“Big Trends and Big Takeaways in the Big Easy” was the theme of the National Association of Federally-insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) (Off-site) Annual Conference and Solutions Expo held June 18–21 in New Orleans. The Federal Reserve was well represented by a number of account executives who staffed the booth to discuss the Fed’s array of services, as well as by a Fed expert who presented a session on payments safety, resiliency and security.

This year’s event featured over 50 sessions, more than 40 speakers and nearly 640 registrants. A networking welcome reception kicked off the activities in the exhibit hall as attendees mingled with over 100 exhibitors. The next morning, there were few empty seats at the keynote presentation, “The Future of Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent.” Other related topics included:

  • Law of Attraction: Credit Union Recruitment in a Competitive Labor Market
  • Planting the Seeds of Growth: How to Invest in Your Emerging Leaders
  • Coders. Data Scientists. Statisticians. Have You Identified the Emerging Technology Talent Gaps for Your Credit Union?

Payments improvement topics we covered

In addition to marijuana banking, brand innovation and expansion strategies, other hot topics included emerging risks and payments security. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Vice President Tim Boike presented a session called “Strategies to Advance U.S. Payments Safety, Resiliency and Security.” It was well attended by engaged participants who asked a number of questions. Boike’s main points of discussion were:  

  • Results of industry work group efforts and the current state of the Fed’s settlement assessment
  • The Fed’s Fraud Definitions Work Group and the progress it has made to help solve industry challenges stemming from inconsistent fraud classification and lags in reporting
  • The Fed’s efforts to educate, research and spark payments industry dialogue on synthetic identity payments fraud and the next steps in this initiative

Fed services we highlighted

Customers who visited the Fed’s booth were able to speak with account executives about a wide array of services, including the featured services listed below. In addition, the two new payor reports that were recently added to the FedPayments® Reporter Service for Check Services garnered a lot of interest.

Fed representatives in attendance

Our account executives always value the opportunity to talk with their customers at conferences. Shown below from left to right in the Fed’s booth at NAFCU are Regional Account Executives Mark Wall, Jennifer Anbari and Diana Holshue; Assistant Vice President Joni Hopkins; Account Manager Manny Ramirez; Regional Account Executive Julie Thurman and Sales Manager Lance Wagner.

Fed representatives at NAFCU

Action Item:

Look for future Conference Connection articles in Fed360, and check out the Industry Events page for upcoming events that our Fed account executives will be attending.

NOTE

The Federal Reserve Banks do not sponsor or endorse any of the non-Federal Reserve Bank-related products, parties or entities discussed in this publication.