Hawaiian Educational Credit Union Cruise Conference
Aboard NCL's Pride of America
September 19 - 26, 2009

Topic Descriptions
 

Bank Secrecy Act and Money Laundering 

Benefit from the perspective of a federal prosecutor for the credit union community during this hard-hitting, informative session covering the basics of the Bank Secrecy Act, the Federal Money Laundering Statute and examples of where financial institutions have been investigated and prosecuted on federal money laundering charges. Robert Mydans will also discuss the importance of Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) and Currency Transaction Reports (CTR). You’ll also learn how financial institutions are used by criminals and terrorists to further their illicit activities. Federal and state regulators are looking very closely at these issues in light of 9/11. The use of financial institutions, including credit unions, to launder proceeds of criminal activity, to finance terrorist activities, and to track and trace money is a hot topic for financial institutions.  

• What does the Bank Secrecy Act require of credit unions?

• How to implement a system of internal controls?n What kind of training is required?

• What kind of independent testing should a credit union conduct?

• What is the importance and reason for requiring CTRs and SARs

Mergers 

Hard hitting informational presentation on the pros and cons of Mergers.  It is geared for the credit union that wants to merge and be absorbed as well as the credit union that wants to absorb a smaller credit union.  It explores what both types of credit union can bring to a merger and what type of preparation, is necessary to start on the merger road.  It outlines the type of due diligence that both credit unions must undertake to insure a proper legal and operational merger. It discusses a basic time line from initial board of directors discussions through completion. 

Supervisory Committee, Directors’ and Officers’ Liability & Pertinent Aspects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Officers and Directors of credit unions serve in volunteer capacities. They can, however, be held financially liable for decisions they make. Directors, especially, are not trained in the financial field and do not possess the same level of knowledge of government regulations that Officers do. While Directors rarely get into trouble, the possibility does exist. Bob Mydans is exceptional when it comes to taking a complex

area of the law and making it understandable and interesting. This serious, hard-hitting session will examine the rarely addressed subject of Officer and Director liability. You’ll find this meeting essential if you’re new to the game—and even if you’re seasoned. You always need a review and an update in order to become a more effective Officer or Director. Among the discoveries you’ll make: 

• When you’re liable

• What you’re liable for

• What steps you, as an Officer or Director, can take to protect yourself

Management Override

You can have the best system of internal control, a diligent internal auditor, a crack supervisory committee and still have a huge hole in your financial reporting system, why?  Because key high level parties in your organization have the ability to control some if not all of the accounting and financial reporting processes at your credit union.  How can you control this exposure to insure that the financial information that you are making decisions on is reliable?  This session will assist you in determining if you have key exposure points and what you can do to control them.

State of the Industry

This session will help you excel at your duties by deepening your understanding of the hot issues you face today and how they can effect the decisions you make.  2008 was a year of unusual and unique changes, what can you learn from those changes and how do you apply them in 2009 to make your organization better will be the goal of this program.

How to build an Effective Supervisory Committee

In addition to learning how to recruit…and retain…committee members, you will find out how to strengthen your relationships with auditors and examiners. Other topics include the new and increasing role of the internal audit, successful outsourcing of various functions, development of goal specific charters and work programs.

10 Tough Questions for Volunteers 

Maybe this should be 100 tough questions for volunteers because they are out there.  The goal of this program will be to address those sole searching questions that no one wants to answer.  Is our CEO doing their job?  When should we consider a merger?  Why do I want to be a volunteer in an organization like this? 

The Challenges of Regulatory Compliance 

Compliance never ends and its easy to get buried in it.  How can a board stay on top of it and understand it without getting bogged down in the details.  There may not be a silver bullet, but there are key points you can focus on to stay on top of this elusive area. 

Accounting and Regulatory Update 

So many things are changing at such a fast pace how can you keep up?  This session is designed to address those current issues that may be occurring right now and bring you up to speed on how to handle them in your credit union. 

Allowance for Loan Losses 

A perennial topic that is always able to raise some eyebrows.  Do you have enough?  Do we have too much? How do we calculate it and do we calculate it correctly? So many questions, never enough time to answer them, but we will give it a shot.