The NCUA Board received two briefings, finalized technical amendments to the agency’s regulations and issued a request for information on future examinations at its meeting Thursday. The board was also expected to vote on a risk-based net worth proposal, but NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood said the board pulled it from the agenda earlier this week.

Hood also announced that NCUA will not be resuming normal operations beginning on July 6, as previously planned.

Future examinations RFI

The request for information was issued to solicit feedback on alternative procedures to modernize the agency’s examination program, including aspects related to virtual examinations, as well as input on any unnecessary hurdles or burdens credit unions face with respect to their ability to leverage various technological advances.

According to NCUA, through modernization it intends to

• Reduce burden on credit unions and increase agency efficiency by reducing onsite examination time;
• Improve offsite supervision capabilities;
• Provide more consistency and standardization for the examination and supervision process;
• Improve communication between examiners, credit unions, and state supervisory authorities; and
• Explore and evaluate technology utilization and appetite for adoption.

The NCUA will accept comments on for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register.

NGN oversight briefing

One of the board briefings was on NCUA’s Guaranteed Notes oversight program. During the briefing staff announced a distribution to Southwest Corporate certificate holders equal to roughly 42% of $403.5 million of membership capital.

Affected credit unions will be notified of the amount and other payment details; the payout is planned for July. Staff added that US Central, Members United, and Constitution certificate holders may also receive distributions, but such distributions would not occur until sometime in 2021.

MDI credit union briefing

The board also received a briefing on the annual report on Minority Depository Institution credit unions. According to NCUA, 514 credit unions had the MDI designation in 2019 around 10% of all federal credit unions), meaning 50% of more of its board members, current members and eligible potential members, combined with current members, are minorities.

MDI credit unions served more than 3.9 million members and had assets of $40.5 billion.

During the conversation, board member J. Mark McWatters discussed the founding of the CU DEI Collective, of which CUNA is a founding organization, and recommended those listening to the meeting stream visit the collective’s website.

Additional analysis of the meeting can be found on CUNA’s Removing Barriers Blog.