My post of last week regarding the need for banks to restrain their mighty fist of snark when dealing with their regulators, prompted Anthony Demangone, COO of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, to forward a copy of a memorandum that the NAFCU prepared a couple of years ago (and most recently updated in March 2011) entitled "Managing Examinations in Challenging Times." With Anthony's permission, I uploaded it and it can be accessed through this link.
While the technical discussion of the appeals process applies only to credit unions, the memorandum is chock-full of practical advice for financial institutions of all types. I especially enjoyed the ten points listed on pages 5 and 6, including the admonition to "stay professional," which echoes my advice of last week. While many readers may feel they've got these points well in hand, at the very least the memorandum provides a useful refresher, especially in the immediate aftermath of an exchange with an examiner in which the institution's personnel may be sorely tempted to unleash the hounds. Instead, briefly reviewing the 10 points may be even more useful than simply counting to ten.
I think an even more useful process would be a formal appeal process to an objective third party, as we discussed six months ago. That legislation never made it out of subcommittee, and nothing will be done in this lame duck year. However, depending on what happens tomorrow, we may see this issue revived in 2013.
Comments