NCUA Board Proposals Address CU-To-BankConversions

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - (07/01/05) At NCUA’s regular board meeting,the agency issued for comment a proposal to amend federal creditunion bylaws–some of which address concerns related to creditunion-to-bank conversions. “Two of the most important changesare intended to ensure that meetings and elections will beconducted openly and democratically, so that members have theability to exercise their rights as owners,” said NCUA BoardMember Debbie Matz. One provision would require any member’smotion to be recognized in an annual meeting or a specialmeeting–an issue that was called to NCUA’s attention bythe fact that Community CU, Plano, Texas, did not allow any motionsfrom the floor at its special meeting to vote on the $1.4-billionCU’s conversion to a bank charter. A second provision wouldrequire mail ballots for all members. Not all of the provisionshoned in on CU conversions; one, for example, would require each CUboard to establish a policy to provide for training of allvolunteers in such areas as fiduciary duties, ethics, regulatorycompliance and accounting.