Compliance Blog

Written by Ricardo Piñeres, Regulatory Compliance Counsel

NCUA Releases Video Series on Preventing Internal Fraud.  The NCUA’s YouTube channel has now become the home for a series of videos on how credit union managers and volunteers can detect and prevent internal fraud and employee dishonesty.  The videos are a collaboration between the NCUA’s Office of Small Credit Initiatives and CUNA Mutual Group, and discuss how credit unions can bolster internal controls and learn how to identify potential clues that are warning signs for fraud.

The NCUA added the first three videos of the seven-part series to the channel on Friday, July 25.  According to a press release touting the release of the videos, these first three episodes focus on:

• An overview for the series;
• The importance of maintaining a policy on employee fraud; and
• Conducting surprise cash counts.

According to the agency, the remaining four episodes will be released over the coming weeks, and they will address:

• Separation of duties;
• Employee and family member accounts;
• File maintenance transactions; and
• Vault cash.

The video series is just the latest effort from the NCUA to attempt to minimize the risks to credit unions posed by fraud.  These efforts have led the agency to look at new ways in which fraud risk indicators can be identified, both by credit union leadership and NCUA examiners.  In commenting about the release of the video series, NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz highlighted the agency’s concern regarding the risks posed by fraud:

“The potential for employee fraud should always be a concern for credit union officials and volunteers.  Unfortunately, employee fraud led to $311.4 million in losses for the Share Insurance Fund between 2010 and 2013 at liquidated credit unions.  To protect the Share Insurance Fund from future losses, NCUA has developed this new video series to educate credit union managers and volunteers about detecting and reducing the potential for fraud and dishonesty among employees.  I encourage all credit unions to utilize this new resource.”

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Free Kick.  The “drama” surrounding the transfer window has finally worn off for me.  I can’t wait for meaningful games to be played again, but it just seems like time is moving at a glacial place right now.  Hopefully, with the calendar getting ready to flip to August, things will appear to move a little quicker and the couple of weeks that are left before the season kicks off in earnest will fly by.

While I wait for the season to kick-off, I am going to go try something new, and combine my two sporting passions: football and golf.  Yes, I am making it a point to finally go out and try the phenomenon that is sweeping the nation: FOOTGOLF!  I look forward to sharing my experience in a future blog post.