The recent interagency guidance on improving diversity standards among banks and credit unions was an issuance, not a rule, but financial institutions will ignore that issuance at their own peril, according to Donna Cameron, regulatory and compliance expert with Continuity, a New Haven, Conn.-based provider of automated compliance solutions.

"We don't recommend you put this aside," Cameron, one of two Continuity webinar presenters on the topic, said. "You should consider it and make an intentional decision to have a program of some sort to address diversity in your financial institution."

The guidelines, jointly issued June 10 by six financial regulatory agencies including the NCUA, is a byproduct of a Dodd-Frank Act directive instructing each agency to develop an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion. The recommendations are designed to promote the development of standards that financial institutions can use to assess their own diversity and inclusion policies and practices for employment and vendor selection.