PolicyWorks Offers Credit Unions Tool to Identify Business Continuity Planning Gaps

As many credit unions continue to try to figure out the long-term financial ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, one company in the industry said it is offering a free tool to its members to help understand and possibly correct potential issues in their business continuity plans (BCPs).

When the COVID-19 outbreak first hit the U.S., PolicyWorks, an international company which focuses on credit union GRC solutions, said in a release that they began to hear concerns from credit union leaders about how their BCPs were not built to account for this unprecedented crisis.

In turn, on April 8, PolicyWorks compliance and technology experts created an online self-assessment tool to share with their partners to help identify problematic BCP gaps and also offer guidance on how to implement fixes. According to PolicyWorks, the tool first launched in Ireland and was then adapted for credit unions in the U.S., where more than 115 credit unions have registered to access the BCP self-assessment program.

According to the release, the assessment takes between 30 and 90 minutes to complete and provides the user quick tips. At the end of the assessment, the user receives a color-coded report with green, yellow and red highlights to signify the level of competency in various aspects of BCP.

“The tool allowed us to determine strengths of our existing plan, as well as opportunities for improvement moving forward,” Todd Link, SVP of risk management and remote delivery with Dupaco Community Credit Union ($1.9 billion, Dubuque, Iowa), said.

PolicyWorks clients and partner league members have until Sept. 1, 2020, to access the tool for free, according to the release. In addition to the assessment tool, PolicyWorks also has made available a series of open webinar events to all credit unions, regardless of their relationship with PolicyWorks.