PART 749—VITAL RECORDS PRESERVATION PROGRAM

Chapter VII—National Credit Union Administration › Subchapter A—Regulations Affecting Credit Unions

§ 749.0 Purpose and scope.

(a) This part describes the obligations of a federally insured credit union to maintain a vital records preservation program to identify, store, and reconstruct vital records in the event such records are destroyed.

(b) This part does not supersede records preservation requirements that may apply to a credit union pursuant to other law or regulation.

§ 749.1 Definitions.

For purposes of this part:

Vital member services are the essential financial services that a credit union provides to its members, such as member access to their accounts, share withdrawal and deposit facilities, and loan payments and disbursements.

Vital records are the most recent and current versions of the records a credit union needs to restore vital member services. These records are:

(1) A list of share, deposit, and loan balances for each member's account as of the close of the most recent business day that:

(i) Shows each balance individually identified by a name or number,

(ii) Lists multiple loans of one account separately, and

(iii) Contains information sufficient to enable the credit union to locate each member, such as address and telephone number.

(2) A financial report, which lists all of the credit union's asset and liability accounts, current as of the most recent month-end.

(3) Bank reconcilements, current as of the most recent month-end.

(4) A list of the credit union's accounts at financial institutions, insurance policies, and investments along with related contact information, current as of the most recent month-end.

(5) Emergency contact information for employees, officials, regulatory offices, and vendors used to support vital records.

(6) A credit union may classify additional records as vital and maintain older versions of any vital records as it determines necessary.

Vital records center is a storage facility, which may include another federally insured credit union, at any location far enough from the credit union's offices to avoid the simultaneous loss of both sets of records in the event of a catastrophic act.

§ 749.2 Vital records preservation program.

(a) The board of directors of a credit union is responsible for establishing a vital records preservation program within six months of its insurance certificate being issued. The program must be in writing and contain procedures for maintaining duplicate vital records at a vital records center. The procedures must include:

(1) Designated staff responsible for vital records preservation,

(2) A schedule for the storage and destruction of vital records, and

(3) A records preservation log as determined by the credit union that will aid in locating and easily accessing the vital records. The log may be in electronic or any other format as determined by the credit union.

(b) A credit union that has some or all of its vital records maintained by an off-site data processor is considered to be in compliance for the storage of those records if the service agreement specifies the data processor safeguards against the simultaneous destruction of production and back-up information.

(c) Unless required by other law or regulation, older versions of vital records may be destroyed once their current versions are stored.

§ 749.3 Vital records center and third-party service providers.

A credit union must maintain, or contract with a third-party service provider to maintain, any equipment or software for its vital records center necessary for the credit union to access its records. If a credit union contracts with a third-party service provider to maintain its records, the credit union must maintain effective oversight of the third-party service provider to ensure the records meet the requirements of this section.

§ 749.4 Format for vital records preservation.

Preserved vital records may be in any format that can be used to reconstruct the credit union's vital records. The format used must accurately reflect the information in the record, remain accessible to all persons entitled to access by statute, regulation, or rule of law, and be capable of reproduction by transmission, printing, or otherwise.

§ 749.5 Format for records required by other NCUA regulations.

Where NCUA regulations require a credit union to retain certain writings, records, or information, the credit union may use any format that accurately reflects the information in the record, is accessible to all persons entitled to access by statute, regulation, or rule of law, and is capable of being reproduced by transmission, printing, or otherwise. The credit union must maintain the necessary equipment or software to permit an examiner to access the records during the examination process.