NCUA Issues Warning On BirdFlu

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - (03/23/06) – NCUA called on all creditunions Wednesday to make disaster response preparations in theevent of a U.S. outbreak of the bird flu pandemic, currentlythreatening certain areas in Asia. “Credit unions and theirservice providers supply essential financial services and, as such,should consider their preparedness and response strategy for apotential pandemic,” said NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson in aletter to credit unions. Among the issues that should be reviewedare infection control in the workplace; contingency plans formaintaining operations; mechanisms to allow employees to work fromhome if public health officials advise against non-essentialtravel; and developing partnerships with other financial serviceproviders to create mutual support networks. “Credit unionswith a global presence and those considered critical to thefinancial system may have greater preparation and responsechallenges than those of other credit unions,” said Johnson.NCUA will be following the letter with a new Risk Alert concerningbusiness continuity and disaster recovery, as well as revised AIRESquestionnaire to include more detail on disasterplanning.

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