Since 2009, CU*Answers has offered a tool to help credit unions complete the 5300 Call Report required quarterly by the NCUA. Data is automatically populated from the core system to lessen the amount of manual entry. The information can then be uploaded directly to the NCUA. Last year, selected edits were added to match errors that can occur on the NCUA site.

This is part of a concerted effort by CU*Answers to continue to improve compliance-related technology and to speed the movement of data and information from credit union to regulator. Compliance costs are a common complaint among credit unions, but the West Michigan-based CUSO has seen little done to combat those complaints. A CU*Answers representative noted, “Compliance technology isn’t the most attractive, but it’s necessary if we want to reduce costs, improve the examination experience, and get down to the business of serving our member-owners.”

Last month, three reports were improved in order to make it easier to obtain data for the Call Report. Since data is subject to change quarterly, it is an ongoing task to keep the tool up-to-date. Karen Sorensen, Call Report Project Coordinator stated, “We continually monitor the NCUA changes and look to credit unions for suggestions on improving the tool. Anything we can do to help with this tedious quarterly task is considered a good investment for the future of our credit unions.”