WASHINGTON Richard Metsger, the nominee for the NCUA Board, told the Senate Banking Committee this morning if confirmed by the full Senate he will be committed to reviewing the growing list of existing NCUA rules and regulations with a goal of “updating, simplifying, eliminating and clarifying” them.
“My credit union policy background has only strengthened my ability to critically examine and thoughtfully consider the arguments of all stakeholders before deciding on any regulatory course of action,” said Metsger, a former director at OnPoint CU, Oregon’s biggest credit union, and an ex-state senator who once chaired the Senate’s Finance Committee.
Metsger, owner of Parakletos Strategic Public Affairs LL in Portland, told the Senate panel he first joined then-Portland Teachers CU when he was 19 in order to obtain a $350 loan to buy his first car. He eventually served eight years on the board of the now-$3 billion credit union known as OnPoint.
But Metsger, a former anchorman on local TV, said he recognizes the diversity among credit unions, as he was also a member of one of the state’s smallest credit unions. “A large portion of our nation is dominated by small communities that rely on the services of equally small credit unions and community banks as their lifeblood,” he stated, promising to acknowledge that diversity in NCUA rulemaking.
The 61-year-old NCUA nominee avoided endorsing the proposal to increase the member business loan cap, telling Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., one of the sponsors of the MBL bill, he would defer to Congress on the issue.
Metsger was appearing alongside several other presidential nominees to financial services positions, including North Carolina Congressman Mel Watt, who has been nominated to head the Federal Housing Finance Authority, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; Jason Furman to be a Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; and Kara Stein and Michael Piwowar to be members of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Banking Committee is expected to endorse Metsger’s nomination to the full Senate. But confirmation by the full Senate is anything but certain as Republicans continue to slow and even block President Obama’s nominations. In fact, Idaho Republican Mike Crapo, the top Republican on the banking committee, expressed opposition at the outset of this morning’s hearing to Watt’s nomination to head the Fannie and Freddie regulator.
If confirmed Metsger would serve out a six-year term on the three-person NCUA Board. A second vacancy on the NCUA Board will emerge in August when Michael Fryzel’s six-year term expires.
