As meteorologists track several storms threatening Hawaii, Florida and part of the east coast, it is a good time for credit unions to review plans for possible emergencies and business disruption.
In a June 2009 letter, the NCUA urged all federally insured credit unions to perform a review of their hurricane preparedness and response plans. “These plans should be commensurate with the complexity of operations and focus on minimizing interruptions of service to members and maintaining member confidence in times of an emergency.”
The NCUA suggested previous disasters provided many lessons learned in working through a disaster; and the destruction and disruption since from Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012, in particular, provided additional lessons.
To that end, the NCUA urges all federally insured credit unions to perform periodic routine reviews of their disaster preparedness and response plans.
“While we always hope for the best, it is prudent that we plan and prepare for the worst,” the NCUA hurricane preparedness Web page suggested.
The plan recommended includes:
- Implementing pre-disaster actions to ensure a constant state of readiness and take steps to safeguard assets and vital records if an early warning is received.
- Communicating disaster preparedness and response efforts before, during, and after an emergency to keep members, volunteers, employees, and regulators fully aware of the situation.Utilizing a cross-section of people to develop, test, and implement disaster preparedness and response plans.
- Ensuring back-ups are available for not only data but also personnel, worksites, equipment, vendors, and other resources.
- Treating disaster preparedness and response plans as living documents that need to be updated as circumstances change.
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Roy Urrico
Roy W. Urrico specializes in articles about financial technology and services for Credit Union Times, as well as ghostwriting, copywriting, and case studies. Also: writer/editor of a semi-annual newsletter for Association for Financial Technology since 1997 and history projects funded by the U.S Interior Department, National Park Service and Warren County (N.Y.).
