Compliance with state and federal laws and regulations requires the development and maintenance of a sound compliance management system. The overall burden of understanding and implementing the ever-increasing list of rules and regulations can hardly be managed by only one person within a financial institution. Rather, compliance has become a fundamental job issue with and a part of the daily routine of all personnel.
While a compliance management system operates in a dynamic regulatory environment, every financial institution operates in a dynamic marketplace environment (e.g., consolidation, mergers, restructuring, innovative financial services, new technology and markets). Both of these dynamic environments present risks to financial institution that is, all the while, trying to remain profitable.
Yet, the technicalities of laws and regulations, the interrelationship among various rules and the inconsistencies that may arise between regulatory applications are not easy to incorporate into a financial institution’s training programs. In addition, new laws are enacted and old regulations are amended. As a result, the intricacies of law and regulation often get “lost in the translation” or are disregarded in favor of training for job responsibilities on a “mechanical basis.”
Therefore, to address this risk effectively, the board and management of a financial institution must make compliance management a high priority and require senior management to develop and maintain a sound compliance management system that: protects the institution; uses resources efficiently and effectively; is integrated into the overall risk-management strategy of the institution; and minimizes problems, issues or disruptions in day-to-day operations.
The purpose of the “Compliance Management” section is to provide basic information on elements of effective compliance management, resources available for maintaining a compliance program, regulatory appeal procedures and other articles regarding compliance programs and audits. In addition, this section also describes Nebraska law addressing a “compliance review privilege” and lists the most common compliance violations for Nebraska and the region. A summary of the myriad definitions of “business day” is also contained in this section.
Finally, this section contains an article that discusses how the reader may become involved in the regulatory process, particularly focusing on writing comment letters to regulatory agencies.