality applicants for personal loans. Executive leaders know it’s time to look externally. Download this white paper and learn how partnering with a lending expert can help you:

• Exceed loan volume goals while mitigating risk
• Expand membership relationships & lending footprint
• Help with member acquisition
• And more!

After the mortgage industry experienced record volumes and margins over the course of 2020 and 2021, 2022 has been a different story. There has been nearly 200-basis points of increases in mortgage rates, rising home prices dissuading would-be buyers and cutbacks across companies in the mortgage industry. Despite the current environment, credit unions can squeeze every basis point from their best execution loan sale strategy. 

Download this white paper and learn:

• 6 ways to increase profitability right now
• Strategies that to add dozens of basis of points to your margins
• How to find guidance during market volatility

Along with all of the typical challenges faced by large banks, credit unions are particularly vulnerable to fraud, because fraudsters understand they may have limited budget and resources to implement adequate fraud and risk prevention solutions. Even a small attack can be devastating to a credit union and have a much bigger impact on operations and members than it would a larger financial institution. 

Thankfully Machine Learning (or ML) offers a solution. In order to stay ahead in the fight against digital fraud, it's important for credit unions to have access to the insights that ML can provide. 

Download this handbook to understand the different types of machine learning, and learn which one is best suited to protect your credit union from fraud attacks. Inside you’ll find answers to:

• What is machine learning?
• What kinds of ML are available for my business?
• How does machine learning help fraud teams?

DataVisor is the world’s leading fraud and risk management platform that enables organizations to respond to fast-evolving fraud attacks and mitigate risks as they happen in real time. Its comprehensive solution suite combines patented machine learning technology with native device intelligence and a powerful decision engine to provide protection for the entire customer lifecycle across industries and use cases. 

The Buy Local Spend Local program can elevate credit unions in several areas by addressing the desire of consumers to connect with their community and keep money close to home. It also grows membership as local businesses are given affordable marketing opportunities to expand their reach among credit union members. 

This creative campaign launched in 2020 and has grown to allow credit unions to realize a 42% increase in transaction volume from participating members, boost brand awareness in the community and increase quarterly membership growth rates. 

Download the white paper and learn how the Buy Local Spend Local program can benefit your credit union by: 

• Growing membership and income
• Deepening relationships within the community
• Increasing brand awareness
• Attracting new members and building a positive reputation

Get 4 ways your credit union can transform customer service so that you are increasing member loyalty, creating new sales opportunities, and improving retention.

In every industry, customers expect the same simplicity, flexibility and ease of the customer journey. Today’s digital environment offers a unique opportunity for credit unions to create and access a complete view of their members, thus improving the experience at every angle. 

Download this eBook and learn how you can accelerate your CU’s service transformation to improve the member experience, including:

• What service transformation means for your credit union
• The importance of making member service seamless
• 4 ways you can transform member service
• How to create more impactful marketing & increased opportunities for cross-selling
• And more!

A personalized touch makes credit unions stand out in comparison to big banks, so having the data analytics in place to enable that is key. This case study explores how credit unions can perform quick analysis of underlying data, and allow senior management to increase the maturity of their departments and enable productivity. 

Download the case study and learn how becoming data-driven will enable your credit union to achieve next-level results, including:

• Enable employees to be proactive in a rising rate environment
• Better engagement with rate sensitive members having high deposits
• Managed deposit concentration risk 
• Dynamic dashboards for quick analysis
• Easy-to-use & drill-down for end users

Investing in data allows credit unions to be more profitable than ever. This guide explores the member lifecycle journey and how you can create additional value for your members faster, easier and more cost-effectively. 

Download the comprehensive guide and learn about:

• Measuring member lifetime value
• 5 stages of the analytics journey
• Understanding costs, pitfalls & challenges
• Driving ROI through data & predictive analytics
• 5 considerations to design your data analytics ecosystem
• And more! 

A large federal credit union with thousands of members nationwide and more than $3 billion in assets had trouble keeping up with growing and fast-evolving fraud, managing multiple disconnected systems and reviewing risky cases with limited budget and operations resources.

This case study explores how comprehensive protection across multiple use cases in a single, one-stop fraud and risk management platform enabled them to have a proactive approach to reducing false positives and simplifying decision-making; resulting in reduced operational overhead and an improved bottom line. Download the case study and learn how you can:

• Solve for multiple fraud use cases in a single platform
• Achieve proactive fraud detection before loss occurs
• Detect and stop synthetic and third-party fraud 
• Reduce operational overhead with end to end workflows
• Ensure seamless integration of data and fraud signals with an open platform

DataVisor is the world’s leading fraud and risk management platform that enables organizations to respond to fast-evolving fraud attacks and mitigate risks as they happen in real time. Its comprehensive solution suite combines patented machine learning technology with native device intelligence and a powerful decision engine to provide protection for the entire customer lifecycle across industries and use cases.

A thoughtful onboarding process can lay the foundation for a smooth transition, better member experience, and deeper long-term engagement. Understanding who the member is or what their business is all about sets your credit union up to be a better advisor going forward. Yet, many financial organizations view onboarding as a necessary evil instead of an incredible opportunity. 

Download this white paper and learn how to make your onboarding more seamless and continuous, allowing a unique opportunity to build trust. You’ll discover:

• 6 best practices for better onboarding
• Why it’s critical to rethink the role of your onboarding
• Tips to getting to know your customers better

87% of small businesses consider it important to have a single provider for all their credit and banking services.* Your credit union’s success in becoming an all-in-one financial solution for your members is directly tied to the performance of your merchant provider.

Partnering with a third-party payments provider can increase member satisfaction, retention rates, and ultimately, keep your credit union competitive with larger institutions. Elavon, a leading payments provider and credit union merchant partner, shows an 88% increase in average revenue, an 85% increase in deposits, and an 80% increase in loans from businesses that use their credit union for merchant services versus those with only a checking account.

Download this white paper to learn more about the benefits of a strong merchant services partnership and ways to evaluate the right one. Also uncover: 

• What merchant services capabilities local businesses want and need
• Types of merchant provider models
• Criteria for evaluating a potential partner for merchant services

*Source: BlueVine, 2022

The current financial services landscape is changing at an accelerated pace that is putting many credit unions on the defense—reacting to member demands instead of anticipating challenges. Recent research also reveals that younger generations want more from their primary financial institution, and just 9% of millennials claim a credit union as their primary. Is your credit union positioned to respond quickly to the changing demands of younger generations?

Download the white paper and learn how to put your credit union on the offensive, including:

• 3 ways future-ready cores give credit unions an edge
• How to realize quick-to-market implementation of innovative solutions
• Creating new opportunities to drive revenue

Over 4 billion people are using smartphones for nearly every activity in life, including banking. The increased customer demand for mobile banking services carries increased fraud threats. Credit unions must wield this combination carefully to avoid fraud losses if they move too quickly or customer churn if they move too slowly.

How can credit unions find the right balance when it comes to mobile banking? Download this white paper that highlights:

• Current trends in mobile banking
• Fraud threats and consumer behavior that result in increased risk
• Strategies for preventing mobile banking fraud
• Anomaly detection for mobile banking

Mortgage pricing is a function of inputs including MBS prices, servicing valuations, guaranty fee levels, and buy-up/buy-down pricing provided by the GSEs. The element over which lenders exercise the most control is their profit margins, which they use both to tweak their profitability and control their volumes during periods of heavy origination activity. 

This white paper illustrates the processes involved in generating consumer loan offerings and intermediate loan prices, including: 

• 2 common misconceptions about the relationship between consumer loan pricing & capital market conditions
• How consumer loan pricing is calculated
• Cash flow allocation of loans
• Calculating coupon best-execution
• Creating a “pricing grid”
• Factors impacting pricing

Credit unions still have one key advantage over fintechs: inherited trust. Recent data revealed that more than 50% of respondents strongly trust traditional providers compared to 32% who said the same of fintechs.*

Download this white paper to learn how to stay competitive and expand your offerings. Inside you’ll find: 

• How to develop your brand and grow cardmember loyalty
• Which features your mobile app should include
• Opportunities for member engagement through financial education tools

As market participants adjust their capacity to lower volume, margins initially tighten, compounding the challenges of fewer refinance loans. There can be both discomfort and anticipation moving from one stage of the mortgage cycle to another, but mortgage lenders know to stay agile.

This white paper outlines how lenders should prepare for these cyclical changes and thrive in a dynamic mortgage market. Topics discussed include:

• MCT Rate & Volume Mortgage Model
• Right-Sized, Scalable Operation
• Efficient Processes and Technology
• Broad Liquidity and Fungibility
• Lender Focus Areas by Market Stage

Recent research shows that almost two-thirds of active credit card users value their cards for the ease and convenience they offer. However, providing simple convenience isn’t enough for issuers to stay ahead of their competitors. Issuers also need to focus on data security, rewards and privacy features to keep their cards top of wallet. 

Download this report and learn which customer experience features are driving credit card selection and usage, including:

• Top consumer experience features ranked by importance, family type and financial lifestyle
• 4 key findings about consumers today
• 5 credit industry fast facts
• Type of consumer who values credit-building functionality
• Top factors for consumers choosing a credit card
• How to offer effective customer experience features 

As Kentucky’s largest credit union with nearly $2 billion in assets, Abound CU experienced the same lending trends that have been impacting the whole credit union industry over the last couple of years, namely: shrinking lending margins, deposits pouring in during the pandemic, and decreases in loan demand. Amidst the unique circumstances, they identified unsecured personal lending as an untapped opportunity for their organization to drive loan growth. 

In an effort to seize this opportunity and deliver simpler, more efficient loan services to members, Abound CU prioritized an AI lending approach. 

Download this case study for insights on how Abound determined the best path forward to grow personal lending. You will discover:

• 3 principles that guided Abound’s decision to improve personal lending.
• Why Abound chose to partner with Upstart to deliver an all-digital experience over building the solution in house. 
• The benefits of increased data access and aggregation.
• Why a technological and cultural fit is critical for partner relationships.

The Federal Reserve has indicated it will raise rates multiple times over the course of the year. This coupled with an overall decline in MBS appetite from an end-investor perspective will cause increased competition for loan sales which will drive down credit union profitability.

Download this white paper to learn key strategies for mitigating margin compression in 2022. Topics covered include:

• Tips for reviewing your current strategies
• How to hedge your pipeline to reduce risk
• 3 tactics to improve your secondary marketing 
• 6 ways to leverage technology and automation
• And more!

Chief Capital Markets Officer, Jeffrey Cassetta, of Ruoff Mortgage describes how advanced technology integrations enable him to sell loans to Fannie Mae five times faster than his previous manual process and keep up with periods of increased volume such as increases seen during the spring of 2020.

Download the case study to learn how a powerful platform for day-to-day loan pipeline management, trade positions management and best execution of loan sales can allow you to automate repetitive tasks and free up your time for other high-value functions. Plus, you’ll learn how to:

• Minimize operational risk and safely connect to data
• Gain efficiency 
• Increase profitability and loan sales
• Do your job from anywhere
• Get started using best practices

Beyond greatly minimizing risk for your CU, fraud prevention can be a competitive advantage in the eyes of your members. While data breaches are bound to happen, building cyber-resilience allows credit unions to quickly respond and bounce back to normalcy or to a better position. This white paper outlines the greatest fraud risks facing credit unions today and offers actionable insights to prevent data breaches, ransomware and phishing schemes. 

Download the white paper and learn best practices cited by financial services professionals to ensure data security, including how to:

• Build resilience in the face of cyber-threats
• Prevent data leaks from employees working from home 
• Minimize open banking risks
• Shore up endpoint vulnerabilities
• Meet compliance mandates

As a credit union, you have deep community roots, loyal membership, and are always looking to grow market share. One way to help your members get the best rate or price is by optimizing your investor set. With increases in mortgage pricing granularity over the last couple years, it may be time to consider looking at going beyond your current investor(s) to do right by your members.

Download this whitepaper and learn how to quantify where to deliver your production, the process for auditing your investor base, and how to optimize your investor set. Plus, you will also learn:

• How to review your loan sale delivery method
• Considerations for choosing the right investors
• Questions to ask when exploring new programs and investors
• What investors look for in a quality seller
• And more!

The costs associated with fee and interest income when running a credit card program may be more complicated than they seem, especially if the program is not optimized. 

Download this whitepaper to understand factors that can affect the profitability of your credit union’s credit card program, including:

• Profit margin pressures
• Interest income: WAAPR vs. Revolve Rate and Fixed vs. Variable Rate
• Costs of interest income
• Fee income: direct and interchange
• Overall effect of costs on profitability