Pub. 6 2016-2017 Issue 6

12 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G C O L O R A D A N S R E A L I Z E D R E A M S Pioneering the platform Theendresult is thebanking industry’s firstTestingManagement System(TMS)— called Compliance Today. The web-based platform offers bankers a revolutionary method for managing the compliance knowledge of their workforce in today’s digital age. Harrington is no newcomer to the financial services industry. A highly sought-after strategic planner, he has spent the last 15 yearsworkingwithbanks across thenation tohelp themfindways to sustain growth. At every single institution, regulatory compliance sits near the top of the list as a major strategic issue that banks must be able to consistently manage – but that constantly leaves them feeling behind the eight ball in terms of cost and confidence. That’s why Harrington began to lever- age his team, which works with high-tech clients like Microsoft and Adobe, to de- velop an economical and scalable solution that would give banks confidence and direction in their compliance training. The mantra for the team is “Help them figure out what they don’t know.” Harrington’s team refers to their plat- form as, “A testing management system built for today’s world.” It’s a phrase that was birthed froma vision to deliver a fully modernizedsystemtoan industry encum- bered by paper envelopes, stacks of files and fax machines. Faster, more powerful and more insightful – that’s the promise of Compliance Today. Compliance officer pain points We all know too well that managing federalmandates has become a particular pain point for compliance officers since the Banking Secrecy Act. Last year, for example, several bigandsome small banks generated headlines when they were hit with large civil money penalties, ranging from more than $2 billion for a large in- terstate bank to $4,500 for an individual bank officer. Of course, with new administration comes new hope for regulatory relief. With the election of President Trump and Republican majorities in the House and Senate, unravelling Dodd-Frank has moved from “wish list” item for banks to “potential political reality.” Even with the hope of deregulation on thehorizon, the reality is that those efforts will require extremely careful planning and implementation – and we will still have significant regulatory constraints. Banks will continue to operate in a regu- latedenvironment thatwill placedemands on employees at all levels to consistently operate within the lines. Some of the key compliance areas on which the tests will focus include: BSA, FairLending, Privacy,RegulationCC,Reg - ulationD, Flood,RegulationO,Regulation E, RESPA, Regulation Z, and UDAAP. With that in mind, Compliance Today is posed to be a game changer for banks in three major areas. The first is the ability to verify that employees understand and canapplynecessarycompliance standards every time. Unlike the traditional “test and train” model, this testing platform gives you an unbiasedperspectiveonyour staff’sunder - standingof eachpieceof critical regulation that applies to their area of the bank. By aligning your banks’ insights into employee knowledge with federal regulation standards, banks will be able to rest easy knowing that their talent is operating under federal guidelines with the customers’ best interests at the top of mind. Even better – it does all of that with lightning quick speed and intuitive user interfaces that make taking the test and evaluating the results simple but incredibly effective. Second, when it comes to auditing, the reports generated by the Com- pliance Today platform will improve compliance audits and ongoing person- nel development. The platform allows banks to set the bar for its employees, test their knowledge, discover areas for improvement and produce individual, department and bank-wide independent compliance reports. On top of that, when gaps are identified, the platform will suggest relevant learning resources to ensure your organization is a leader in compliance. Finally, the platform gives banks the opportunity to assess the effectiveness of compliance education efforts, along with the ability to review your own bank’s performance in comparison to aggregated data from hundreds of other banks. Create independent reports For the first time, banks can have instant, independent reports that show you how well your compliance education is delivering on a day-to-day basis. That doesn’t mean your bank’s data is ever shared with other institutions; instead, the system provides you anonymized, da- ta-drive benchmarking to help you tailor your compliance training efforts so that your bank never falls behind the pack. Perhaps thebiggest valuepointofCom- plianceToday is that theplatformrequires no previous knowledge to set up or use. An administrator at the bank can simply add, manage and assign users to tests, send emails, review scores and analytics, make payments and even submit course feedbackall fromone convenient location. Fromthemoment the platformis live, you’ll have independent reports generat- ed for your employees and at aggregate levels that can be shown to examiners. Administrators don’t have to build from scratch or work through complex data sets; they can add, change and revise as needed in moments. These tests are written by former examiners. They are reviewed by com- pliance attorneys and former examiners. The administrative features allow you to get the tests you need directly to the right employees; results and reporting are automatic. The tests offer a clean and ele - gant interface; easy to use with very little clutter. You simply buy what you need; no subscriptions or ongoing charges. Regulation isn’t getting easier for our banking clients. It’s requiring more edu- cationat every level andeverydepartment andregulatorsaredemandingproofpoints that what banks are doing is actually hav- ingan impact. That creates a lot of concern about cost and scale with no clear answer. “I don’t think there is anything like Compliance Today in the United States, so, once again, we are at the forefront of helping bankers with their compliance needs,” said Don Childears, President & CEOof theColoradoBankersAssociation. Be on the lookout for additional in- formation about Compliance Today and how to sign up. Jackson Hataway, Ph.D., a senior consultant at Extreme Arts & Sciences who works heavily in the financial services industry.