GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.–Early adopters of “examination innovation” are seeing a payoff when they undergo exams, according to one company.
AuditLink, the auditing and compliance division of cooperative CUSO CU*Answers, noted during the recent CU*Answers Strategic Board Planning Session that is has been seeing growth with its Examination Innovation initiative, the objective of which is to improve the examination process by making it less of a burden on both credit union and examiner through the implementation of technology and tools that make the process more efficient.
“Early adopters of examination innovation are proving that the initiative really is a win-win,” said Jim Vilker, Manager of AuditLink. “Examiners experience expense reduction and an improved quality of life as less time is spent on-site at the credit union, and credit unions gain the benefit of less stress and less staff time taken up by the examination process.”
Vic Pantea, Manager of Marketplace Alliances added: “We have identified two elements of examination practice that are addressed in our strategy for innovation. First, the technology aided observation and surveillance of credit union activities crucial to an effective and efficient examination. Second, the technology to immediately react, request and securely receive the encrypted in-depth details and data sets keyed by the surveillance tool. Our strategic objective is to BOTH increase the quality and timeliness of oversight while lowering the costs of examination for BOTH the regulator and the regulated.”
AuditLink reported it has worked with regulators from a handful of Midwest states to begin accepting files electronically, and continues to add new alerts and tolerances into My CU Today, an online dashboard for key credit union metrics, and in so doing will allow for remote examiner supervision on a continuous basis.