Matz Not Expecting New NCUA Board Member Soon

The timeline for filling the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) board vacancy created by board member Gigi Hyland's pending departure is up to the White House and U.S. Congress, and the position likely will not be filled in the near future, NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz said Thursday.

Matz spoke during an NCUA Town Hall webinar.

Regulatory issues were also discussed during the webinar. NCUA Director of Examinations and Insurance Larry Fazio announced that the agency's call report forms are being revised to include information on how credit unions can appeal examiner directives or other pronouncements. The Credit Union National Association has encouraged the NCUA to make this call report change.

Agency staff said the NCUA's guide for its examiners is being updated, and a revised version of that guide will be made public once those revisions are complete. The agency's national supervision policy manual should also be released soon. However, portions of the manual that are not for public release must be redacted first, NCUA staff said.

The NCUA staffers stressed that the examiners guide is not meant to serve as a series of hard and fast rules, but, rather, should be viewed as a set of guidelines for examiners. However, the policy manual is a more strict set of standards that governs how examiners should proceed once their exams are complete, they said.

The NCUA's supervisory regions, which govern which examiners and supervisors oversee credit union activities, may be restructured, NCUA staff added. The agency is considering moving Nevada, which is currently in Region 1, into Region 5. California will continue to be managed out of Region 2, as the agency is lacking examiners with the experience needed to supervise large credit unions in other regions. Both Region 1 and Region 2 feature primarily east coast-based states.

Matz also discussed more general NCUA regulatory issues, saying that the agency is going to continue to review credit union regulations to ensure they stand the test of time and they are responsive to the risks the agency sees in credit union portfolios. The NCUA will also be responsive to credit union burdens as it moves forward, she said.

Credit union regulatory burdens have also been a topic of conversation in the agency's work with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Matz said. She noted that the agency has spoken up for credit unions when potential CFPB actions could create burdens.

The CFPB does not always have a great deal of flexibility, due to the congressionally mandated nature of some of its work and timelines. However, CFPB officials are sensitive to the needs of credit unions, and the NCUA and CFPB have a close working relationship. Matz said the NCUA works hard to convey how credit unions will be impacted by CFPB actions.

The NCUA webinar also revealed that:

• A supervisory letter on member business lending blanket waivers is being developed;
• The expected range of National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund assessments and corporate stabilization assessments for 2013 will be released at the agency's November open board meeting;
• Agency staff continue to look at derivatives authority regulations, and could bring a proposal forward, at the NCUA board's request; and
• NCUA staff consult with state regulators before they issue regulations that also impact state-chartered credit unions.

The webinar also covered state-to-federal credit union charter conversions, recently proposed emergency liquidity regulations, the overall performance of the credit union industry, the NCUA's low-income credit union eligibility and regulatory modernization initiatives, corporate credit union issues, and recently finalized and proposed rules.