DENVER -- What started as a standard speech by NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz broke into a sharp verbal exchange with State Employees’ CU CEO Jim Blaine at the National Association of State CU Supervisors Conference this afternoon over the controversy surrounding SECU’s public disclosure of its CAMEL rating last year.
“NCUA has impugned our state regulator unjustly,” said Blaine, “We can either have a fight to the death, or NCUA can apologize and we can move on.”
Blaine, CEO of the nation’s second largest credit union, asserted during a question and answer period after Matz’s remarks that NCUA had “preempted” Jerrie Jay, the state regulator “for reasons that are false” and he told Matz that credit unions in North Carolina want an apology.
Matz, who was keynote speaker at the annual state regulators’ conference, said she would not respond to “threats,” adding, “I have said all I am going to say about the matter.”
“Thank you for your transparency, Ms. Matz,” Blaine said.
The flare-up stems from last September’s decision by the North Carolina CU Division to allow the $22 billion credit union to publicly disclose its state CAMEL rating, something that is barred by NCUA’s rules. But Blaine has always maintained that his state chartered credit union was disclosing his state CAMEL rating, and not the NCUA rating, thereby skirting the NCUA prohibition.
Blaine told the Credit Union Journal it was a test to determine if such a disclosure would assure the public of the credit union giant’s safety and soundness. “We wanted transparency,” Blaine said. “State charters get two CAMEL ratings, state and federal. We released our state CAMEL rating, which is allowed.”
NCUA told the North Carolina regulator it would conduct independent annual insurance reviews of all state-chartered credit unions in North Carolina, instead of delegating the exams to the state supervisor; would no longer provide the state regulator with computers or training; and would directly process all Call Reports from state charters.
According to Blaine, credit unions in North Carolina remain very upset with NCUA regarding its actions toward Jay and her department. He shared a copy of a July 23, 2012, letter written by the North Carolina CU League to Matz requesting a meeting, which Blaine said was ignored.
“NCUA needs to look at what they did,” he asserted. “They trashed Ms. Jay and our state. NCUA called our state and tried to get Ms. Jay fired, and they called NASCUS and got her neutered on the NASCUS Board."
“We want this publicly discussed,” he added.
