Seven trends affecting credit unions’ future

Increased regulation, the rise of cyberthreats, and the seemingly endless flow of cutting-edge technology are changing some of the fundamental ways credit unions do business and lowering the barriers to entry for nontraditional competitors.

But futurist Bob Treadway remains unabashedly optimistic.

“So much about the future is so positive,” says Treadway, founder of Treadway & Associates.

He cites seven trends that most merit deliberation and action by credit union boards:

1. Regulation stays ramped up. The pace of new regulation might slow, but the level won’t decrease, particularly if a Democrat wins the U.S. presidential election in 2016. The major initial emphases of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other agencies will mature between 2018 and 2020, which will affect credit unions’ net revenue.

“Credit unions will need to do more with less because of the ramp-up of regulatory pressure and erosion of fee income,” Treadway says.

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