With the ever increasing amount of compliance burdens, credit unions are feeling the pressure to tighten their belts to ensure they have enough capital to take on the expenses new regulations may bring.The primary focus on recent regulations is centered around lending practices (HMDA) and accounting standards (CECL), adding in cybersecurity and documentation leaves most areas of your credit union unaffected from scrutiny. It's hard not to feel overwhelmed, but don't despair, with careful planning and management your efforts can continue, while still lessening the stress of handling credit union compliance and regulation.

There is no amount of money that your IT department cannot spend. Think about it, Windows XP went out of support in 2014 increasing IT spending for PC and network upgrades, for example. This came as an unpleasant surprise to many credit unions, and those who had ideas of waiting to replace their Windows XP machines were put on notice by their auditors and examiners. In 2015, Windows Server 2003 will be going off of support, which may force the replacement of systems at many credit unions. Additionally, upgrading hardware can translate into requiring further product upgrades with many other vendors.