Early in the pandemic, unemployment rates were high. Unemployment insurance fraud spiked. At the same time, the landscape of automatic deposits was changing.
Del Norte Credit Union (DNCU) is based in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. With just over $1b in assets, DNCU has a lean operation and outsources many of its audits. Their internal risk management activities are focused on managing their outsourced audits and running ongoing quality control and monitoring activities.
Being a credit union auditor can be pretty straightforward. Balance risk, enhance reporting, and optimize performance. But COVID-19 threw a wrench in the standard.
Running an audit can be stressful and is always time-consuming. More planning and structure at the beginning improve efficiency in subsequent stages.
We created our credit union audit checklist to give auditors a head start in both annual NCUA exams and audits. This is especially critical if you’re short-staffed or your business units have limited bandwidth.
Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and their member base is spread across every state in the union. At over $10b in assets, DCU’s audit department had their hands full. Coordinating their audit activities and business units required quite a bit of management.
Credit Union of Southern California (CU SoCal) is a credit union that serves Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. They are relatively large at over $2.4b, so they require a robust audit program. In addition to the usual business units and experts, they support a two person audit team that coordinates and executes audit activities.
The last few months have undeniably created unique situations for credit unions. The way members are interacting with their branches, the expectations of employees, and the requirements by the NCUA have all been through changes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
A recent report from the Institute of Internal Auditors found that directors of corporate boards are overconfident in their organization’s ability to handle major risks. This overconfidence affects top-down compliance strategy, which carries significant repercussions.
Redboard and Ongoing Operations team together to support credit unions with remote work ready Compliance and Audit Platform free for 120 days.
With a sudden shift to remote working environments, and the stress of maintaining operations through the crisis, credit unions face challenges executing their monitoring, compliance, and audit functions. These activities are areas that can’t be ignored for months.
The credit union industry is facing some of its steepest competition yet. Banks are distinguishing themselves through digital services. Fintechs are offering bold innovations. Even tech giants like Google and Apple are trying to enter the fray.
Fortunately, credit unions have a secret weapon on their side: Elon Musk.
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