From transforming member experiences to building a culture of information literacy, data has become a catalyst for innovation at credit unions. New use cases are constantly emerging for organizations willing to explore them, and artificial intelligence will only increase their value.



In a PaymentsJournal Podcast, Jeremiah Lotz, Senior Vice President of Experience Design and Enterprise Data at Velera, and Christopher Miller, Lead Analyst of Emerging Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research, explored how credit unions are collecting and leveraging data to improve efficiency and better serve their members. 





Data As an Asset



Forward-thinking credit unions view their data not just as a resource, but as a strategic asset—a goldmine of insights into both members and the business itself. While many credit unions have already invested heavily in data, unlocking its full potential requires clarity on what the organization hopes to achieve. The first step is understanding how the institution intends to put that data to work.



“Look at what the data is saying, and how will it help us make decisions, as opposed to just for historical information,” said Lotz. “Once the organization recognizes that there's an opportunity to use the data to make decisions or drive intelligence, that's a sign of a mature level of adoption.”



A key driver is executive alignment at the C-suite level, ensuring that the credit union can use its data to grow, engage and retain membership, and ultimately inform decisions. The next step is empowering data teams to suggest use cases, regardless of the division they work in. When non-technical staff can articulate business needs that data can address, it reflects a culture that is ready to move forward.



“It’s a way to be able to say, ‘I have a problem’ or ‘I have an opportunity that maybe data could help me with,’ versus expecting people to say, ‘Hey, I think you've got data. Let me see these three fields and see if it does anything for me,’” Lotz said.



Anticipating Member Needs



Credit unions are learning that consumer data isn’t just numbers—it’s a roadmap to a better member experience. By analyzing individual patterns, institutions can spot potential financial challenges or opportunities before they happen. Using predictive insights in this way transforms interactions, moving beyond reactive service to experiences that delight members.



“It doesn't always have to be super aggressive,” said Lotz. “It can be more about putting something in front of them that might help in a situation, if they so choose.”



At the same time, members expect their data to be used responsibly—but they often worry about privacy. Credit unions can address these concerns by clearly communicating how data usage benefits members, showing that it’s designed to make their financial lives easier and more personalized.  



“Whether it's coupons I receive or recommendations when I'm shopping online, we know this data collection exists,” said Lotz. “It would be nice to understand that my financial institution is going to use it in a way that's going to help me, that's going to protect me or maybe give me opportunities by predicting my behavior.”



Predicting when a member might need a product is just the beginning. Data can also streamline everyday interactions. Instead of asking members to fill out forms, a credit union can provide pre-populated applications or automatically update existing acc...

The next iteration in the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence has arrived, and organizations are racing to harness the potential of AI agents to create a dynamic new shopping experience. However, as powerful as agentic commerce can be, the road to adoption won’t be without hiccups—many of which will lead to a surge in disputes.



In a recent PaymentsJournal podcast, Joseph McLean, CEO and Co-Founder of Quavo, and Christopher Miller, Emerging Payments Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, discussed the challenges that can arise in the agentic commerce dispute process, the steps financial institutions can take to prepare, and how disputes can serve as an opportunity to engage and retain customers in the age of agentic commerce.





Navigating Uncharted Waters



Traditionally, as the volume of payments has grown, the number of disputed transactions has remained relatively stable. However, as agentic commerce gains traction, this pattern is unlikely to hold.



This shift raises many questions for organizations attempting to navigate these uncharted waters.







“There is going to be fraud on these transactions; there are going to be mistakes that are made by consumers or by AI,” McLean said. “The regulations aren't super clear on who is liable in these scenarios when consumers are making purchases. Is it the consumer? Is it the merchant? Is it the issuer? This also opens up new attack vectors for fraudsters, where they can get into the agentic commerce area themselves posing as other people and making purchases.”



In particular, there may be a rise in first-party, or consumer-engaged, fraud. For example, an AI agent might follow its instructions perfectly, yet if the customer is dissatisfied with the outcome, they may still dispute the transaction. Alternatively, a consumer could intentionally make a purchase with the plan to dispute it later—claiming fraud or an AI error.



These situations create grey areas, as liability becomes unclear when a consumer authorizes an agent but doesn’t directly complete the purchase themselves. It’s therefore critical that these issues are resolved before agentic commerce scales further, since confusion and ambiguity could be detrimental to adoption.



“Merchants, payment processors, and card issuers are all going to think about this in terms of liability and consumers are going to think about it in terms of experience,” Miller said. “If they have an experience that doesn't meet their expectations, that has implications for the growth of this ecosystem.”



“If a consumer doesn't believe that they're going to get what they want by delegating authority to choose or to purchase some piece of software that we're calling an agent right now, they might not use the agent,” he said. “That's a fundamental limiter on growth here.”



Trusting the Process



To develop a stronger framework around the dispute process, several factors should be considered by financial institutions.



First, FIs will need a mechanism to gauge the consumer’s intent when they instructed and authorized the AI agent.



Given that AI systems can hallucinate or misinterpret instructions, it will be important to verify whether the agent accurately carried out the customer’s request. Understanding consumer intent is also critical because bad actors may attempt to manipulate AI agents—for example, by creating fraudulent websites or impersonating legitimate services to trick AI into making unauthorized tran...

Across shopping, streaming, and social media, consumers have grown used to receiving personalized recommendations powered by artificial intelligence. While some may feel less comfortable with AI taking on a similar role in their banking experience, a hyper-personalized digital banking platform can deliver far greater value than simply suggesting the next show to binge.



In a recent PaymentsJournal podcast, Fiserv’s Whitney Stewart Russell, President of Digital and Financial Solutions, and Sean Calhoun, Vice President and General Manager of Digital Banking, along with Christopher Miller, Emerging Payments Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, discussed the evolving digital banking landscape, the advantages of hyper-personalization, and the ways AI is reshaping banking strategies.





A Perfect Storm of Opportunity



For many customers, digital banking isn’t just part of their experience—it’s their only experience. As consumers increasingly integrate digital platforms into nearly every aspect of daily life, their expectations have risen. They now demand seamless, intuitive, and personalized interactions each time they login.



For example, many users expect to conduct in-depth research or receive relevant guidance with just a few swipes or prompts.



At the same time, one of the largest wealth transfers in history is approaching, with an estimated $50 trillion set to pass from baby boomers to their heirs. Together, these factors make it more critical than ever for banks, credit unions, and fintechs to deliver a truly robust digital experience.



“If you look at younger generations—Gen Z in particular—Fiserv research would say that they are more willing than ever to move where they bank to where they are most happy and satisfied with the digital experience,” Russell said.



“It's almost like a perfect storm of opportunity to rethink how banks and credit unions show up for consumers and small businesses in the digital space,” she said. “Treat it as an opportunity to get not only a great service delivered, but also a true one-to-one personalized experience that allows them not only to get their jobs done, but also to seek advice and guidance and build a relationship digitally with their bank or credit union.”



Tailoring Individual Experiences



One of the most tried-and-true methods of building relationships is by tailoring each experience to the individual consumer. With the help of AI and data analytics, this goes even further—enabling hyper-personalized suggestions that deliver truly curated experiences.



For many consumers, especially younger adults, these customized interactions are no longer a novelty but an expectation. Their digital-first lifestyles—shaped by e-commerce and social platforms—have already acclimated them to interacting with chatbots and AI agents, making hyper-personalization the new standard.



Despite rising consumer confidence, many financial services firms have hesitated from placing AI at the forefront of their operations, fearing it might alienate customers.



Yet, although AI is still a relatively nascent technology, these concerns are largely unfounded.

Different payment methods have gained popularity in different parts of the world. For example, buy now, pay later is widely used in Australia and the Nordics, while account-to-account payments lead the way in the Netherlands and Brazil.



As commerce becomes increasingly globalized, merchants everywhere must adapt to these local payment preferences—or risk losing customers.



In a PaymentsJournal Podcast, Tulio Gambogi, Head of Alternative Payment Methods at Worldpay, David Sykes, Chief Commercial Officer at Klarna, and Don Apgar, Director of the Merchant Practice at Javelin Strategy & Research, discussed the challenge of keeping pace with the wide range of alternative payment methods (APMs). While this may seem overwhelming for individual merchants, payment experts are ready to help businesses stay aligned with the methods their customers rely on.





Connecting with Local APMs



Despite the fact that payment rails connect businesses and consumers around the world, payment experiences remain local. How consumers in Brazil pay is very different from how consumers in China do. E-commerce merchants, in particular, need to understand and adapt to local payment preferences in each market.



While supporting APMs might seem like a costly undertaking, the opposite is often true. Local payment methods are frequently more cost-effective than relying solely on traditional payment rails.



“From my perspective, we're usually a price leader because we've got 111 million active consumers,” said Sykes. “Many of them are linked to a bank account or a debit card. In a lot of these markets, we can be more cost-effective than Visa and Mastercard.”



Even a small increase in total sales can offset what might look like a meaningful increase in costs. Weighing those costs against the potential boost in conversion is a critical exercise for any retailer. Failing to do so risks leaving money on the table.



Using a Trusted Partner



Once a company commits to adapting its payment methods to each local market, the process can quickly become daunting. For instance, it can be difficult for a head of payments at a large global business in San Francisco to determine the right mix for customers in Italy or Taiwan.



“We work with the biggest retailers in the world, who have huge, sophisticated payments teams,” said Sykes. “I'm always surprised by how much they struggle with the complexity, because of the number of markets, and because the space is evolving so quickly.”



Apgar added: “There's so much buzz today about orchestration, optimization, minimizing cost, and maximizing effectiveness. A lot of merchants are tempted to want a direct connection to all these payment schemes around the world. But there's a learning curve, and time to market, and resources to be invested. There are a lot of mistakes to be made before getting to that optimized point. And a lot of times the fastest path is to engage with an expert partner like Worldpay.”



Payment partners like Worldpay help by giving merchants access to a growing portfolio of APMs through a single integration. This not only reduces complexity, but also lowers costs and eases the technical burden of connecting and maintaining multiple APMs.



BNPL Is a Worldwide Phenomenon



One example of a payment method with varying considerations across...

Cybercriminals have been after personal data for years, but new technology is giving them a dangerous boost. Infostealers—malware that extracts sensitive data like passwords and credit card numbers—are becoming one of today’s biggest online threats because they are easy to use and hard to spot.



While conversations about online safety often peak during Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the reality is that vigilance is needed year-round. In a recent PaymentsJournal podcast, Tracy Goldberg, Director of Cybersecurity at Javelin Strategy & Research, discussed the damage infostealers can cause, how consumers can protect themselves, and how dark web threat intelligence is helping fight back against bad actors.





Protecting the Keys to the Kingdom



Malware has become a damaging force capable of shutting down systems and causing financial havoc—even to large-scale organizations. However, infostealers take this threat to another level, having been responsible for extracting billions of personal credentials.



“What makes it different from malware that we've seen in the past like keyloggers is that infostealers are extremely sophisticated, so they're capturing all kinds of data,” Goldberg said. “When you type in your username and password, they're capturing the browsing history and the cookies.”



“Some of these infostealers are sophisticated enough to capture screenshots, which is really frightening,” she said. “There are some infostealers out there that are specifically designed to target crypto wallets and digital wallets—all of that data can be captured.”



Their sophistication makes infostealers exceptionally difficult to detect and neutralize. The combination of stealth and power poses a serious challenge to the financial services industry on multiple fronts.



First, financial institutions must find ways to ensure the authenticity of online browsing and mobile banking sessions. Second, the industry must confront the reality that traditional passkeys and tokens are no longer sufficient to defend against modern malware.



“In the same way that password managers have risks, because if the password to the password manager is compromised in a data breach—and we know people use reuse passwords—then the keys to the kingdom are gone,” Goldberg said. “The same holds true in this environment for passkeys and digital wallets and tokens because oftentimes that encrypted data is held behind a site that is password-protected.”



“When we save passwords and browsing history, which most of us do, if that browser history or the cookies are compromised, then there's no reason for the cybercriminals to decrypt any data, they get access to where that data is housed,” she said. “It's an extremely concerning problem, and it's one that I don't think we're prepared for as an industry.”



The Cost of Convenience



Many of today’s emerging risks stem from the new digital paradigm. While digital payments and modern technologies offer transformational benefits, they have also introduced new vulnerabilities.



“If you have a credit card that is reissued and it's automatically updated to your digital wallet, if that cybercriminal has already gained access to the password and login credentials that give access to that digital wallet, when the new digital numbers are automatically updated, they have access to it,” Goldberg said.



“We have these digital wallets where our financial institution can reissue a compromised card to us digitally, which means we can start using that card before we get the physi...

As dynamic technologies continue to revolutionize the payments space, conferences have become a critical way for payments professionals to stay informed and share their expertise. One of the signature events of the payments space is Nacha’s Smarter Faster Payments 2026, which will take place in San Diego from April 26-29, 2026.



In a recent PaymentsJournal podcast, Stephanie Prebish, AAP, AFPP, APRP, CTP, Senior Managing Director of Association Services at Nacha, and Brian Riley, Director of Credit and Co-Head of Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research, discussed the wide range of educational tracks and networking opportunities available at the conference—and how attendees can accomplish months’ worth of business in just a few days at Smarter Faster Payments 2026.





The Four Pillars



Nacha’s conference has become one of the most recognized events in the industry, thanks in part to its educational offerings, which provide an in-depth look at the timeliest topics in financial services.



“Our Payments conference is known in the industry as one of the best conferences out there and we're planning another excellent year of education and networking and fun,” Prebish said. “We're really just looking forward to it.”



With such a full event calendar, it is essential for attendees to come prepared with a plan. That plan should make room not only for networking opportunities and keynote speakers, but also for conversations with vendors on the exhibitor floor.



Amid all the activity—and the splendors of San Diego—there is more than enough to keep payments professionals engaged. Still, it is critical for attendees to review the agenda in advance and prioritize the educational sessions that matter most to them.



“We just finished up our first-round selections, and the sessions next year are going to be fantastic,” Prebish said. “We are on top of all the big, new, exciting changes that are coming to payments. We're going to be talking about stablecoins; we're going to be talking about fraud monitoring; we're going to be talking about everything that's happening with ISO 20022. It's going to be an amazing conference.”



Defining the Audience



The tracks were carefully curated to span the full spectrum of the payments industry, highlight emerging innovations, shifting regulations, and strategies for mitigating fraud and risk.



New next year is a track dedicated to one of the industry’s most talked-about technologies: stablecoins. This track provides a detailed exploration of the opportunities stablecoins present for financial institutions, along with strategies organizations can adopt to harness their potential.



There is also a dedicated legal track designed specifically for attorneys working in the payments space. Additional tracks focus on artificial intelligence, compliance and regulations, cybersecurity, and ACH.



With such a comprehensive agenda, it can be challenging for attendees to identify the sessions most relevant to their role. To help, Nacha has developed a system designed to guide participants in mapping out the sessions that will deliver the greatest impact.



“We're going to have personas dedicated to who you are in the payments industry, and with every session it will be indicated which persona will be the best choice for you,” Prebish said.