Whether it's as simple as updating on Excel or as sophisticated as Web-based automation, keeping in compliance has become a major task and topic of conversation at credit unions small and large.

Compliance is a catch-all term, referring to the myriad rules and regulations covering everything from Internet security to SAS70 compliance at core processors to consumer lending protection to lists of telephone numbers for the electricians and plumbers.

And staying in compliance has become a cottage industry, giving rise to full-time specialists in-house-with titles like chief risk officer, for instance-and a cottage industry of vendors who offer to automate the process.