HIGHSTOWN, N.J.-Credit unions in New Jersey took their message regarding examination and regulatory issues to NCUA's headquarters.
The league, along with representatives of its New Jersey Regulatory Examination, Assistance & Development (NJ READ) program, met with NCUA to discuss the results of a league-sponsored survey on those issues. The NJCUL plans to conduct the survey on a quarterly basis.
Among the findings:
* 42.3% indicated that they strongly agreed that items showing up in Documents of Resoltuion (DoR) (no evidence of violation of regulation/state or federal law) are much heavier than ever before.
* 48% said they strongly agree that heavier regulatory/exam requirements have increased pressure on credit union resources.
* 42.3% agree that the exam experience appears to be going well before the credit union is "surprised" at items on the subsequent or final report received.
In terms of examiners, New Jersey's CUs gave them high marks:
* 43.8% ranked examiners as good, and 25% felt their examiner(s) were good in terms of fairness.
* 38.7% agreed their examiner(s) were knowledgeable about their credit union.
* 93% of credit unions reported, overall, no problems from examiners on their deposit-related regulations and statutes compliance.
* 89% reported, overall, no problems on their exam of credit-related regulations and statutes.
In terms of the exam itself:
* 37.5% of respondents said their on-site exams lasted greater than five days.
* 57.7% of respondents agree that they have experienced examiners changing the exam date and time to accommodate the examiner's schedule.
Recommendations Made
The NJ READ group presented NCUA with a list of recommendations it said "present solutions to facilitate exam interaction and communications between credit unions, examiners and the agency. The group said it was successful in getting NCUA to consider a pre-exam letter to credit unions that will provide information about the examiner, contact information, a basic chain of command of the exam team, a projected timeline, and how to appeal various aspects of the exam.
For info: www.njcul.org/njread.aspx.
