Strip club scandal, charges of partisanship add to NCUA's rough year

It's been a tumultuous year for the National Credit Union Administration. The regulator has been criticized over its decision to sell a portfolio of taxi medallion loans to an investment firm while an Office of the Inspector General report alleged that two former employees drank alcohol and visited strip clubs during work hours. On top of that, NCUA had to deal with longstanding concerns, such as the implementation of the Current Expected Credit Losses standard.

Here are some of the most read stories of 2020 from the Credit Union Journal involving NCUA.

Drinks, drugs and strip clubs at the center of NCUA internal report

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The credit union regulator’s Office of the Inspector General outlined two former employees’ alleged carousing during work hours, the second high-profile scandal to hit the agency in just over a year.

(Full story here.)

NCUA places Southern Pine Credit Union into conservatorship

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The regulator cited "unsafe and unsound practices" at the Georgia-based institution, which reported that first-quarter charge-offs were up nearly threefold from a year earlier.

(Full story here.)

What’s next for credit union membership rule?

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On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for two similar cases, and in both cases parties challenged the doctrine of Chevron deference, in which federal courts defer to an agency's interpretation of ambiguous statutes.
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The industry claimed victory over banks as the Supreme Court elected not to hear a challenge to a controversial 2016 rule, but the landscape has shifted dramatically since NCUA approved the measure.

(Full story here.)

NCUA to pay $171M to stakeholders of failed corporate credit union

NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood, pictured during virtual testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in 2020.
Nearly 900 institutions were expected to receive a payout related to the demise of Southwest Corporate FCU, but the agency could ultimately return as much as $2.5 billion tied to the corporate credit union failures of 2009 and 2010.

(Full story here.)

How Trump's latest nominee could reshape the NCUA board

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Kyle Hauptman, who was nominated to fill the seat held by Mark McWatters, is a staunch opponent of the Dodd-Frank Act. That could mean more policy clashes on the board.

(Full story here.)

NCUA is a bipartisan agency. It's time it acted like one.

Mark McWatters, former chairman of the National Credit Union Administration.
The credit union regulator can accomplish so much more when board members work in a good-faith, fair-minded manner.

(Full story here.)

In Senate hearing, NCUA nominee forced to defend credentials

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Kyle Hauptman pledged to focus on capital reform and expanding access for the underserved if confirmed to the credit union regulator's board, but one senator questioned whether the nominee was even qualified to serve.

(Full story here.)

Community banks call on Congress to rein in credit union regulator

Rebeca Romero Rainey, chairman and CEO of Centinel Bank
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The Independent Community Bankers of America would not rule out legal action if Congress doesn't address the National Credit Union Administration's recent decision expanding the low-income designation.

(Full story here.)

NCUA takes steps to blunt CECL's immediate impact on credit unions

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The regulator approved a proposal that mirrors a rule banking regulators implemented in February 2019 to cushion the Current Expected Credit Losses standard's impact on capital levels.

(Full story here.)

After 18-month process, NCUA sells taxi medallion loan portfolio

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The credit union regulator had amassed the loans following the liquidation of several New York-area credit unions with high concentrations of taxi medallion loans.

(Full story here.)
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