I was the compliance officer for probably a year before I learned that my compliance program was separately rated by examiners. I learned a lot of lessons that I’ll be sharing. This two-hour program will take you through the basic requirements for building a successful compliance program. There is no turnkey solution that will provide you with overnight success. Sometimes you use what you have as budgets are limited. You lay a foundation and build a program on top of it. It’s a process that takes time and effort, but it pays dividends when your examiners understand what you do and why; that your program addresses your bank’s specific compliance needs; and that you have checks and balances and adequate training resulting in few, if any items to mention in a Report of Examination.

This webinar will take you through:

1. The elements that you should include in your compliance program with emphasis on the Consumer Compliance Rating criteria used by examiners. Whether you are starting anew or reconstructing and improving on what you have, you must identify and incorporate the required elements.
2. Ways you can influence management’s buy-in, and why it is so critical. If you want a program that gives lip service, this webinar is not for you. If you want to build a program that works, you must understand that effective compliance programs start from the top and work down. Buy-in is crucial and we will discuss several ways to obtain it.
3. Policies and procedures are must-haves, but what is required, when and how often should they be reviewed?
4. Compliance is a group effort. While there needs to be direct accountability and the Compliance Officer is driving this bus, there are many passengers on board. Who should be on your compliance bus and why?
5. We have other webinars detailing risk assessments, but your program needs an effective overview of the process and we’ll explain why. Risk assessments are the turn signals and headlights that guide your way.
6. We’ll discuss the basics of auditing and monitoring programs because they provide the test results on the effectiveness of your compliance program. More than that, the results will influence your policies, procedures, training, external examiner reviews and the compliance rating from your regulatory examinations.

Lastly, your board is ultimately responsible for compliance. What do they know and who trains them? You, the Compliance Officer, do! You need to learn to think at the “big picture” level so the board understands what you do and why, and the resources you’ll need to do it well. (Remember buy-in -- it’s needed here, too.)