Regulatory pressures are forcing credit unions to operate under tighter margins and to reduce cost structures, all while striving to continue to deliver competitive, high quality products and superior customer service to their members.

These pressures require credit union finance teams to utilize more agile processes to analyze and manage balance sheet composition, as well as how they evaluate the impact of operational risk on the institution.

To meet these new demands, today's credit unions must re-evaluate their financial management processes with the goal of creating a stronger link between finance strategy and execution. Finance must lead the charge to effectively define, communicate and align the entire institution around truly transformational activities. To enable this linkage between finance strategy and execution, credit unions must support three areas of strategic planning: strategy formulation, strategy alignment and performance monitoring.