SHELTON, Conn.-Mutual Security CU here was loath to spend approximately 80 hours writing Bank Secrecy Act documents from scratch-so the $237-million CU used 600 "cbanc points" to buy some from another financial institution.
Mutual Security also "bought" another institution's social media policies at cbank Network, an online community where thousands of banks and credit unions are instantly exchanging documents-and savvy-at whim.
"These resources are one-of-a-kind because they're offered by real-world financial institutions and demonstrate exactly what people are doing in the field," unlike model policy and procedure documents available elsewhere, said Krista Moran, compliance officer at Mutual Security.
Moran said her 600 points afforded her several BSA documents, including policies, OFAC policies, a new account checklist, board training and officer job descriptions. "Many of the policies and procedures have been tested by actual audits."
cbanc Network membership is free, but participants earn points any number of ways, including posting and reviewing cbanc content, reviewing industry vendors and products, responding to network surveys and recruiting new members. The point system motivates participants to give as much as they receive, according to Damon Anderson, marketing, cbanc Network.
Search for "BSA" at cbanc, and discover that a $200-million institution was recently asking 200 points for its BSA program policy. Nearly 150 related documents, including a BSA report and BSA job description, were offered by other participants.
cbanc boasts more than 1,100 community documents from nearly 4,000 financial institutions, said Anderson.
Other Hot Topics
Beyond exchanging documents, cbanc allows users to follow hot topics; ask and answer one another's questions; share detailed tips emerging from recent exams; and review vendors. "No other resource is as comprehensive as cbanc Network," suggested Ray Smith, AVP-projects and e-services at $545-million Great Lakes CU in Chicago.
Smith said he stumbled upon cbank Network when "googling" information to formulate a remote deposit capture risk-assessment. He immediately found such a template at cbanc Network.
"With more regulations thrown at us ever in history, we need a resource like cbanc Network," he suggested. "It's too hard to reinvent the wheel every time we need to write policies and procedures."
Evidently, cbank Network is neutral territory in the battlefield between banks and credit unions; sparring gives way to sharing, and compliance becomes the common foe.
"When you think of banks and credit unions, you think of competition, but compliance is one area where we're not competing," Moran continued. "cbanc Network allows me to share compliance ideas without giving away any proprietary information." Moran said she has exchanged her Home Mortgage Disclosure Act training presentation slides with 10 Network participants at 200 points apiece.
"We wanted to create a place where banks and credit unions come together to tackle problems and create solutions together," said Anderson. "Before cbanc, you might call your banking neighbor down the street. We wanted to maintain that environment but allow institutions to connect across the country." Credit unions currently make up about 14% of the Network, he said.
Compliance is, understandably, creating the lion's share of interactions at cbanc Network, but the community offers much more, Anderson pointed out. "We have a lot of great compliance content, but you can also share HR, finance, lending, technology and so on."
Smith said he recently reviewed a bill pay product, which helped a credit union converting to the product. "I was able to offer warnings about things that could go wrong, saving them time and member frustration."
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