A new partnership between Corporate Central Credit Union and Ncontracts aims to help credit unions with their vendor management and regulatory compliance efforts.

The $2.5 billion Corporate Central in Muskego, Wis., said it will offer Ncontracts' formal vendor and contract management service to manage third-party risk in a way that is tailored to each credit union's relationship.

“Ncontracts provides an all-encompassing software solution, coupled with consulting services and paralegal support to streamline what is quickly becoming a very labor-intensive process when performed in house,” said Chris Felton, Corporate Central's executive vice president.

Vendor management is a hot-button issue for credit unions with regulatory focus on service provider oversight, Corporate Central said.

Some of the primary reasons why credit unions have a heightened interest in vendor management include reliance on third parties, greater regulatory scrutiny on data privacy and security, and an increasing number of highly publicized data breaches, according to the corporate.

Michael Berman, president/CEO of Ncontracts in Brentwood, Tenn., said every financial institution utilizing the company's services has successfully passed the third party risk management portion of their exam.

“This partnership brings a much needed service to credit unions faced with growing third-party oversight requirements,” Felton said. “The fact that we can add value to our membership via our partnership pricing model with Ncontracts is a positive benefit for our members.”