ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Fourteen federally insured credit unions subject to civil monetary penalties for filing late Call Reports have consented to penalties, NCUA said Wednesday.
The late filers will pay a total of $3,491 in penalties, the regulator said. Individual penalties ranged from $100 to $576. The median penalty was $185. The Federal Credit Union Act requires NCUA to send any funds received through civil monetary penalties to the U.S. Treasury.
A list of credit unions filing late in the second quarter and agreeing to pay civil monetary penalties is available online
In Q2 2014, 44 credit unions consented to penalties. In Q1 2015, 15 CUs paid penalties for late filing.
No credit unions with assets greater than $250 million filed late in the second quarter. One of the late-filing credit unions had been late in a previous quarter.
A total of 28 credit unions filed Call Reports late for the second quarter of 2015. NCUA consulted regional offices and, when appropriate, state supervisory authorities to review each case. This review determined mitigating circumstances in six cases that led to credit unions not being penalized, the regulator said.
NCUA informed the remaining 22 credit unions of the penalties they faced and advised them they could reduce their penalties by signing a consent agreement. NCUA also said it would initiate administrative hearings against credit unions that did not consent. NCUA subsequently granted waivers to eight of those credit unions.
According to NCUA, the assessment of penalties primarily rests on three factors: the credit union’s asset size, its recent Call Report filing history and the length of the delay. Of the 14 credit unions agreeing to pay penalties for the second quarter:
- Eleven had assets of less than $10 million;
- Two had assets between $10 million and $50 million; and
- One had assets between $50 million and $250 million.
NCUA said it sends reminder messages about Call Report filing deadlines that include information on how to receive technical support to handle filing problems. The agency also has created an automated reminder email system that contacts credit unions that have not filed their Call Reports and confirms successful filing.
“NCUA still needs full compliance with timely Call Report filing,” NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz said in a statement. “The goal is in sight. I encourage credit unions having difficulties meeting the quarterly deadline to take advantage of the assistance NCUA offers.”
The agency first started warning about potential late fees early in 2014, letting credit unions know it would begin fining late filers after the April 25, 2014. The regulator said late filing impacts its ability to conduct off-site supervision, delays the release of quarterly industry data and is a drain on agency resources.
At that time, Matz said late filing of quarterly call report and profile data had become “a serious problem,” noting that more than 1,000 federally insured credit unions filed their 2013 third-quarter reports late. Since NCUA first started fining credit unions for filing late, the number of late filers has quickly decreased.
