Risky Business: Compliance and change on overdrive at WSECU
Responding to the pandemic is helping this Evergreen State cooperative test its appetite for risk and its ability to adapt.
Perched near the place where the pandemic came ashore, Washington State Employees Credit Union ($3.5B, Olympia, WA) has leaned on its growing ability to manage risk of all kinds as the member-owned cooperative navigates a new reality.
Products and processes created to help members cope with the coronavirus have introduced uncertainty — and possible compliance risk — in, for example, responding to new laws that allow hands-off work such as digital notary signings for loans.
That’s just for starters, says Wilkes Hardin, vice president of lending compliance at WSECU.
“Our quickly changing business and regulatory environment has increased operating risks in all categories across the enterprise,” Hardin says. “The same is true for many of the member accommodations and product enhancements we made. The good news is, we’re getting quicker and better about managing to risk so that we keep pace.”
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