NCUA Tries Again to Define ‘Local Community’

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA Board yesterday issued for comment a proposal to clarify its community chartering rules, which were muddled in March when the Board was forced to reject a request by Del-One FCU to serve the entire state of Delaware, even though the state's 800,000 residents are far fewer than many community charters approved by NCUA. The new proposal would require for broader, vague areas that a federal credit union demonstrate the proposed community is part of a 'core-based statistical area' used by the White House Office of Management and Budget, of at least 10,000 people:; and that the area contain a dominant city, county or equivalent containing a majority of the jobs in the CBSA. The attempt at redefining community parameters comes as the number of federal credit union with community charters has soared over the past decade from 8% of all federal charters to a third, but also as the conversion to community charters is slowing. NCUA approved only two new community charters last month, down from an average of 15 in a month in recent years.