WASHINGTON – NCUA Chair Deborah Matz told credit union executives and directors yesterday she plans to bring a greater focus to the credit union regulator or consumer protection and protecting members from predatory lending practices.
Matz, in addressing NAFCU’s annual Congressional Caucus, said she will see that NCUA dedicates more attention to this priority than in the past.
Her pledge comes as Congress is planning to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would oversee the products and services offered by credit unions, banks, insurers and others in the financial marketplace. NCUA has been trying to stay out of the purview of the proposed agency by telling Congress it should be allowed to have its own consumer protection office.
The new NCUA Chair said her main focus over the coming months will be on restructuring the troubled corporate credit union system. "We need to think about the appropriate role is for corporate credit unions and its effect on natural person credit unions," said Matz.
Of the failure of the two biggest corporates, U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU, she quoted a comment letter submitted to NCUA on the proposed restructuring, "There are many culprits, but the status quo is unacceptable," said Matz.
Matz also laid out several other priorities: ensuring NCUA is a fair and effective regulator; setting well-defined parameters for community chartering; ensuring that credit unions serve all segments of their fields of membership; ensuring that NCUA listens and encourages the exchange of ideas with credit unions; making sure NCUA is a good place to work and making sure NCUA does its best to be environmentally conscious.
