WASHINGTON - NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson who may or may not be heading the federal agency much longer, said last week she wants to be remembered as the transparency chairman.
That is, the outgoing NCUA Chief said she wants her efforts to bring greater transparency to both credit unions and the federal agency as her main legacy.
“I hope that all credit union boards will view transparency as fulfillment of a contract on behalf of their members, members who not only cooperatively own the institution but who place their trust in the board,” Johnson said during her remarks to attendees of CUNA’s Government Affairs Conference.
She cited efforts to bring greater openness to credit union recordkeeping and books, especially when it comes to the conversion of credit unions to mutual savings banks; greater access to executive compensation, including during mergers; and more openness to NCUA spending.
“I have aspired to make transparency the best vehicle for ensuring credit union members have access to accurate information on which to base their decisions,” said Johnson.
“NCUA is not in the business of making decisions for the members, but to provide the opportunity for members to make informed decisions. And NCUA is not in the business of dictating management decisions for credit unions, only to ensure decisions are made with members’ best interests at heart,” Johnson continued.
She acknowledged that the term transparency has become somewhat of a buzzword, but insisted that informed members are the best way to ensure credit union democracy. “Credit union boards have both the legal and moral responsibility to ensure that members have information at their disposal,” said the NCUA chairman.
Johnson and NCUA were spurred to act on their transparency agenda by the growing number of instances in which credit union boards and management manipulated the resources of their institutions to push through efforts to convert to mutual savings banks. While NCUA was reluctant to intervene in those cases, Johnson noted that the courts refused to enforce established credit union bylaws that would have opened the process to the member/owners of those credit unions.
Johnson is finishing her sixth year at NCUA and is waiting for the Senate to confirm a successor nominated by President Bush, Michael Fryzel of Chicago.
However, even though Johnson’s term on the three-member NCUA Board has expired, it is not clear the Democrat-controlled Senate will confirm the Republican nominee, possible leaving the Iowa Republican in the post for the foreseeable future.
