Miami– Dolphin Debit, the full-service ATM management
company, has been named a Strategic Business Partner of the
National Council of Firefighter Credit Unions Inc (NCOFCU).
“Our
council partnership connects NCOFCU members to robust credit union support that
enhances the strength of credit unions serving first responders,” said Grant
Sheehan, CEO of the National Council of Firefighter Credit Unions Inc . “The
Council looks forward to working with Dolphin Debit to deliver efficiencies and
savings to our member credit unions.”
For
Council members, the partnership helps connect them with Dolphin Debit for easy
access to the benefits of outsourcing the management of their ATMs, the company
said, adding that whether a credit union is replacing aging machines, seeking
to ensure regulatory and technical compliance, or simply looking to get out of
the ATM business, it provides the solution through its turnkey, full-service
management services.
Ahh, disaster recovery. For credit unions, it’s a must. Why? Well, imagine what would happen if lightning struck half your branches. What would you do?
Okay, maybe that’s not the best example. Lightning strikes—especially simultaneous lightning strikes—aren’t exactly common. Still, many things are common. Worse, some bad things are becoming increasingly common.
Have you ever worried about wildfires, tornadoes, or earthquakes? How about hurricanes, power outages, or chemical spills? We could go on, but by now, you’ve probably gotten the point: credit union disaster recovery is important.
It’s Not Just a Good Idea—It’s the Law!
Disaster recovery plans are important for being able to restore operations when things go wrong. Plus, the NCUA wants you to have a disaster recovery plan.
Your members will thank you, too. If you’re serious about meeting their needs, then you must plan for the worst. If you don’t, how can you help them when they need you most?
So, where do you get started?
1. Test Your Core
Can your core handle a disaster? If not, then what’s the use in anything else working? If it’s your first time testing your disaster recovery, start with the core.
In any credit union disaster recovery scenario, you must ensure that you can continue operating. It’s a nice thought, being there for your members in an emergency. Being able to handle their banking needs is an even nicer thought.
2. Test Your Connectivity
Okay, now that you’ve got your core figured out, it’s time to make sure you can use it. Can you connect to it? How’s your third-party connectivity?
Connectivity is another year-one concern. Don’t put this off!
3. Test Supporting Systems
There’s no reason to test the core and connectivity over and over. At some point, you have to check on all your other systems.
Start by determining which of your supporting systems are most critical. Your most critical systems are the ones that you would need to bring up before your other peripheral systems.
Testing supporting systems is a year-two concern.
4. Test Your Business Processes
Also in your second year, you should test your critical businesses processes. Make sure end-users are trained on how to handle your credit union’s disaster recovery plan.
You may want to try out testing in an offsite location, or even from home. You can’t be sure that you’ll have your usual facilities in the event of a disaster.
Testing businesses processes also falls under the business continuity planning (BCP) umbrella. That’s okay—there’s a little overlap.
5. Test Third-Party Connectivity
The last major consideration for your second year of disaster recovery testing is third-party connectivity. Once you know your core is operational and connected, it’s time to see what else you can maintain access to.
6. Full Production Test
By the third year, you’ll want to run a full production test. Fail over to your backup servers on a weekend. Make sure you can run production from that environment.
Then, let it run for a week. Make sure everything is running and that connections are solid.
When you’ve successfully completed this step, then you’ll know that your credit union is truly prepared for disaster recovery.
The House
Financial Services Committee just approved the COUNTER Act to modernize the Bank Secrecy Act. Still, a ways to go, but here are some highlights of what's in the bill. Read on.
Well, it
seems July 1 is just around the corner. Ready for NCUA's rule on private flood insurance? ... Here are some nifty helps NCUA is offering to help prevent elder financial abuse. ... That $10K CTR threshold has been around a long time.
Isn't it about time it thresholded up a bit? ... Here's what a good OFAC
compliance program looks like. ... Many have been saying it all along. Now the 9th Circuit Appeals Court agrees: fix the structure of the CFPB
already. ... Overdraft Rule: the CFPB is coming after you. ... There's a lot to CFPB's proposed debt collection rules you don't need to worry about. But there are some things that you should know about. ... Nobody seems to like the CFPB's complaint database. This industry leader thinks it's a valuable resource you should pay attention to. ... FinCEN wants the virtual currency crowd to be clear on what's what. ... A multi-faceted approach to preventing elder fraud is underway in five states. Here's how that is working. ... The original Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act is over 40 years old and included guidance on such things as telegrams. Time for an update much? ... The Fed is repealing
the SAFE
Act. But don't get too excited. It's a technical repeal.
Get the scoop on all the top compliance and risk developments here:
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WASHINGTON–As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee has concluded
it's meeting today and opted to not raise rates, leaving the target range
for the federal funds rate at 2.25% to 2.50%.
Jerome Powell
In a statement released at the conclusion of its meeting here,
the FOMC said data show that since March, the labor market has remained
strong and that economic activity rose at a solid rate. Job gains have
been solid, on average, in recent months, and the unemployment rate has
remained low, the Fed said. While acknowledging the growth of
household spending and business fixed investment slowed in the first
quarter, the Fed noted that on a 12-month basis, overall inflation and
inflation for items other than food and energy have declined and are
running below 2%. “On balance, market-based measures of inflation
compensation has remained low in recent months, and survey-based
measures of longer-term inflation expectations are little changed,” the
FOM stated. “The Committee continues to view sustained expansion
of economic activity, strong labor market conditions, and inflation near
the Committee's symmetric 2% objective as the most likely outcomes,”
the FOMC said. “In light of global economic and financial developments
and muted inflation pressures, the Committee will be patient as it
determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal
funds rate may be appropriate to support these outcomes.” Voting
for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Jerome H. Powell, Chair; John
C. Williams, Vice Chair; Michelle W. Bowman; Lael Brainard; James
Bullard; Richard H. Clarida; Charles L. Evans; Esther L. George; Randal
K. Quarles; and Eric S. Rosengre.
Fire Family Foundation Hosts Sixth Annual Fire Boot Classic on Saturday
April 27th Charity Event Supports Firefighters
Published: Thursday, April 25, 2019 | 2:25 PM
Firefighters… They risk their lives every day to protect their
community … “to protect us, our lives and our property. They are men and
women like you and me, yet, they serve… every day to ensure that we are
safe.” Their commitment to helping others is second to none. With all
of the devastating fires the past few years, many firefighters lost
their homes while helping to save so many others. On April 27, 2019, Fire Family Foundation is hosting its 6th Annual
Fire Boot Classic Charity Event at the London Hotel in West Hollywood.
This event is a Casino Night and Poker Tournament, with Drinks, Dining, a
Silent Auction, Live Auction, and Fun! The funds raised from this event
will support the Firefighter Relief fund that provides financial
assistance to firefighters and their families in times of need. The
mission is to be there… “when they need our support.” As the charitable hand of Firefighters First Credit Union, the
Foundation provides vital financial assistance to the Fire Family. We
also award $50,000 in scholarship grants each year to the children of
active or fallen firefighters nationwide and we help 501(c)(3) tax
exempt organizations to support the local charitable needs of fire
departments, firefighters and their families and other charitable causes
within their local communities. Please show your support for firefighters who sacrifice so much for the safety of the surrounding communities, for your safety. Fire Boot Classic tickets and sponsorships can be purchased at http://www.firebootclassic.org London Hotel is located at 1020 N. San Vicente Blvd. in West Hollywood, CA 90069. Fire Family Foundation donations can be made: * online at www.FireFamilyFoundation.org * on Facebook at www.facebook.com/firefamilyfoundation * or mailed to the Foundation office: 815 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041 About Fire Family Foundation Established in 2008, Fire Family Foundation is committed to providing
financial assistance to fire families in need, scholarships, wellness,
and financial education while supporting fire charities nationwide.
Firefighters are in service to all of our communities. They show up when
we need assistance, generally in some of our most vulnerable times.
Through medical emergencies, fires and national disasters, we depend on
firefighters to help us. We believe in helping them and their families
to the extent possible during their times of need. The Foundation is
committed to these men and women who unselfishly give so much of
themselves, often at great risk of impact to family life. Fire Family
Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, tax ID number 36-4613248. All
donations to the Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent of the
law. About Firefighters First Credit Union
Firefighters First Credit Union
was formed in 1935 as Los Angeles Firemen’s Credit Union and serves
fulltime, paid firefighters nationwide and their families. In 2014 we
changed our name to Firefighters First Credit Union to better reflect
our member base and in 2017 we received our Federal charter.
Firefighters First currently has assets of over $1.4 Billion with over
45,000 members and serving over 570 fire departments.
Ahhh, credit union strategic planning topic season. Let’s take off our pessimistic blinders, pull out our beanies and start thinking of the credit union world we want tomorrow. Soon, our credit union will disrupt the local banks. We will put them those evil bankers out of business and take over the world… cooperatively (of course).
If you are looking for quick strategic questions to ask your board at your credit union planning session, you are in the right place.
Credit Union Strategic Planning Topics About Growth
If you had to process 3x your normal loan or member growth volume, how would you?
Where do you want to be in 3 years?
What market trends support that vision?
What client demands support that vision?
What are the tactical plans to support that goal?
What are the known risks?
If you could rebuild the credit union 2.0, what would it look like?
What are the top 10 questions we have about our credit union
(analytics based)? What would you do differently if you knew the answer?
Credit Union Strategic Planning Topics for Critical Self-Evaluation
What is the one thing your credit union was worst at this year? What needs to happen to fix it?
What is one thing your credit was best at? How can you double down on it?
What is the single metric that you least like hearing about this year? Why? What can you do to change it?
Where do we use Analytics well?
Are we moving or reacting fast enough in the marketplace?
In each department, what should you start? What should you stop? What should you continue?
What are our best service experience and memories?
Credit Union Strategic Planning Topics About Culture
What are some examples of living your core values?
What are some examples of failing to live your core values?
If you could change one thing about the credit union, what would it be?
What are the top 3 credit unions we admire and why?
What does the perfect member look like? Where do they hang out? Who do they know?
What makes an ideal board member?
If you were the new CXO and were brought in tomorrow, what were three things you would fix immediately?
Credit Union Strategic Planning Wildcard Questions
If a perfect competitor opened across the street tomorrow, what would they look like?
If we were to rebuild our credit union with no branches, what would it look like?
If the NCUA got merged into the FDIC, what would change?
If your largest SEG went out of business, what would you change?
Any of these credit union strategic planning topics can help you and your board plan for a brighter, warmer future.
Credit Union 2.0 — Credit Union Strategic Planning Facilitators
Kirk Drake and Chris Otey take a unique approach to planning sessions. Their goals are to deal with some of the real issues facing credit unions. These include:
Who is your ideal member?
How do we improve board governance?
How do we get our board to look more like our membership?
How do we deal with the onslaught of fintechs and technology?
How do we change our culture to be more like a fintech?
As the author of Credit Union 2.0, head of a large technology CUSO,
and founder of CU Wallet, Drake has great insights from both his time
working at a credit union through his entrepreneurship and board
experience.
As board chair of South Bay Credit Union and former CU Wallet and
Fiserv executive, Chris has worked with hundreds of credit unions to
help them deal with board governance, CUSOs, and other technology
challenges.
