Operations

Compliance 2008: A to Z March 1, 2008 By CUNA's compliance attorneys Editor's note: Many of the links in this article are available only to CUNA members . From risk A ssessment to Reg Z , a wide range of regulatory developments, examiner concerns, and potential congressional action will affect... READ MORE

Disaster Planning: How to Protect Your CU March 1, 2008 By Mike Retelle Disasters can strike in many forms. Floods, fires, earthquakes, acts of terrorism, data breaches—even the sudden departure of a CEO—all can disrupt your credit union's services and, in severe cases, cease operations altogether. Yet, it's easy to... READ MORE

Beware Spear Phishing February 1, 2008 By Blake Hayward Any e-mail from your credit union's system administrator—addressed to you—is legitimate, right? Not necessarily. For example, let's say you get an e-mail from the system administrator explaining problems with the network and asking you to e-mail back your corporate user identification... READ MORE

Build a Better Web Site February 1, 2008 A credit union's Web site no longer is just an accessory; it's a necessity, agree Web and marketing experts. Unfortunately, too often this powerful tool isn't used to its full potential. One credit union making the most of its Web site is... READ MORE

Fraud Prevention: Eight Questions February 1, 2008 When it comes to detecting fraudulent activity, many solutions can help your credit union defend, adapt, and guard against cybercrime. But what approach is best? To sort through the vendor hype, Entrust , Addison, Texas, suggests asking these questions while evaluating different solutions.... READ MORE

Bridge the Generation Gap February 1, 2008 By Chuck Klein Generation Y demands that all its banking needs be conducted via the Web. They don't ever want to visit a branch—not ever. However, traditional baby boomers prefer to do all their banking at the branch. So how does a credit... READ MORE

The Human Firewall: Social Engineering and IT Security January 1, 2008 By Ken Smith People are the first, last, and best line of defense in information technology (IT) security. Every year, credit unions and other financial institutions spend millions of dollars developing, monitoring, and updating their IT security protocols, but... READ MORE

Assess Your IT Controls January 1, 2008 By Alyssa G. Martin, CPA, MBA An organization's information technology (IT) infrastructure provides the foundation for the applications and automated processes used for financial reporting functions. That supporting infrastructure is composed of three layers: databases and the database management system, the operating system,... READ MORE

The Profitability of Data Accuracy January 1, 2008 By Jennifer Maisano The tides have changed over the last few years and you can either ride the wave or get stuck in the undertow. Consumers are bombarded daily with dozens of commercials advertising "know your credit score" and "obtain your free... READ MORE

Benefit Prefunding May Offset Costs January 1, 2008 By John Moreno Recent National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) regulations and subsequent clarifying opinion letters may slow rising benefit costs by allowing federally chartered credit unions to prefund future benefit obligations using normally nonpermissable investment vehicles. The most widespread example of this... READ MORE