Last Friday, the Minnesota Credit Union Network held a special meeting to fill vacancies due to the retirement of Tom Smith, former CEO of TopLine Financial Credit Union. Dave Larson, Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union, was appointed to fill Smith’s position the MnCUN Board. The Board also appointed Mary Hansen, Mayo Employees Federal Credit Union, to serve as the MnCUN board representative on the Minnesota Credit Union Foundation Board of Directors. 

MnCUN's Board of Directors represent the interests of credit unions all of sizes and from all parts of the state. The Board works together with MnCUN’s President & CEO to ensure that all member credit unions receive high-quality service and that the interests of Minnesota credit unions are promoted both at the state and national level. 

​​​The Minnesota Credit Union Foundation (MnCUF) provides grants, community partnerships, professional development and disaster relief to help the state's credit unions and communities prosper and thrive.
 
Congratulations to Mary and Dave!

CFPB Guide Issued for 1071 Final Rule: The Agency recently issued a Small Entity Compliance Guide in addition to a dedicated webpage for the final rule pursuant to Dodd-Frank that requires credit unions to report data on lending applications by small businesses, including those owned by women and minorities. 

​Pump Provisions at Work: On May 17, the US Department of Labor issued guidance on ‘pump provisions at work’ of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) after the law passed in December 2022.

NCUA Proposed Amendment Charitable Donation Accounts: The NCUA Board (Board) is proposing to amend the charitable donation accounts (CDA) section of the NCUA's incidental powers regulation.

Debt Ceiling Negotiations Update: The U.S House is expected to vote today on the proposed debt ceiling agreement reached with the Biden administration. 

Commercial PACE Opportunity for Credit Unions: The Minnesota Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program provides an opportunity for business owners to upgrade energy efficiency of their properties and pay for those improvements with the resulting energy savings. Additionally, the security from the tax assessment encourages banks and credit unions to purchase PACE loans, which revolves the funds quicker.

Join the upcoming Board of Directors Peer-to-Peer (P2P) on Tuesday, July 25 starting at 3:30 p.m. in person. 

Kris Jacobsen, VP of Business Development and Becky Frederick, VP Compliance and Audit Consulting will be facilitating this peer-to-peer session for Directors. Topics will include: 

• balance sheet and income statements
• what’s most important on a call report
• governance best practices
• strategies for recruitment
• what it takes to be a highly effective board.

 
There will also be an open forum opportunity to yield discussion on what is most important and matters to you!

Date: Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Time: 3:30 PM - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Hiway Credit Union
840 Westminster St
Saint Paul, MN 55103

​Snacks and beverages will be provided.
Stay tuned for further announcements and updates!

For a list of all P2P sessions, visit our Peer-to-Peer (P2P) webpage. With questions, please contact Xiong Lee, Director of Engagement at [email protected].

Please join us for a webinar presentation featuring the Department of Commerce's collaboration with the U of M to conduct their Senior Program to protect older and vulnerable adults from fraud and other financial crimes. Statutory law topics will include Minnesota Statues Section 45A.06 and notice by credit unions of delayed disbursement/holding transactions of a vulnerable member's account. 

​Date: Friday, June 16 
Time: 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. 
Free to register
Presenters: Marty Fleischhacker from the Department of Commerce, Dr. Marti DeLiema from the U of M, followed by General Counsel Dan Le and Compliance Audit Consultant Becky Frederick. 

Please contact General Counsel, Dan Le or Xiong Lee, Director of Engagement [email protected] with any questions.

Please join the CREW for "Leaping into Leadership," a conversation with new leaders who came from peer roles into leadership roles. The spring session will be an open format conversation with our CREW young professionals and panelists. This event is meant to be an opportunity to meet and share with one another. The open session and forum will conclude with time to discuss questions with participants. 

This event will be made only via webinar/conference call. Webinar and call-in instructions, along with session materials and resources, will be provided to registered attendees.

​Date: Wednesday, June 14
Time: 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Free to register!

For a list of all P2P sessions, visit our Peer-to-Peer (P2P) webpage. With questions, please contact Xiong Lee, Director of Engagement at [email protected].

Vendor due diligence takes up a lot of time, especially if you're performing the same level of due diligence for every vendor. A more effective and less time-consuming approach is only doing the due diligence appropriate for the particular level of risk that vendor brings, such as treating a high-risk vendor differently than a low-risk vendor or a non-critical vendor differently than a critical vendor. 

As part of this risk-based due diligence approach, your credit union should define the types, amounts and frequencies of due diligence for the various scenarios. This infographic and matrix explain the steps involved in risk-based vendor due diligence, examples and frequency guidelines to help you out.

Download the infographic and matrix to learn:

• Risk-based vendor due diligence basics and importance
• Seven steps of implementing risk-based vendor due diligence with examples
• Suggested frequency of due diligence reviews based on vendors' critical/non-critical status and risk level

This article is provided by Venminder through the Minnesota Credit Union Network's relationship with CUNA Strategic Services.

The 2023 Minnesota legislative session ended yesterday and there were many bills that Minnesota Credit Union Network staff were following and working on through the course of the session. 

The Minnesota Credit Union Network is pleased to welcome Ashley Fish, Virginia Co-op CU, as the incoming CREW Ambassador. Ashley has been in the financial industry for almost 13 years.

​She is passionate about the credit union movement and loves spreading the word about how awesome credit unions are. She is married with a 4-year-old daughter and 10-year-old stepdaughter.

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To enhance leadership opportunities, starting in 2023 the CREW will have two Ambassadors serving the group and each will serve for two years: the first year in the traditional Ambassador role, and the second year assisting and mentoring the new Ambassador. Abbie White, our 2022 Ambassador and Corporate Partnerships with Wings Financial Credit Union will be staying on as our Emeritus Ambassador for 2023; and Ashley will join her. Next year, Ashley will become the Emeritus Ambassador, mentoring a new Ambassador for 2024.

For more information, visit the CREW page.