KQ Article

Financial institutions are all too familiar with the amount of work new regulations impose. For large and mid-size banks and credit unions, absorbing the extra workload will be difficult — but not impossible. For smaller community banks, however, the challenge can seem more daunting.

“We’re looking at an avalanche of changes,” said Troy Robinson, President and CEO of BankTexas, a locally owned community bank headquartered in Quitman (pop. 2,030) with $200 million in assets, 73 employees, and seven locations in northeast Texas. “The sheer volume of work is enormous, and it will be ongoing.”

With no compliance experts in house, BankTexas quickly realized that managing all of the information about regulatory compliance — as well as the training, education, implementation and reporting — would place a huge burden on the bank’s managers and employees.

“Community banks like ours don’t have three floors’ worth of compliance officers working nonstop,” Robinson said. “New information is coming at us from every angle, everything is a moving target, and every regulation requires literally hundreds of documents.”

BankTexas leadership was also concerned about negotiating regulatory complexity with confidence. They knew regulators would be taking a hard line, and that noncompliance would have serious consequences.

“Our compliance has to be perfect, and our people have to be well trained,” Robinson said. “We did not want to risk doing anything incorrectly, even by accident, simply because we lacked internal resources. That’s why we started looking for help.”

Single, trusted source
When BankTexas began reviewing their options, leadership expected to find a variety of choices. This wasn’t the case. Most offered only discrete services, such as training or data gathering. Eventually the search led to the Deluxe^® Regulatory Compliance Program.

“We were already a Deluxe customer and had already built up a good relationship,” Robinson said. “But we would not have selected the program unless we were sold on its capabilities. It gives us a single source for training, knowledge and workflow tracking from a highly trusted partner.”

The program (see below) is a comprehensive compliance package that combines an online information portal with tools for managing education, peer collaboration and compliance project management, including vendors and workflow.

“It keeps us up to speed on everything,” Robinson said. “It gives us a thirty-thousand foot view of everything that is being done, as well as the details. It gives us the ability to manage our findings and create automated workflows for the entire process. It even creates reports for the examiners. It’s a lot easier.”

The workflow tools allow Robinson and his team to assign regulatory responsibilities to specific people and monitor progress using checklists, process maps and other interactive tools that can be accessed through a Web-based, “dashboard” application.

The program also allows BankTexas to minimize the risks of unintended consequences. The bank’s leadership knew it was capable of performing specific compliance tasks, but less confident in its ability to develop a definitive list of the tasks at hand. “We wanted to make sure we did not put one solution in place that created additional issues,” he said. “Sometimes when you put up a fence, the cows find another way around, so to speak. With this program, we know we’re not missing anything.”

To further maintain a clear, ongoing snapshot of business activity, BankTexas complements the Deluxe Regulatory Compliance Program with Banker’s Dashboard. Designed specifically for community banks, this financial management tool provides on-demand access to a bank or credit union’s total financial picture, as a means of guiding timely and well-informed business decisions.

“Our management team finds Banker’s Dashboard to be powerful yet user-friendly,” Robinson said. “Banker’s Dashboard has been instrumental to optimizing our profitability over the last several years, and now it also helps us monitor how every new regulatory initiative is impacting our business.”

Leveling the playing field
Robinson sees the Deluxe Regulatory Compliance Program as a sound preventive measure, one that helps his bank achieve parity with larger banks that have greater resources at hand.

“This kind of program moves us out of a reactive stance and into a proactive one,” he said. “Most important, it gives us peace of mind about compliance. With that out of the way, we can focus more of our attention on customer service. It’s worth the investment, and it’s a perfect example of the value of outsourcing.”

Feel more confident about compliance
Today’s complicated, ever-changing regulatory climate is one of the greatest challenges financial institutions face. The concern is especially pressing for institutions looking for internal solutions that support compliance officers in a simple, well-rounded and affordable way. Deluxe’s new Regulatory Compliance Program gives your financial institution the infrastructure required to feel completely confident in your compliance efforts. It is the only program on the market that provides:

• An enterprise-wide solution. Make sure personnel receive required training and that vendor relationships meet all requirements. The program manages implementation, scheduling, tracking and reporting.
• Up-to-date, consolidated information. The program includes access to a portal that gathers the most current news and information from multiple sources and allows you to sort by subject and relevance.
• Fully integrated project management. Make sure your compliance program is on task with full visibility to all steps leading to compliance, from initiation through completion. Specialized expertise. Expert help is only a call or click away. Deluxe connects program subscribers to Deluxe-approved experts who can provide help with specific issues and concerns.

When it comes to compliance, there are no gray areas. Let Deluxe give you the peace of mind that comes from knowing your institution is completely covered.

_{© 2012 Deluxe Enterprise Operations, Inc.}

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