Three negotiation mistakes that should scare you

You know the saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you?” This misguided sentiment often leads credit unions and community banks into DIY negotiations in which they believe they are well prepared to negotiate with vendors.  In reality, however, the institutions are setting themselves up to be robbed blind and get poor vendor performance for […]

Assessing inherent risk: The Maple Street way

What is inherent risk and how do you assign levels to risk to manage it for your institution?  With Maple Street’s approach, you’ll find assessing and ranking risk is less complicated than you may think.

How well do you know your vendor?

Your vendors are more essential for your success today than ever before. Vetting and onboarding the right vendor can be a complicated and daunting task. Here are some tips that can help you better understand your vendors.

We want to scorecard your vendor management program

Maple Street has negotiated vendor contracts for our credit union and community bank clients for 20 years and, for the last several, we’ve been encouraging a strategy we call “Relationship Contracting.”

Four reasons why outsourcing is in

As 2023 begins, credit unions and community banks are facing multiple challenges, including the looming threat of recession, interest rate uncertainty, cybersecurity concerns, and new supervisory priorities for your exam.  Many savvy institutions are turning to experts that have the people, tools, and technologies to help with compliance and beyond.