WASHINGTON (7/27/15)--National Credit Union Administration Chair Debbie Matz sent clarification Friday on comments made during a subcommittee hearing that seemed to indicate a lack of faith in credit union leadership.

Matz said she did not intend her comments to come across that way, and apologized.

“I appreciate that NCUA Chair Debbie Matz reached out to me...and I wanted to share her statement,” said Jim Nussle, CUNA president/CEO. He said the NCUA chairman stated that her comments have been construed by some as a lack of faith in credit union leadership, which "is not at all what I intended, nor what I believe, and for that I apologize.'"

In a statement Friday, Matz said that she has a “deep belief in the importance of member-owned credit unions offering affordable services to 100 million Americans.”

Matz made her original remarks during her testimony before the U.S. House Financial Services subcommittee on financial services and consumer credit Thursday. She pointed out her remarks were meant to address the NCUA budget process and calls for reductions in expenditures.

“During my testimony in Congress yesterday ... I made the point that undermining the ability of this agency to protect the savings that 100 million Americans have trusted to the 6,206 credit unions NCUA insures could end up costing those members if we are hit with another financial crisis,” Matz said in a statement. “I consider cutting budgets and staff in the current environment, in which we face a multitude of risks, a penny-wise-pound-foolish approach.”