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Credit Union Times

JANUARY 9, 2019 | VOL. 30 | NO. 1 | CUTIMES.COM

Hedging Opportunities Is it time for CUs to explore them? Y9

Zeroing In on Reputation

Enhance, protect and defend your CU’s image. Y8

FOCUSREPORT:

A LOOK AHEAD

More natural disasters are bound to come in 2019, threatening credit unions’ members, facilities and assets. In this Focus Report, learn best disaster preparation practices from CEOs who lived through some of the country’s worst natural catastrophes. Y6 TINA OREM

torem@cutimes.com

PAYMENTS

New Trends,
Threats
to Hit CU
ATMs

TM security was a hot topic in 2018, and for good reason – unrelenting theft threats,

rapidly-changing technology and shifting member demands were just a few of the major trends that influenced the sector over the last

12 months. Here are five of the year’s biggest stories in ATM security, plus a few predictions from the experts about what 2019 may have in store.

1. EMV-Ready – Or Not

In its 2018 EMV Migration Survey, the ATM Industry Association reported that 91% of U.S. ATMs were EMV-capable and 86% actively accepted chip transactions, which was a significant spike from an estimated 19% at the beginning of 2016 and 58% at the beginning of

2017.

But there was an open secret in the industry in 2018: Many credit unions still hadn’t finished – or perhaps not even started – issuing EMV cards.

2. Fee Fury

More consumers than ever said
they would do just about anything
to dodge ATM fees, which may
have put more pressure on
reaches, account take-
overs, card fraud, mal-
ware, phishing, ransom-
ware, DNS attacks …
which cybersecurity development
will have the greatest effect on
credit unions in the coming year?

Some credit union industry professionals helped draw a picture of what to expect in 2019.

“The continued organization
and consolidation of cybercrimi-
nals will result in greater efficiency
in their effort to attack existing
vulnerabilities, while accelerating
their ability to exploit new vulner-
abilities,” Nayan Pa-
tel, vice president,
strategic alliances
at Fiserv, said. This,
along with the in-
creasing lack of cy-
bersecurity talent
available to most
credit unions, will
necessitate the adoption of secu-
rity orchestration platforms as well
as the enlistment of trusted part-
ners to augment existing tools and
staff in the form of managed secu-
rity service providers.

Patel said the concept known as SOAR (security orchestration, automation and response), will tremendously influence credit unions and other institutions going forward. “SOAR platforms enable organizations to collect security-related data from the many

2019 Brings New Security Challenges

ROY URRICO

rurrico@cutimes.com

CYBERCRIME

Must Reads

INVESTMENTS

‘Pensionize’ 401(k)s and IRAs In a world of defined contributions, American workers have three challenges – inadequate savings, leakage (or loans/early withdrawals) tied to their retirement accounts and the need for retirement income. Plus, just half of all DC plans offer a way for investors to transform balances into periodic retirement income, with only one in five offering guaranteed lifetime payouts.

This situation prompted Steve Vernon of the Stanford Center on Longevity, Wade Pfau of The American College of Financial Services and researcher Joe Tomlinson to explore and devise solutions to “pensionize” retirement plans. Their work, first published last year and then updated this year, finds that only one-third of workers contact financial advisors, and most lack the necessary skills to convert savings into retirement income and typically have short planning horizons.

But research from the Stanford Center on Longevity (SCL) and Society of Actuaries (SOA) has found a “straightforward retirement strategy,” according to the three authors. “Choosing a specific solution that will help workers generate retirement income requires them to make informed tradeoffs between potentially competing goals,” they explained, such as “maximizing lifetime income; providing access to savings (liquidity); planning for bequests;

HUMAN RESOURCES

Benefits Turn High-Tech Technology and data frequently go hand in hand to power th latest innovations in the benefits industry. New solutions as well as evolving applications of xist ing technology and data analytics continue to emerge at a rapid pace, making it critical that br - kers and benefits specialists stay on top of the latest trends in this space in order to help their clients make nformed decisions about how to implement programs that will be most effective for their workforce.

Read on to learn more about the top trends currently impacting health and benefits:

1. Personalization

While not necessarily new, this is one trend that continues to evolve and demonstrate its value. Utilizing data, including claims, user behavior and more, enables programs to identify gaps in care and cre ate targeted outreach and communications to more effectively connect with employees. These communications can encourage employees to address medi cation adherence issues, prescription savings opportunities and recommendations to participate in programs or utilize tools that might be beneficial, among other personalized mes sages to take positive behavioral steps toward better health and well-being.