CU Broadcast | #4225: How UECU Prevented 90% of $1.5 million in Potential Fraud Losses with Its Transformed Proactive Program…

Ravi Nemalikanti, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Abrigo, and Jennifer Poloski, Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel at Utilities Employees Credit Union (UECU), joined us on the show to share how UECU recently transformed its fraud program by moving from tracking fraud losses to measuring fraud prevention (reactive to proactive) — with some pretty impressive results.

Jennifer described the credit union’s outdated, manual, and siloed processes before implementing Abrigo’s BAM Plus, which lacked centralized controls and fraud metrics.

Ravi explained how Abrigo helped UECU gain visibility, automate workflows, and continuously tune rules and analytics to minimize fraud without adding significant headcount.

Jennifer shared that UECU prevented about 90% of roughly $1.5 million in potential fraud losses in the previous year and credited cross-departmental collaboration, regular fraud huddles, and strong executive support for building an anti-fraud culture.

Both discussed the importance of measuring fraud prevention, including dollars prevented, false positives, and member experience, and noted that regulators like NCUA now expect such metrics.

Jennifer advised other credit unions to partner with proactive vendors, invest in skilled fraud teams, start with a risk assessment, and advocate for resources and leadership buy-in to build effective fraud programs.

Check it out and let us know your thoughts. And be sure to watch the entire episode below for all the details.