Development Best Practices in Credit Union Supervision: Code of Conduct/Conflict of Interest

This paper sets down operational guidelines to ensure that the credit union interests supercede the personal interests of the employees, thus avoiding conflict of interests. It proposes that the:

• Board of Directors should draft a code of conduct statement for employees;
• Employees should read, date and sign the code of conduct statement annually;
• The code of conduct policy should cover the following information:
  • A statement that outlines what is expected of the employees;
  • Purpose and objectives of the policy;
  • Clear statement of authorized/unauthorized activities by employees such as prohibition of employees from soliciting, offering, promising or accepting anything of value in connection with any transaction or business by the credit union.
• The policy should be reviewed and revised as needed, no less than annually;
• The supervisory committee of the union should follow up deviations from the policy and report to the Board of Directors.

Finally, the paper gives a sample code of conduct statement for credit union employees.