More than ever, risk and compliance management are inextricably linked. 

How can risk and compliance managers work together to effect an integrated approach that keeps your organization protected while facilitating the business of your financial institution? 

We spoke with Denise Guira, SVP of Integrated Risk at MIDFLORIDA Credit Union, about leveraging the resources within (and outside) your organization to engage in fruitful conversations about risk and compliance, so your second line of defense can do its job effectively. 

Denise also discussed the role of internal committees in driving an agenda of ERM programming that ensures compliance is involved in building a roadmap to the best path forward: an integrated approach to risk and compliance management.

Information security impacts financial institutions of every size—from large national institutions to small community banks and credit unions. 

Is your FI staying on top of cybersecurity, including due diligence for third- and fourth-party risk? 

In this episode, Tara Swart, Director of Compliance Services, Financial Division at All Covered consulting firm, discusses different frameworks for information security and the impacts of the recent Solar Winds breach. 

This will not be the last cyberattack of this nature we will see. 

How will it affect your risk management going forward?

What does financial inclusion look like? 

How do you measure it? How do you ensure it every level? 

In this episode, we hear from Lynn English, Senior Vice President of Risk Management at Lafayette Federal Credit Union, about how financial institutions can create intentional, effective diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to promote inclusion for customers, staff, and leadership.

The Risk Management Association (RMA) promotes sound risk principles in the financial services industry. 

Sylwia Czajkowska, Associate Director of Operational Risk at the RMA, discussed the results of a recent survey focusing on COVID-19's impact on third-party risk management practices for FIs. 

This survey produced an ongoing dialogue that yielded key insights into the rapid deployment and evolution of vendor risk management practices and what that might mean for the future. What was the overall effect on operations for FIs? 

Listen and find out!

Commissioner Gonzales serves as the Commission of the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions. He also serves as Chairman of the State Liaison Committee that incorporates the state supervisory perspective into the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). 

This role gives him a unique vantage point of how regulatory matters are addressed at the state level as well as with the consortium of all the nation’s federal regulatory agencies. 

We spoke with Commissioner Gonzales about the role of risk management and board oversight, specifically with regard to tailored regulations, the “math of things”, risk appetite and the June 2020 FFIEC guidance, and how boards should interpret exam findings.

Mary York, the founder of York Public Relations and raised in the banking industry, recently released some key insights in a survey https://www.yorkpublicrelations.com/press-room/the_financial_institution_crisis_study_2020/ on what crises would lead Americans to leave a financial institution as well as how this would vary across different demographics. 

Mary’s insights on reputational risk and the measures to consider for compliance and operational risk will serve as useful tools to those financial institutions looking to avoid crises in the coming months and years.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be as simple or as complex as a financial institution wishes to harness it. 

But informed decisions are difficult to be made if you don’t have the right data and/or the means to sort and interpret it. 

Dr. Gary Shiffman, Adjunct Professor - Center for Security Studies (CSS) at Georgetown University and also Founder and CEO, Giant Oak, demystifies this conundrum as he addresses how AI can help FIs mature the profession of risk management as well as how to get risk managers and senior management aware of the benefits of AI as it relates to strategic planning.

What happens when someone moves from the vendor management team to spearhead and expand an FI’s business continuity management program? 

We found out first-hand from Ronnie Emmanoulakis, CRVPM II, Manager, Data Operation and Business Continuity Management who shared what it was like to step into the new role, how he approached the comprehensive strategy from management oversight to training, and how challenges were addressed along the way.

A survey was recently published on “Banking After COVID-19” https://www.greenwich.com/commercial-banking/banking-after-covid-19 and the findings are compelling. Greenwich Associates survey co-author Ron Balmer joins us on this podcast to talk about the adaptations required for operational risk and organizational agility as well as how the human factor does and will remain a key asset to any financial institution.

Change is the only constant in the fair lending and CRA circles. In our conversation with Elizabeth M Ortloff, CRCM, Vice President/Senior Compliance Officer at MidWest One Bank, many timely and relevant topics are addressed including changes in policy as a result of the pandemic, redlining risk, complaint management and waivers, and best practices for data analysis.