Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

Yesterday, I spoke with nearly 200 risk management people attending NAFCU's Regulatory Compliance School.

A compliance school selfie? You bet. And check out all the highlighters on that desk. She's ready to learn! In a word, awesome!

I use the term "risk management" to include internal auditors, compliance professionals, and those with "risk management" in their title. All of them spot risk at your credit union and help tap it down. 

I simply love risk management peeps, and I'll tell you why. 

1. Devotion. As a group, these guys are extremely dedicated to their job, their credit union, and their industry. Our compliance school is not easy. It is a series of long days and tough tests. But every year, tons of people roll in to improve themselves. I once had a speaker who usually talks to bankers address risk management peeps at our Compliance Seminar.  He emailed me afterwards, wondering if I had played a joke on him. He said he had never seen a group of people more into learning at a conference. After each break, they asked pointed questions. He said they simply cared about their jobs and about learning. I said, welcome to the world of credit union risk management. 
2. The job. They have tough jobs. Let me explain. You get to read a lot of regulatory texts. You have to review a ton of documents and marketing materials. You have the wonderful job of having to sometimes say "no." You have to stay on top of changes that are coming fast and furious from our regulators. Would you expect many takers for that?
3. Law and order. The world of CUs has rules. There are limits to what we can do. And some of the things that we can do, we probably should not. Risk management professionals try to find, measure and map those rules and risks. If used effectively, they'll let a credit union walk with sure footing, knowing that a business plan is A-OK. 
4. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Risk management peeps keep you out of the fire. If you listen to them. This is akin to the previous point. I always argue that you should insert compliance, audit and risk management into your business development process - early and often. 
5. You get to see the future. Risk management people have an eye to the future. Agencies drop gentle hints about what they'll work on next. A good risk management arm of a credit union will see risks coming down the road and help your credit union prepare.

It was fantastic seeing so many familiar faces in the room, as well as so many new, eager risk management professionals getting ready for a tough week of work.   

Have a great week, everyone!