DES MOINES, Iowa—With the heavy compliance burden credit unions face, it’s easy to overlook giving the CU’s standard practices their necessary attention, one expert asserts.
Keeping policies and procedures up-to-date is an often overlooked, yet extremely important, part of a successful proactive compliance program, reminded Cindy Williams, vice president of regulatory compliance at PolicyWorks.
“Credit unions often do not consider the need to constantly revisit policies, programs, processes, procedures and forms for required updates and changes,” Williams said. “It’s the most common issue we see. Information at one time created and approved by the board or management has a tendency to sit, untouched for years.”
Create A Process
The best way for the CU to stay on top of the issue is to establish a method for monitoring updates, Williams said.
“It doesn’t have to be fancy,” explained Williams. “The method isn’t nearly as important as actually doing it. It might be a calendar for the year with various reviews and approval dates entered by month. Even simple reminders in an Outlook calendar can work.”
Having a process that triggers a review of affected policies or procedures when a regulatory change or internal change occurs is a must, added Williams.
“There are connected software programs, like PolicyWorks ComplySight, that help both large and small compliance teams manage this process,” she said.