A Direct Line Blog

Whether your credit union is state or federally chartered, your board members are required to be financially literate. In fact, training is required by both regulation and policy (for most of you) for new board members within six months of being seated.

If you are trained as a CPA or teach economics class, you already fit the bill. Anyone else should have both initial and refresher training to ensure that the decisions made in the board room positively impact your credit union’s bottom line and don’t risk the members’ funds. Now that we have entered a time of raising rates, for the first time in some board member’s tenure, the training is more important than ever.

Below are some of the options available to you, some even with no cost.

• Montana’s Credit Unions Training Tools page (look for Part 1 and Part 2 of training provided by Tim Harrington); contact Beth if you need access to the site. It is available to all affiliated credit unions and their staff and volunteers.
• NCUA Board of Directors Video Training Series on Understanding Financial Statements (5 videos with a quiz and certification opportunity after completion)
• CUNA’s self-study kit is affordable, available in print, and includes six modules and an optional online exam

Of course, your board can also bring in a local financial expert or have someone from the credit union management staff or even a qualified fellow board member explain the financials too. While no regulation requires an actual “frame it for the wall” certificate, you should keep records of who was trained and when.

The complexity of the training should be commensurate to the size and variety of products offered at your credit union.

Good luck! We are eager to see the continued success of credit unions across the state under your guidance.