The need for operational efficiency and generational relevance dominated the main stage at the REACH 2025 Fintech Solutions Showcase on Wednesday, where six leading innovators presented actionable strategies for credit unions to leverage digital technology and artificial intelligence.
(View and download event photos from the REACH 2025 Photo Galleries)
Moderated by Larry Palochik, executive vice president and executive director for Fuel Solutions, the session focused on a central message. Credit unions are at a critical juncture and must rapidly digitize key member interactions — from complex compliance to retirement planning — to secure member primacy in an increasingly competitive landscape.
A significant portion of the discussion focused on leveraging AI to solve two of the industry’s most persistent problems. The first is rising operational costs, and the second is regulatory burden.
Glia Co-founder and CEO Jake Tyler presented AI as a crucial virtual workforce within the contact center. Moving Beyond Efficiency, Glia’s platform unifies AI and human agents to handle interactions, enabling credit unions to improve service quality while tackling high attrition rates and costly after-hours support. This approach positions the contact center as a strategic asset that reflects a commitment to member experience, rather than a cost center.
Similarly, Transvision Solutions CEO Manu Nagappa addressed the urgent compliance challenges facing credit unions, which the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has identified as a top concern for 2025, particularly regarding cybersecurity and evolving BSA/AML regulations. Transvision’s NextGen AI-powered Financial Crime Compliance Platform was showcased as a unified, one-stop solution for AML, fraud, and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD). Nagappa emphasized the platform’s ability to replace fragmented legacy tools, offering real-time transaction monitoring and dynamic risk scoring that significantly reduces false positives and compliance costs.
The conversation then pivoted to member acquisition and retention, highlighting how AI-powered lending can transform transaction-based borrowers into lifelong primary members.
Upstart’s Max Rothstein introduced the member cross-sell solution, which challenges the conventional wisdom that indirect lending cannot grow primary membership. The AI-powered solution allows borrowers, as part of the loan journey, to seamlessly open deposit accounts and switch direct deposit and bill pay, making the establishment of primacy frictionless. Attendees learned how credit unions are using pre-built marketing templates and cross-sell playbooks to maximize member lifetime value with minimal internal lift.
Complementing this focus on speed and satisfaction, Clutch’s Ruben Tamminga demonstrated Fastlane, an innovation designed to dramatically shorten the time between application and funding, transforming the process from an era of submission and waiting to a simple, immediate conclusion. By using real-time data, internal relationship history, and verification automation, Fastlane eliminates the lag time, routing approved loans instantly into the Loan Origination System (LOS). This immediate decisioning reduces operational drag and positively impacts look-to-book ratios, enhancing the overall member experience.
Perhaps the biggest challenge highlighted was the risk credit unions face in losing the massive generational wealth transfer, estimated to be over $80 trillion, as it moves from Baby Boomers to digital-first heirs.
TAPP Engine CEO Will Dolan directly addressed this vulnerability, arguing that traditional wealth management strategies are inadequate for the growing population of digital-first adopters. TAPP Engine’s solution helps credit unions become modernized investment centers by providing customized tools, curated learning, practice trading environments, and fractional share investing directly through mobile and online banking platforms. This empowers credit unions to capture inheritors who want to guide their own wealth journey.
Finally, Silvur CEO Rhian Horgan presented Medicare support as a critical opportunity to gain access to the retirement financial needs of their members. Horgan explained that Medicare is one of the most complex financial decisions members face, presenting a unique opportunity for credit unions to step into the void as a trusted, compliant guide. This service not only deepens loyalty during a high-stakes life transition but also creates a new stream of non-interest income and drives referrals without adding significant operational burden to the credit union.
Palochik, drawing on his decades of experience in the cooperative movement, summarized the session by noting that the technologies presented are not merely about incremental improvements. He concluded that these solutions are fundamentally about allowing credit unions to honor their cooperative mission of people helping people by delivering sophisticated, relevant services that meet members precisely where they are, today and tomorrow.
Attendees and League staff will be sharing photos, comments, and memories through LinkedIn at #CUatREACH.
REACH is one of the credit union industry’s premier annual events, attracting leaders and system partners from across California, Nevada, and the United States. It is held from October 27-30 at JW Marriott Desert Springs in Palm Desert, CA this year.
