ALEXANDRIA, Va. In addition to announcing an eight basis point assessment for credit unions to fund the cost of the failed corporates, at its meeting yesterday the NCUA Board unveiled a new budget and discussed the status of several initiatives.
The highlights of the meeting:
* It approved a revised and reprogrammed operating budget that it said will reduce the agency’s overall expenditures for the remainder of 2013 by $2.6-million. “Savings this year will offset credit union fees for NCUA’s 2014 operating budget,” said Chairman Debbie Matz. NCUA’s revised budget will be $248.8 million for 2013. A net decrease of $6.3 million in employee pay and benefits produced the largest savings, followed by a reduction in travel expenses of $198,500. The revised budget includes a one-time, performance-based, lump-sum payment to eligible employees to comply with federal law requiring comparability in compensation and benefits among federal banking regulators, NCUA said.
* The board voted to take steps to preserve minority credit unions. It issued for comment a proposed Interpretive Ruling and Policy Statement providing the basis for creating a Minority Depository Institution Preservation Program. The program’s objectives would include preserving current minority credit unions and encouraging new ones; providing technical assistance, training and educational programs; and, preserving the minority character of the credit unions in cases of merger or acquisition. NCUA’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion will administer the program using existing budget resources.
* All federally insured credit unions would be required to file financial, statistical and other reports and profiles electronically under a proposed rule (Parts 741 and 748) approved by the board. As of March 31, 2013, only 59 of 6,753 federally insured credit unions filed documents manually. All the manual filers had assets of $21 million or less. NCUA’s Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives will continue to work with the manual filers to secure the laptops and e-mail addresses needed to complete electronic filings.
* NCUA said it ended the second quarter of 2013 with Q2 net income of $103.2 million and an equity ratio of 1.31%. The equity ratio is calculated on the June 30, 2013 estimated insured base of $876.1 billion and reflects the additional 1% deposit that will be billed in September, NCUA said.
* NCUA said the Share Insurance Fund’s investment and other income was $50.7 million for the second quarter, and operating expenses were $35.8 million. The provision of insurance losses showed an expense reduction of $88.3 million. The Share Insurance Fund’s net position remained relatively unchanged from the previous quarter.
