...because of compliance demands

Part three in a series about the value of League membership

Compliance remained one of the most in-demand League services in 2011. This assistance helps to reduce credit unions’ exposure to legal liability, prepare credit unions for visits by regulators and protect the credit union and its members from legal issues that have the potential to affect income, member service, reputation and more. In 2011 we: 

• Prepared credit unions for an unprecedented avalanche of regulatory changes. We made 133 updates of The League's 209 ii Releases this year to keep up with an endless run of changes to the state and federal regulations governing credit unions. Due to our unique combination of state and federal rules, The Wisconsin League has one of the largest collections of searchable compliance resources available online.

• Offered practical guidance to 96 credit union compliance staff at the spring and fall compliance roundtables. The sessions updated credit unions on the newest rules and regs, presented the Office of Credit Unions’ views on compliance issues, and gave attendees the opportunity to share their insights.

• Presented Keys to Compliance Webinars on 10 topics to 64 credit unions, allowing multiple staff members to participate live or view the archived webcasts later.

• Maintained 2,737 searchable compliance web pages that were visited more than 64,319 times.

• Answered more than 3,800 compliance-related calls to guide credit union operations.

• Conducted 10 competitively-priced BSA compliance reviews to help credit unions meet requirements for annual independent Bank Secrecy Act program testing.

• Sent 64 issues of our Compliance Courier newsletter to compliance contacts at credit unions to alert them to changes in Wisconsin laws, compliance deadlines, available resources and more.

• Issued regular security alerts regarding scams, fraudulent checks and investment schemes.

• Made major updates to the loan and deposit forms credit unions ordered through the W.C.U.L. Services Corp.

• Updated employee handbooks drafted by The League to reflect changes to state and federal laws.

"The Wisconsin League has one of the largest collections of searchable compliance resources online specifically tailored to our unique combination of state and federal rules," said John Engel, Director of Legal Affairs. "Chances are, if credit unions have a compliance-related question, its addressed somewhere on our site. We often refer to this information while walking credit unions through questions by phone. They really appreciate that we help them understand the issues and make decisions about compliance confidently."

"We get to know our credit union contacts very well, and have been the first call for help for many of them," Engel said. "More and more, compliance feels like their ‘other job’ on top of a full plate of other responsibilities, so we’re pleased that our extensive research, analysis and resources can lighten their load."

He encourages credit unions struggling to juggle compliance responsibilities to look into the Compliance Specialist program through The League Services Corp. "The program draws upon our vast resources but also offers you as much help to implement compliance issues as you need at just a fraction of the cost to do so on your own."