Compliance Community turns 5
Jim Nussle
Chief Executive Officer, AMERICA’S CREDIT UNIONS. Our mission is to advocate for and advance an environment where credit unions thrive.
CUNA’s Compliance Community celebrated five years this month, and it’s an especially important milestone for me because our compliance community represents amazing cooperation within the credit union movement.
More than 6,000 compliance professionals around the country not only joined the compliance community over the past five years, but use it to network, engage in discussions, share ideas, and access implementation tools and other compliance resources.
And it’s because of this cooperation the community has grown into the resource it is today. In the community’s first year, we saw 318 discussion threads. So far in 2020, there are more than 11,000!
As part of our celebration, Credit Union Magazine is profiling four Compliance Community Cultivators, leaders who were instrumental in helping the community become what it is today.
Carmen Warden of Truity Credit Union, Donald Montague of Harborstone Credit Union, David Murphy of Marshfield Medical Center Credit Union, and Candise Taylor of Sweetwater Federal Credit Union will be profiled this month.
Thanks to everyone who has helped make the Compliance Community a go-to resource. If you haven’t checked it out, it is open to all employees of CUNA-affiliated credit unions.
CUNA meets with Biden transition team
This week we met with members of the Biden transition team as they prepare for the incoming administration. These meetings are important as we prepare to advance credit union priorities with the new administration and Congress.
Bill Bynum, CEO of Hope FCU, Jackson, Miss., is a member of the incoming administration’s CFPB review team as well, and we thank him for bringing the credit union perspective to that group.
COVID-19 Task Force releases first industry outlook
Our Credit Union System COVID-19 Restart and Recovery Task Force released its first industry outlook this week. It provides guidance and strategies for credit unions navigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Topics covered include risk analysis, digitalization of financial services, a look at the USDA’s Broadband Initiative, and insights into what the credit union movement needs in the future.
CUNA names 2020 award winners
Congratulations to the 2020 recipients of the Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award, Louise Herring Philosophy-in-Action Member Service Award, and the Desjardins Awards for Financial Education!
These winners are being recognized for their commitment to their communities in a year when it’s been needed more than ever. Please join me in saluting the winners and their efforts to advance social responsibility, the credit union philosophy, and financial education.
Nominate your Credit Union Hero!
Our movement is filled with individuals who devote their talent to shaping a brighter future for members and their communities. And we want to hear about them. Help Credit Union Magazine find this year’s Credit Union Hero, sponsored by Symitar. It only takes a few minutes to nominate these unsung heroes.
Webinar available on funding employee benefits
CUNA members can access our free webinar, “COVID-19’s Impact on Employee Benefits Funding,” to learn new methods to offset rising health care costs, preserve corporate culture in a remote environment, and invest in well-being for all employees.
Jason Ritzenthaler, co-chief investment officer and director of investments and institutional business at Members Trust Company, shares how his organization has helped credit unions offset 63% of employee benefit costs.
Advocating on behalf of military credit unions
We wrote to leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to urge them to exclude language in the Senate-passed National Defense Authorization Act. The language would essentially require the Department of Defense to treat the big banks the same as military credit unions when it comes to rent on military bases.
We told legislators that we’re treated differently because credit unions are structured differently—we’re committed to service over profit. The current arrangement is a reflection of credit unions’ decades of service to the military and its families, culminating in a 2006 amendment to the Federal Credit Union Act.
More from 360-degree advocacy
- The NCUA board issued a proposal Thursday that would allow credit unions to capitalize interest on consumer mortgage loans in connection with loan modifications made during the pandemic. CUNA has strongly pushed the agency for this change in recent months, but we’re disappointed it was issued as a proposal rather than an interim final rule, as the months-long comment process means a delay in relief.
- We joined 80 other organizations to write to Congressional, Treasury and Small Business Administration leaders expressing concerns over a new Paycheck Protection Program review process that includes “Loan Necessity Questionnaires.”
- We support a FinCEN risk-assessment process and publication of national AML priorities, but caution against one-size-fits-all regulations.