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As health officials analyze reports of coronavirus cases as the flu season continues, NAFCU is encouraging credit unions to revisit or update their business continuity plans to ensure continuous operation of critical systems in case of a disaster or emergency. Last week, U.S. officials declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency.

In a new Compliance Blog post, NAFCU Regulatory Compliance Counsel Loran Jackson broke down NCUA guidance on pandemic preparedness and a Pandemic Planning guide developed by the agency in collaboration with other Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) member agencies.

"A credit union’s contingency or business continuity plan should account for the operation of critical systems and anticipate where the greatest need would be if the credit union lost access to employees, resources, or systems," wrote Jackson.

Jackson also pointed to the FFIEC's recently updated Business Continuity Management booklet, which focuses on business-wide approaches to ensure operations are not disrupted or can easily recover after a disaster.

For more, read Jackson's blog, members of the association's compliance team have published a number of blogs on the topic of business continuity planning and dealing with emergencies.

Additionally, The November/December 2019 edition of The NAFCU Journal  includes a feature on helping credit unions prepare contingency plans for all types of situations, including natural disasters, to mitigate losses and provide extreme member service during difficult times.

NAFCU also has a webinar, available on-demand, designed to teach credit unions about implementing a business continuity and crisis communication plan, and discuss key resources available to all federally-insured credit unions.

NAFCU will continue to support its members to ensure all have access to needed resources and tools.