The National Credit Union Administration is set to consider a rule on supplemental capital at its January 19 board meeting, according to an agenda released by the agency.
The move is likely to be cheered by credit unions and trade associations, which have long called for updated rulemaking from NCUA on this issue.
“NAFCU supports providing credit unions with more flexibility to meet capital requirements and has repeatedly advocated for legislation that would create a fair capital system providing, among other things, access to alternative capital for all credit unions, regardless of charter type,” the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions said in a statement.
Next week’s hearing could be the final board meeting in the chairman’s seat for NCUA Chairman Rick Metsger. His term does not expire until August, but Metsger is a Democrat and President-elect Donald Trump is widely expected to hand the reins of the agency over to Board Member Mark McWatters, a Republican.
If Metsger and McWatters do swap roles, there aren’t likely to be any major policy changes in the near future, he said, praising the pair’s “strong working relationship based on mutual trust and respect.”
“We have accomplished a lot together over the past eight months, and we can continue to do so,” he said. “It still takes two to tango, and regardless of who has the gavel, our commitment to working together on behalf of a sound and progressive credit union system remains the same.”
Even if he isn’t the chairman for much longer, Metsger has plenty of plans for the agency. He spoke recently as part of the Western States Summit Roundtable, and according to a transcript of some of his remarks provided by the agency, NCUA is “reevaluating the physical footprint of the agency to more efficiently serve a continually consolidating system.”
Last summer, Metsger ordered an evaluation on whether or not the space currently used for NCUA’s Region II office was still needed. That office, which deals with CUs in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, is based in Alexandria, Va. (where NCUA’s headquarters are also located) and is the agency’s most expensive lease on per-square-foot basis. By eliminating that office and moving staff across the street into NCUA’s main office, the regulator would save more than $5 million over the next ten years, said Metsger.
“More broadly, I believe we need to look at our entire deployment of personnel and assets to determine if the current structure still constitutes the best distribution of our personnel and physical assets or whether other alternatives can achieve the same result at a lower cost,” Metsger added. “For example, is a five-region structure plus an Office of National Examinations and Supervision for the largest credit unions still needed with a continually consolidating system? The number of large credit unions is expected to continue to grow. Are all five current regions needed if an increasing proportion of credit union assets are supervised and examined by the Office of National Examinations and Supervision? Would a four- or even three-region network design be more efficient and effective in the coming years?”
Metsger conceded that decreasing the number of regions will lead to increased travel –
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