Compliance Blog

I'm back from the beach.  I thought I'd share this one story.  During the evening on July 1, I heard explosions.  My family members assumed the noise came from fireworks. (We vacationed in South Carolina, where you can purchase serious, big, boom-boom fireworks on every street corner.)  I countered with another theory, centered on the anarchy caused by all the July 1 compliance deadlines.  

I explained to them that for banks and credit union compliance peeps, July 1st had been circled on calendars for quite some time.  No one in my family was aware of our pain and suffering.  They knew something had happened with credit cards, and a few of them did notice an up-tick in communications about something called "overdraft protection."   That was it. 

And perhaps that is as it should be. Sometimes, we can get so caught up in issues, that we can lose sense of what is really important.  Our jobs are serious, as is our work.  But in 30 years, I truly hope that none of us look back on this summer as the defining moment in our lives.  Let's do our work.  Let's do it well.  Let's protect our credit unions.  But let's keep a balance in our lives.  

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OK, my email inbox is overwhelmed.  Here's a few items of interest.

Threats.  NCUA's security regulation requires us to reasonably protect sensitive member information from threats.  We often view threats as coming from "out there."  Well, they can come from the "in here" as well. This article reminds us that security should protect member information from internal threats. 

Hurricanes.  NCUA issued Letter to Credit Unions 10-CU-10 to urge credit unions to prepare for hurricane season and to periodically refresh pandemic preparedness.  The guidance contains an appendix with a number of resources. Perhaps my favorite resource is the FFIEC Business Continuity Handbook. 

Podcast.  Rob and the gang (sans me) delivered another great "current issues in credit unions" podcast.  Download the podcast and listen to it while on the treadmill, where I should be for the next 2 months based on last week's see-food diet. (Not a typo.)

Gambling.  The FDIC released this financial institution letter regarding Regulation GG. It contains a nice overview, as well as the exam procedures used by examiners to review your compliance.  Granted, this was issued by the FDIC, but the FDIC indicated that NCUA would be using these exam procedures as well.

BSA.  Here's a great blog post from Felix Salmon highlighting how money laundering is still a problem.