ARLINGTON, Va. — Among several other important steps that credit unions should take to improve their compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act, Diane Wiltshire, a BSA Specialist and Supervision Analyst for NCUA's Region II, suggested getting to know the Federal Financial Institution's Examination Council's BSA handbook well and having it ready at exam time.

Speaking before roughly 50 credit union executives attending a Jan. 7 meeting of the Metropolitan Area Credit Union Management Association on BSA issues, Wiltshire joined another of the agency's BSA Specialists, Mary Bashore, in urging credit unions to get to know the manual and letting it inform their BSA compliance efforts.

"The first year it came out I was pretty unhappy with [the manual]," Wiltshire said. "But the next year was much better and this year's was better still." Wiltshire urged that credit unions have the manual on hand to help them answer BSA questions from examiners. "I don't mind being corrected," she said, "if something I am raising isn't in the manual, whip it out and show me."