CanadaNews’ Reporter Notes

Credit Unions are battling right before the Memorial Day Weekend.

The NAFCU (National Association of Federal Credit Union) organization is in opposition to NCUA’s (National Credit Union Administration) data collection recommendation.

Yesterday, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board announced that they are scheduled to consider its Outreach Task Force’s (OTF) recommendations on data collection of membership profiles and services at its open meeting.

NCUA Board Member and Chairman of the OTF Gigi Hyland believe the recommendations are fair and positive towards the public.

“The Outreach Task Force Report identified serious, specific recommendations to demonstrate how federal credit unions serve their members consistent with the purpose set forth in the preamble to the Federal Credit Union Act,” said Board Member Hyland, who chaired the Outreach Task Force. “The recommendations on data collection considered and approved by the Board today will create a robust database to demonstrate how federal credit unions serve all their members within their unique fields of membership.”

The report makes 12 recommendations to the NCUA Board in four areas: membership profile and financial services; senior executive officer compensation; low-income definition; and outreach.

The NAFCU stands against the NCUA because it is believed the OTF recommendations will inappropriately place credit unions within a Community Reinvestment Act-like reporting mode. With this setting, there are no congressional mandates. This ideology was brought up before on Capitol Hill and was soundly rejected by elected officials during the 1998 consideration of H.R. 1151, the Credit Union Membership Access Act.

Along with the NAFCU, the CUNA (Credit Union National Association) has also raised a number of concerns about the data collection. Credit unions nationwide are filled with anxiety in reference to how NCUA would treat the information, according to Mary Dunn, CUNA deputy general counsel.

In talking with residents in Washington, DC, the majority believe no reason why CUNA would need to collect data on federal credit unions’ member income levels and financial services.

“I am a member of a credit union. They treat me better than a bank would. I’ve had two loans with my CU and they have been great. Now if they are getting my information and storing it somewhere, for what seems to be prejudicial reasons, it makes me second-guess things,” said one person.

Another responded, “Credit unions care about the community.  They just want to do the best for us.  I am in support of NCUA.”

The NCUA is not alone in the industry either. The National Association of State Credit Union Superviours (NASCUS) supports the report. They agree with Hyland, when she says the report appears to be a thorough examination of the assessments and recommendations from its Member Services Assessment Pilot Program. NASCUS President and CEO Mary Martha Fortney remarked, “NASCUS appreciates the OTF’s extensive research and proactive efforts to meet and dialogue with the credit union community throughout the project.”

Fred Becker, NAFCU’s president, strongly reiterated his company’s opposition to NCUA’s OTF recommendation. In a press release issued by NAFCU he was commented by calling for continued data collection for federal credit unions.

Furthermore, CUNA also has opposed the ability of examiners to micromanage credit unions with the data and has seriously questioned why NCUA must pursue the recommendations during this period of economic and regulatory uncertainty,

NCUA’s board also will consider a proposal regarding the addition of underserved areas for multiple group credit unions. The rule was changed in 2006.

Immediately after the meeting, CUNA President/CEO Dan Mica is expected to send a summary of the board’s action to NewsWatch readers.

The Outreach Task Force was established to review the recommendations from the Member Service Assessment Pilot Program (MSAP) and advise the NCUA Board based upon these findings. The Task Force is comprised of NCUA staff members. The Los Angeles meeting will be the fourth of six scheduled meetings.

Los Angeles will be the site for the next meeting. The meeting is scheduled for July 16. There have been three previous meeting that were held in Cincinnati, OH; Boston, MA; and New Orleans, LA. NUCA says the meetings encourage active participation from the credit union community by assigning attendees to tables for discussion regarding a variety of topics. Each table records their ideas and responses to be synthesized and reported to the entire audience, who also are able to discuss each question with the attendees. The topics addressed during the meetings include: NCUA programs and processes to encourage outreach to underserved communities; value of low-income designation; data collection on member income; and data collection on executive compensation.

On August 15, 2008, the NCUA’s Outreach Task Force will have a “Town Hall” meeting in Denver, Colorado. If you are interested in attending, please register here: http://www.ncua.gov/TH-Outreach/Index.htm

The measure was approved 2-1. NCUA Board Chairman JoAnn Johnson and Gigi Hyland voted in favour for approval of the report; while Board member Rodney Hood opposed it.

A summary of the report’s recommendations follows:

Membership Profile and Financial Services
• Collect FCU membership profile data through AIRES examination process.
• Collect financial services data on the 5300 Call Report.
• Publish aggregate data on financial services and membership profile in a NCUA publication.

Senior Executive Officer (SEO) Compensation
• Use AIRES to collect SEO information for FCUs and federally chartered corporate and publish the aggregate data in a NCUA publication.
• Promulgate a regulation requiring FCUs and federally chartered corporates to disclose SEO compensation annually to their members.

Low-Income Definition
• Revise NCUA Regulations to replace Median Household Income (MHI) with Median Family Income (MFI) as one of the standards for qualifying as low-income.
• Include a grandfather provision of five years to allow transition time for credit unions to meet the new standard.

Outreach
• Expand outreach programs and emphasize regional involvement to include more federally insured credit unions that serve or have the ability to serve members of low or moderate income.
• Improve oversight of Community Development Revolving Loan Fund.

To view the report, click here.