A new white paper from the CUNA CFO Council looks at the riskscredit unions need to be aware of with third partyrelationships.

The paper discusses identifying key vendors and their risklevels, gathering information for due diligence reviews, conductinginitial and ongoing reviews, tracking and documenting and in-houseversus outsourced programs. The paper also includes considerationsfor those small credit unions with limited resources, along withfive case studies of credit unions with successful vendormanagement programs.

The CFO council said while the guidelines require review of allrelationships, the level of review for a particular vendor shoulddepend on the level of risk the relationship poses to the creditunion.

"Your due diligence process should thoroughly evaluate potentialthird parties before you enter relationships with them. It shouldalso include revisiting the partnerships on a regular basis soyou'll know if your partners can still provide the support youneed," the council wrote.

CUNA Council members can get a free copy of the white paperavailable in the white papersection at http://www.cunacouncils.org.Click on the "CFO" tab. Non-members pay $50.