"Things in this area probably have the most traction based on what we're seeing from the global consumer trend standpoint," Brian Day, director of digital strategy for processing and payments solutions company TMG, said.

2. On/off buttons

"I think that there's a huge undercurrent right now going on in the industry regarding fraud and the ability to as a member, take control of the management of their credit card and debit card," Dupaco Community Credit Union SVP of Risk Management and Remote Delivery Todd Link said.

Adoption of the technology is soaring, according to a report last year by Malauzai Software, which reported a 130% increase in member use last year. Mobile apps are a key component, Link said.

"You can turn the card on and off," he said. "You can set alerts. If you forget to put a travel alert on your card and you're in the airport, you simply text [the issuer] about the state you're going to or a country you're going to."

The Dubuque, Iowa-based Dupaco has $1.4 billion in assets and 93,000 members.

3. Picture pay

This technology allows users to pay bills by photographing invoices rather than using traditional online bill pay methods. According to Malauzai Software, picture pay is still relatively rare – four times as many financial institutions offer traditional bill pay – but it's growing at 37% annually, and the average payments are about the size of those made with traditional bill pay.

"As more users shift to mobile only, financial institutions are realizing the need to offer multiple payment options across devices and leverage full payment functionality that is convenient and intuitive, like picture pay," the company said. "At the rate it's currently growing, picture pay user adoption is on pace to surpass usage of traditional bill pay."

4. Blockchain

This technology has long been associated with Bitcoin, but its fundamental ideas are now being applied to global payments. It may be too early for credit unions to pounce, but they should keep an eye on it, Day cautioned.

"The predominant feeling as I talk to industry experts and read things in the industry is that there's something there, but I'm not sure that everybody's completely aware of what that something is at this point," Day said.

Essentially, the idea revolves around use of distributed ledgers, which are digital ownership records that have no central administrators and do not reside in a central location. Asset owners use cryptographic signatures to debit and credit accounts, which makes distributed ledgers unforgeable.

The technology could be a boon for remittances and other global payments, which is just one reason why many financial institutions are forming private, distributed ledger networks. A notable one that emerged this year is CUNA's CU Ledger, which helps core providers manage non-currency essential processes and allows credit unions to participate in an industry-specific independent payments system with enhanced data security.

Spotting Technology That Will Last

Thanks to the laws of supply and demand, not every bleeding-edge payments technology will be around in five years or even 12 months. Philip Andreae, a vice president at digital payments security firm Oberthur Technologies, said the best way to tell what will last – and thus what might be worth actually investing in – is to study what large financial institutions are betting on.

"I would absolutely want to know what the top 25 banks are doing, and I would take their lead because they do invest. I would be looking at CUNA and the other associations too," Andreae explained. "If Bank of America does not believe in retina [authentication], for example, I would not embrace retina. If Bank of America and Chase are trying opposing technologies, there's probably a good reason that both of those will become technologies of use."

Whether a technology is in use at federal agencies is also a good sign that it works, according to Todd Link, but in general it's probably wiser to be at the leading edge rather than the bleeding edge anyway, he added.

"At the bleeding edge, a lot of times there might not even be strong exam procedures built around the product," he explained. "You may not even have the guidance you need from your examiners on how best to deploy the product in preparation for exams and things of that nature because it's so new."

In the end, focus may be the best method for deciding which payments technologies are worth pursuing.

"Don't get distracted by shiny objects," Oberthur's Andreae warned. "Get distracted by things that people are actually doing. Get distracted because your member walked in and said, 'I want one of those.'"