NCUA Vote On Easing MBL Restrictions Delayed

It appears that the NCUA board will wait until the fall before they vote on proposals to ease restrictions on member business loans (MBLs).

NCUA staffers are still reviewing the more than 370 comment letters submitted on the proposals and aren't expected to have their review completed in time to write a final rule for the July 31 board meeting, the last of the summer (the board rarely holds its open meetings in August).

The proposals would do a number of things to make business lending easier and to help limit the restrictions, specifically the 12.25% (of assets) cap on MBLs, imposed in HR 1151.

A vote on the final MBL rule could be the last major initiative voted on by NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar, who is serving as a holdover while he awaits a White House nomination for his successor. Several sources are saying the successor, widely expected to be Gilbert Gonzalez, currently Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the Department of Agriculture, may be nominated in August. But it could take several months before the Senate votes to confirm him. Dollar would continue to serve, if he wants, until then.

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