practical insights for a stronger financial future.

Strategy is best done from the future backwards. As credit unions enter “the decade of agents” and a new hybrid monetary era, what must they plan for and how must they position themselves to survive, compete and win? What are peers prioritizing and planning for 2026 and 2027, and what are their biggest blind spots relative to the longer view?

• What does the ongoing volatility of “dysregulation” under the current administration portend for credit unions?

• Will credit unions be able to plug data deficits on members using open banking, and what happens if credit unions can’t achieve Minimum Viable Data (MVD) on members in a fragmented financial ecosystem? Without MVD, how can credit unions improve efficiency, achieve growth and protect accountholders from zero-day AI cyber and fraud threats?

• Will financial agents (like Open AI’s PFM via Plaid and Anthropic’s Claude for Small Business and) disintermediate credit unions and reduce them to passive data providers and systems of record?

• Will the transition from "software you use" to "agents you hire” relocate the center of gravity from credit unions’ digital UX to the AI orchestration layer? Or will agentic flows be embedded into banks’ digital UX layer natively?

• If money UX transitions from credit unions to LLMs or agents, what does that mean for data security, data privacy and “people helping people”? What happens when agents get it wrong?

• Will payments stablecoins really siphon trillions from demand deposits and erode local lending by 2030? Or will credit unions be able to leverage other forms of tokenized money—like tokenized deposits and deposit tokens—that don’t devastate their payments, deposits and lending franchises? And which use cases have the best chance to scale?

• Can credit unions grow membership and deposits in the face of structural headwinds, e.g., de facto stablecoin yield, a pro-crypto administration and the ongoing flight of Gen Z/Alpha/small businesses to Big Fintech?

Join Lee Wetherington for a candid forecast of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead…and the best ways to capture upside potential and mitigate downside risks in an industry undergoing unprecedented transformation.

As we navigate the post-Mythos cyber threat-scape, the importance of identity and trust are being recalibrated. This session explores how credit unions can prepare for a future in which AI both accelerates fraud threats and strengthens fraud defenses. We will examine emerging cyber/fraud trends and forecasts, the growing role of AI and agentic systems in fraud cyber security and prevention, and the implications for Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) check fraud, identity controls, and member identity verification. The discussion will also look ahead to near-term Treasury Management opportunities involving stablecoins and other forms of regulated tokenized money, and how smart contracts will impact innovation, security, and trust in the emerging era of agentic financial services.

Tokenized money – stablecoins, tokenized deposits, or deposit tokens – is becoming an increasingly important part of the financial landscape. As this technology evolves, credit unions are determining how and when it fits into their near- and long term strategy. Some are already exploring tokenized money initiatives. Others are monitoring regulatory developments before making decisions. And many are simply seeking clarity on where the industry is headed. Regardless of which use cases reach adoption at scale over the next three to five years, credit unions must provide the on- and off-ramps bridging traditional fiat (dollar) networks and cryptographic (blockchain based) networks while maintaining stability, compliance, and settlement in a single control pane, i.e., a hybrid ledger that seamlessly orchestrates money movement between and among centralized and decentralized monetary networks. Join Lee Wetherington for a no non-sense view of the future of money, the infrastructure it requires and what to do now, next and soon.

You can’t defend your franchise if you don’t see your competition coming. Today, most credit unions are mistaken about who they’re really up against and how dysregulation (not deregulation) is lowering the moat protecting their franchises. Many also continue to consider themselves “fast followers” when, without the right data, that option is no longer on the table. All the while, questions surrounding impending revisions of the CFPB’s Personal Financial Data Rights (PFDR) rule are prompting some to reconsider the data strategies necessary to survive and win in the age of algorithms and AI. Join Lee Wetherington as he reveals the biggest blind spots threatening credit unions…and the strategies required to win now, soon and later.

What strategies are your peers pursuing over the next 2 years? Which competitors and threats keep them up at night? How are they allocating tech budgets? What are they doing to improve efficiency and drive growth? What will they do to protect and expand their deposit, lending and payments franchises in face of ongoing cannibalization by non-bank fintechs and crypto concerns securing national trust charters from the OCC? Join Lee Wetherington for a revealing look at where your peers and competitors are headed, why, and what new risks and opportunities are being presented by the ecosystem disruption reshaping financial services.

If you’ve been having a hard time keeping up with the flurry of regulatory rollbacks, updates, and changes coming out of Washington DC, you are not alone. Almost every day brings a fresh announcement about possible changes to the regulatory environment. Is the CFPB dead? What about its rules on financial data exchange (1033) and small-business data collection (1071)? Will the CLARITY Act get passed into law, and what will its language on stablecoin rewards mean for credit unions? Join us for a high-energy session where we’ll help you make sense of the mayhem and wade through the downstream effects of regulatory changes on both credit unions and fintechs. 

In 2025, the CFPB’s final rule governing open banking and “Personal Financial Data Rights” (PFDR) went in effect. Since then, the Trump administration has made every attempt to defund and dismantle the agency. But what happens to surviving consumer-protection rules and regs? Will consumers share financial data with AI agents instead of credit unions, and what should you do about it? In 2026, successful credit unions will use open-banking rails to plug data deficits on members and prospects, expedite account opening, solve financial fragmentation, achieve first-app status, eliminate inbound screen scraping, reduce fraud, improve authentication and security, streamline underwriting and reclaim their position at the center of their members’ financial lives–by allowing them to see, share and control all of their financial data easily and securely in one location (your credit union). What’s your open banking strategy? And how does it inform or support your data and AI strategy? Join Lee Wetherington for insights on how to capitalize on new opportunities in the open-banking era, regardless of whether PFDR survives in its current form or not at all.

In 2026, Elon Musk launched a new payments network on X (called X Money), and a gaggle of more than twenty crypto companies are vying for national trust charters under the OCC. Stablecoin regulations will be finalized—a direct threat to credit unions’ deposits franchise. The only federal regulator (the CFPB) bringing scrutiny to non-bank fintechs and payments apps has been defunded, defanged and gutted. Meanwhile, neobanks, fintechs and BigTechs continue using payments to poach members and drive historic financial fragmentation—average Americans now have relationships with 10-15 financial service providers/apps. Gen Z uses payments more frequently than any other generation, often seeing their favorite payments app as their “bank”. Even more concerning, some competitors are beginning to leverage real-time payment rails to help sole proprietors and other small businesses expedite receivables, optimize just-in-time payables, and gain more accurate insights and forecasts on cash flow. And what about payments stablecoins and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes? What to do? Progressive credit unions are finally sobering to the stalling of CU-centric bill-pay, preparing themselves for tokenized money’s impact on deposits, and using existing payments data to retain or reclaim small business clients, many of whom remain camouflaged in retail checking accounts. Join Lee Wetherington for the bottom line on payments trends and strategies for 2026 and beyond. 

The financial behavior and preferences of Gen Z are the most durable predictor of the 5-year future of financial services. Gen Z generates more payments per capita than any other age group—primarily debit card payments, their preferred way to pay. They don’t like credit cards and fear debt loops—which is why they’re driving most growth in Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). They are also driving unprecedented rates of new business formation in the U.S. The bad news is that fintechs and mega-banks dominate Gen Z. Fintechs, payment apps and neobanks like Chime siphoned $3T in deposits from financial institutions over the past few years, and they now capture 43% of new checking accounts and consumers switching financial service providers. What to do? Join Lee Wetherington for the bottom-line strategies to attract and acquire Gen Z, reverse deposit attrition to third-party non-bank competitors and capitalize on Gen Z’s preference for “faces they know and trust”. 

As we navigate the post-Mythos cyber threat-scape, the importance of identity and trust are being recalibrated. This session explores how banks can prepare for a future in which AI both accelerates fraud threats and strengthens fraud defenses. We will examine emerging fraud trends and forecasts, the growing role of AI and agentic systems in fraud prevention, and the implications for Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) check fraud, in-branch identity controls, and customer identity verification. The discussion will also look ahead to near-term Treasury Management opportunities involving stablecoins and other forms of regulated tokenized money, and how smart contracts will impact innovation, security, and trust in the emerging era of agentic banking.

Tokenized money – whether in the form of stablecoins, tokenized deposits, or deposit tokens – is becoming an increasingly important part of the financial landscape. As this technology evolves, banks are determining how and when it fits into their near- and long term strategy. Some are already exploring tokenized money initiatives. Others are monitoring regulatory developments before making decisions. And many are simply seeking clarity on where the industry is headed. Regardless of which use cases reach adoption at scale over the next three to five years, banks must provide the on- and off-ramps bridging traditional fiat (dollar) networks and cryptographic (blockchain based) networks while maintaining stability, compliance, and settlement in a single control pane, i.e., a hybrid ledger that seamlessly orchestrates money movement between and among centralized and decentralized monetary networks. Join Lee Wetherington for a no non-sense view of the future of money, the infrastructure it requires and what to do now, next and soon.

Strategy is best done from the future backwards. What will banks look like 5 years from now? How will stablecoins, agentic AI and dysregulation impact the evolution, distribution and consumption of financial services? Will the value of your charter increase or diminish over the short-, mid-, and long term? What does the emergence of a hybrid fiat-crypto monetary ecosystem mean for your bank? Join Lee Wetherington for a long view on the future of banking and what opportunities/threats that future presents now, soon and later.

You can’t defend your franchise if you don’t see your competition coming. Today, most banks are mistaken about who they’re really up against and how dysregulation (not deregulation) is lowering the moat protecting their franchises. Many also continue to consider themselves “fast followers” when, without the right data, that option is no longer on the table. All the while, questions surrounding impending revisions of the CFPB’s Personal Financial Data Rights (PFDR) rule are prompting some to reconsider the data strategies necessary to survive and win in the age of algorithms and AI. Join Lee Wetherington as he reveals the biggest blind spots threatening banks…and the strategies required to win now, soon and later.

What strategies are your peers pursuing over the next 2 years? Which competitors and threats keep them up at night? How are they allocating tech budgets? What are they doing to improve efficiency and drive growth? What will they do to protect and expand their deposit, lending and payments franchises in face of ongoing cannibalization by non-bank fintechs and crypto concerns securing national trust charters from the OCC? Join Lee Wetherington for a revealing look at where your peers and competitors are headed, why, and what new risks and opportunities are being presented by the ecosystem disruption reshaping financial services.

If you’ve been having a hard time keeping up with the flurry of regulatory rollbacks, updates, and changes coming out of Washington DC over the past year, you are not alone. Almost every day brings a fresh announcement about possible changes to the regulatory environment. Is the CFPB dead? What about its rules on financial data exchange (1033) and small-business data collection (1071)? Will the CFPB, FDIC and NCUA be merged with the OCC? What will the courts have to say about that, and what does it all mean? Join us for a high-energy session where we’ll help you make sense of the mayhem and wade through the downstream effects of regulatory changes on both banks and fintechs. 

In 2025, the CFPB’s final rule governing open banking and “Personal Financial Data Rights” (PFDR) went in effect. Since then, the Trump administration has made every attempt to defund and dismantle the agency. But what happens to surviving consumer-protection rules and regs? How will consumers’ ability to share financial data impact your bank, and what should you do about it? In 2026, successful banks will use open-banking rails to plug data deficits on customers and prospects, expedite account opening, solve financial fragmentation, achieve first-app status, eliminate inbound screen scraping, reduce fraud, improve authentication and security, streamline underwriting and reclaim their position at the center of their customers’ financial lives–by allowing them to see, share and control all of their financial data easily and securely in one location (your bank). What’s your open banking strategy? And how does it inform or support your data and AI strategy? Join Lee Wetherington for insights on how to capitalize on new opportunities in the open-banking era, regardless of whether PFDR survives in its current form or not at all.

In 2026, Elon Musk will launch a new payments network on X (called X Money) and a gaggle of more than twenty crypto companies will become national trust banks under the OCC. Stablecoin regulations will be finalized—a direct threat to banks’ deposits franchise. The only federal regulator (the CFPB) bringing scrutiny to non-bank fintechs and payments apps has been defunded, defanged and gutted. Meanwhile, neobanks, fintechs and BigTechs continue using payments to poach bank customers and drive historic financial fragmentation—average Americans now have relationships with 10-20 financial service providers/apps. Gen Z uses payments more frequently than any other generation, often seeing their favorite payments app as their “bank”. Even more concerning, some competitors are beginning to leverage real-time payment rails to help sole proprietors and other small businesses expedite receivables, optimize just-in-time payables, and gain more accurate insights and forecasts on cash flow. And what about payments stablecoins and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes? What to do? Progressive banks are finally sobering to the stalling of bank-centric bill-pay, preparing themselves for tokenized money’s impact on card volumes, and using existing payments data to retain or reclaim small business clients, many of whom remain camouflaged in retail checking accounts. Join Lee Wetherington for the bottom line on payments trends and strategies for 2026 and beyond. 

The financial behavior and preferences of Gen Z are the most durable predictor of the 5-year future of banking. Gen Z generates more payments per capita than any other age group—primarily debit card payments, their preferred way to pay. They don’t like credit cards and fear debt loops—which is why they’re driving most growth in Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). They are also driving unprecedented rates of new business formation in the U.S. The bad news is that fintechs and megabanks dominate Gen Z. Fintechs, payment apps and neobanks like Chime siphoned $3T in deposits from financial institutions over the past few years, and they now capture 43% of new checking accounts and consumers switching financial service providers. What to do? Join Lee Wetherington for the bottom-line strategies to attract and acquire Gen Z, reverse deposit attrition to third-party non-bank competitors and capitalize on Gen Z’s preference for “faces they know and trust”.