When the NCUA announced financial literacy requirements forboard members more than a year ago, the mandate sparked a lot ofanxiety prompting credit unions to seek out help and understandingof the new rules.

“There was a lot of fear,” said Tracy Conner, vice president ofmember relations at the Credit Union Association of New York.“Exactly how was NCUA going to test their knowledge? Of course, wetried to get some of those answers from NCUA, and there reallyweren't very firm parameters around this.”

The association put together a series of three webinars coveringasset/liability management for volunteers, credit union finance andunderstanding board reports, Conner said. Within a week of theregulation coming out, the sessions were live on the association'swebsite. Interest was high with 2,100 logging in to view thewebinars by the July 2011 compliance deadline. Board memberscompleting one or more of the webinars received a certificate ofcompletion.