Pub. 4 2014-2015 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 thousand of these documents available to its members. “With new regulations we have to come up with new products,” Daugherty says. “We started out with no tools and resources in 2011 and we now have over 1,000.” Most of the tools Compliance Alliance has created have been at the request of its clients at no additional charge. One of the most important services they provide is answering the compliance questions of bankers from all over the country. Daugherty says his staff has been answering a whopping 500 questions a week via the phone, chat or email so far in 2015. “We do this all at a flat fee so it’s easier for banks to plan their budgets,” Daugherty says. Compliance Alliance offers products and services that its competitors either charge extra for or simply don’t offer at all. Compliance Alliance monitors all the federal regulators closely, starting in the proposal stage. Their growth has allowed them to build relationships with state banking executives all across the country who are tapped into the industry. These relationships have proved fruitful when Compliance Alliance gets a tip about potential new regulations they can get a leg up on. How has Compliance Alliance been received? Matthew DeWolf, an executive vice president with the Michigan Bankers Association, says Compliance Alliance has been very well received by its member banks. MBA even involves Compliance Alliance in its compliance schools. MBA was searching for a service like Compliance Alliance before it even existed. “There was a significant need for it within our state,” DeWolf says. They were the third state bankers association to sign on. Twenty-six Michigan banks are members of Compliance Alliance. DeWolf says the first Michigan bank to sign on had an asset size of $50 million and the next had an asset size of $6 billion; this proves banks of varying sizes see the value in what Compliance Alliance offers. “This is something that bankers associations should be doing for their members,” DeWolf says. “The fact that we can all scale something together to make it affordable, and Texas took the lead on this, it’s a great thing.” The New Hampshire Bankers Association has been involved with Compliance Alliance for three years. Sandra Tracy, a senior vice president and chief operating officer with NHBA, says Compliance Alliance has really spread rapidly by word of mouth. The timely response to compliance hotline questions seems to be a popular feature with Compliance Alliance users. Sandra Burgel, compliance officer at The Henry County Bank, uses email to get her questions answered by Compliance Alliance’s staff. “It’s “We have a monthly compliance committee meeting and everyone seems to be pleased with [Compliance Alliance],” Tracy says. “They really like the response time — they either get someone live right away with an answer or someone gets back to them in a timely manner.”