The Role of the Credit Union Collaborations Manager

The task of credit unions as set forth in the NCUA pronouncements on due diligence, is to identify measure, monitor and manage the risks of the credit union third party relationships. Who will do this for the credit unions and how will he/she know what to do? I recommend that the credit union have a service provider policy to manage the credit union’s relationship with all its service providers, including CUSOs and a CUSO investment policy that sets forth the issues in deciding whether to invest in a CUSO. I recommend that the credit union appoint a Collaboration Manager (“CM”) to implement these policies. The CM will work with senior staff and the credit union’s subject matter experts, e.g. the credit union’s lending manager for working with a mortgage CUSO, to guide the credit union through the selection and monitoring process.

The CM will keep abreast of the service provider and CUSO investment opportunities in the marketplace through networking. The CM should be “plugged-in” to sources of innovative ideas and bring opportunities to the credit union’s senior management for evaluation. Once senior management determined that they wanted to consider the services of a CUSO, the CM and the credit union subject matter expert would administer the selection process, including due diligence.

I have posted a Sample Service Provider Policy and Sample CUSO Investment Policy in the Articles section on the CUSOLaw.com website for your consideration. This is so important to the success of the credit union industry to have these policies and CM’s to administer them, that I am giving these policies away to all credit unions, not just clients.