While the focus areas identified in the NCUA's 2024 Supervisory Priorities may seem familiar and fall under well-established regulatory guidelines, it's also clear that now is the time for credit unions to sharpen their focus on credit risk, liquidity risk, consumer financial protection, cybersecurity and interest rate risk to better prepare for increased regulatory scrutiny. Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) can be a key tool for cooperatives of all sizes to identify warning signs and proactively address potential issues.

Hindsight Is Always 20/20; Preparation Is Key to Avoid Repeating History

As a curious but mostly amateur reader of history, I'm often intrigued by the role financial markets play and the evolution of banking throughout history, particularly during and after banking crises. Banking leaders across history appear to have a knack for developing contemporary methods to repeat historical events. The following is an incomplete list from different eras involving different actors, but any astute reviewer could locate common threads.

• 14th Century Italian Banking Crisis
• 17th Century European Banking Crisis
• 1929 US Great Depression
• 1970s and 1980s Latin America Banking Crisis
• 1990s Nordic Banking Crisis
• 1997 Asian Financial Crisis
• 2007 Global Financial Crisis
• 2010 Eurozone Crisis

In her prolific book "The Lessons of History," Ariel Durant and her husband Will wrote, "The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding."