Could a Compliance Committee Benefit Your Credit Union?

by. Brian Godwin

Depending upon the size and complexity of your credit union, a Compliance Committee can be a great asset for your compliance program.  The committee should be made up of individuals from each area of your organization (lending, deposits, operations, etc), and meetings could occur monthly or quarterly depending upon the effectiveness of the compliance program and/or changes in the regulatory environment.

I generally see compliance committee meetings separated into multiple parts.

First, is a review of any internal or external audits completed since the prior meeting.  Deficiencies should be noted and members of the committee should be assigned responsibility to address each issue.  A due date should be established, and the member should provide a status report at each meeting, until the issue has been resolved.

Next, is a discussion of new items.  This is a good opportunity to discuss any proposed or final rules for which the credit union must comply, or any new products the credit union may wish to implement.  Because various areas of the credit unions operations are present, this is a good time for the committee to discuss any issues which may arise within each operational area.  The group can determine the issues which may need to be addressed, assign responsibility to the appropriate party, and establish a time frame for each action to be completed.

The third part of the meeting may be dedicated to training.  This is a chance for the compliance officer to provide training to the committee, or for other members to provide training on compliance concerns within their particular area of the credit union.   Members of the committee should then share this knowledge with staff in their particular area of the credit union.

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