Credit unions' rite of spring, CUNA's Governmental AffairsConference, has now come and gone. Many credit union volunteers andprofessionals have scurried home for warmer climes or colder onesin the case of credit union Mecca–Madison–where they were expectingseveral inches of snow on top of what they already had. Here inWashington during the GAC, there were warm and cold moments aswell.

Compliance, compliance, compliance. Credit unions are settlinginto the fact that it's simply a part of doing business, but thatdoesn't take care of the logistics. Credit unions are concernedabout how to keep up with all of the regs coming out of Washington.Fortunately, technology has become a great efficiency driver inthis area. Ultimately, a credit union is responsible for ensuringcompliance with any regulation, so ensuring you have a partner witha strong compliance department is key to making  thatmountain a molehill. CUNA's recently released exam survey resultsfound 43% of respondents receiving at least one document ofresolution during their last exam. Reactionary or not, itexists.

Obamacare is a new area of compliance that's not going away nomatter which political party is in charge. The court challengefailed. (Note that Chief Justice Roberts, who wrote the opinion, is also thelawyer who lost the Supreme Court case that required hurriedpassage of H.R. 1151. Just a fun fact.) Choosing not to offerhealth care is an option but could significantly shrink a creditunion's talent pool, a position credit unions cannot afford to bein.

Credit unions complain now about their regulatory load, but the CFPB is just getting warmed up, andthe NCUA will have more to come as well. Consumer protection hasbeen a hot-button topic since the housing and economic crisesbrought on by unscrupulous lenders. While the classic overreactionand sweeping regulatory reform is SOP in Washington, griping afterthe fact won't solve the problems credit unions will have to dealwith.

Outsourcing back-end work, such as compliance and certainoperations, can help credit unions compete on a larger scale.Business lending is a crucial area where credit unions mightnot have the resources in-house (or the payroll) to handle but canoutsource for the necessary expertise. Again, it's essential tohave a partner you can trust after performing thorough duediligence. The “oh, so-and-so uses them” or “so-and-so buysparticipations from them” is not going to cut it, which we saw withthe downfall of some significant credit unions in recent years.

Credit unions have experienced tremendous growth in theirmortgage business over the last few years and using someone else totake them off your books is a great way to continue growing.Retaining the servicing provides even greater revenueopportunities. Jill Peterson of CU Members Mortgage shared a funnymetaphor, quipping, “Servicing has become a contact sport.” So truewith so much nonmember facing income as interest income remainstight.

Using a credit union-centric vendor for any service often meansit is more in-tune with credit union-specific needs. Smart vendorsthat support credit unions have become much more responsive tomember needs and can build a nice portfolio of products forclients. At the same time, it also keeps the risk in the industry,a lesson learned from the corporate credit union crisis, which wasa wake up call to pay attention to risk diversification, trends anddeals that seem too good to be true. So long as proper businessethics and oversight are applied, as well as the cooperative creditunion philosophy, this risk can be mitigated. 

Now is the optimal time to nudge members toward self-serviceoptions. Grandma is becoming more comfortable with the Internet,viewing pictures of the grandchildren or Skyping with familyhalfway across the country because that's the only way to seefamily on any regular basis. Gen X feels that evolving withtechnology is not only efficient but makes them look cool. Gen Ydoesn't really know any other way.  But it's important toensure that every member contact through every channel is asfriendly and efficient as it is through any other channel. Creditunions will come to find that digital lead generation can be evenmore meaningful than the conversation in the branch. Harland sharedwith me that its online account opening usage continues to grow ata fast clip. Members are ready.

So there you have it. Compliance, keeping up with technology andloan growth were the themes of hallway conversations and sessionsat CUNA's 2013 GAC.