Fraud and data breaches are inevitable for any organization, and credit unions are especially vulnerable. But the internal and external risks that keep credit union leaders up at night can be mitigated and addressed through the cutting-edge technologies designed to make businesses run smoother. With the right safeguards in place, credit unions can ensure their members feel their information is secure and provide an elevated member experience.

The threat landscape is constantly evolving, so it's important to address which threats are causing the biggest issues in the banking and financial services industry.

Let's kick things off with an issue that has been plaguing the industry since the formation of financial institutions: Money laundering. Verifying the identity of a member is the best way to thwart money laundering operations, but as technology has become more advanced, so have the tactics of these criminals. Know Your Customer processes offer credit unions a way to identify suspicious situations early in a member relationship and prevent the institution from being used for money laundering operations. Implementing tighter KYC controls and interfacing with third-party applications via application programming interfaces can also be valuable to credit unions onboarding new members.