As financial institutions race to keep pace with fintech startups and increasingly demanding digital consumers, executives at Clearview Federal Credit Union say the real challenge is not simply adopting new technology. It is deciding which technologies members will actually trust.

That tension — between innovation and security, convenience and caution — was a recurring theme in remarks by Ray George, the credit union’s chief information officer, during an interview conducted by Tyfone at the CrossState Credit Union Association’s Connect conference last week in Atlantic City.

Clearview, based in Moon Township, Pa., has 141,000 members and $2.2 billion in assets. The credit union reported earnings of $3.7 million in the first quarter of 2026, up from $1.8 million during the same period a year earlier, according to NCUA call report data.

George described an industry under constant pressure to modernize while defending against increasingly sophisticated fraud threats and changing consumer behavior.

“That’s always been the magic, right?” George said when asked about balancing convenience with cybersecurity. “The more convenient you get for a member, the more convenient it is for the bad guys.”

Financial institutions across the country are grappling with that reality as mobile banking becomes the dominant way consumers interact with their banks and credit unions. Fraud prevention tools powered by artificial intelligence are becoming more common, particularly as scams tied to digital payments and remote account access continue to rise.

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George said Clearview has invested in fraud-detection technologies that identify behavioral patterns and anomalies, including tools that use artificial intelligence and robotic process automation to analyze metadata tied to remote deposit capture.

“As you try to make it more convenient, you also have to put almost as much effort into making sure you’re providing a safe and secure environment,” he said.

The interview also offered a glimpse into how midsize credit unions are trying to compete with national banks and fintech firms that increasingly shape consumer expectations around speed, personalization and digital experiences.

George said the landscape is evolving too quickly for institutions to rely solely on in-house development. Instead, he emphasized partnerships with technology providers and fintech companies as a way to remain relevant.

“There’s new fintechs with new capabilities popping up all the time,” he said, pointing to trends ranging from micro-investing tools to digital retirement planning services.

The goal, George said, is for members to view their banking app as a trusted destination whenever they have a financial question or need.

“You want to be the financial Google for your app,” he said. “But you also understand people are not going to live in your financial app. It’s not an entertainment app.”

That pursuit of relevance increasingly depends on data — and on institutions’ ability to use it responsibly and quickly. George said personalization has become “a huge buzzword,” driven by consumer demand for immediate and tailored interactions.

Artificial intelligence, he said, helps financial institutions process behavioral and transactional data more efficiently, allowing them to anticipate what services or information may be useful to a member in a particular moment.

“Everything’s starting to become [wanted] right now,” George said.

The push toward modernization extends beyond customer-facing tools. George described legacy infrastructure as one of the industry’s biggest ongoing operational challenges, particularly as vendors accelerate cloud migration and open-banking integrations.

“You’re seeing a lot of legacy platforms aging,” he said. “Some are doing it gracefully, and some less gracefully.”

Cloud adoption, once approached cautiously by many financial institutions, has become increasingly unavoidable, George suggested. He described it pragmatically: “It only means it’s running on somebody else’s computer.”

Still, he acknowledged that aging software systems may ultimately force some organizations to modernize more aggressively or abandon older platforms altogether.

“We are constantly looking at our tech stack to make sure we stay relevant,” he said.

For Clearview, measuring success in digital banking begins with one core metric: whether members actually use the platform.

“If you don’t have the adoption, you don’t have any of those other things,” George said, referring to loan growth, operational efficiencies and member satisfaction.

The emphasis on engagement reflects a broader shift within financial services, where digital banking is no longer viewed simply as a convenience channel but as a central driver of relationships and growth. Institutions increasingly compete not only on rates and branch locations but on how effectively they integrate digital experiences into daily financial life.

George said trust remains the foundation underneath all of those investments — especially as technology spending accelerates and cybersecurity risks grow more complex.

“The minute you have an issue like [fraud], then you’ve lost the T-word – trust,” he said.

For credit unions like Clearview, that balancing act is becoming more expensive and more strategic at the same time. Fraud prevention, cloud infrastructure, fintech partnerships and personalization tools all compete for investment dollars, while member expectations continue to rise.

George said Clearview prioritizes spending based on member touchpoints and emerging market demands, while keeping security embedded underneath every decision.

“If you don’t have their trust,” he said, “then they’re not going to be your member”.