ALEXANDRIA, Va. — More storm clouds surfaced among credit unions last month with two more failures and the number of troubled institutions increasing by six, to a total of 357, NCUA said this morning.
But even as the number of troubled credit unions, those rated either CAMEL 4 or 5, is up from 271 a year ago, more problematic is that the total shares in this year's troubled credit unions is more than double from last year, now $5.8 billion, meaning far more deposits are involved.
NCUA has set aside $760 million, its most ever, to deal with potential losses in those credit unions, according to Mary Ann Woodson, chief financial officer for the agency. "We expect that 2010 will be a difficult year, just as 2009 was," she told the NCUA Board during a briefing this morning.
The growing loss projections make it increasingly likely that NCUA will charge credit unions another premium later this year to replenish reserves for the National CU Share Insurance Fund. Credit unions paid a total of $1.1 billion last year to replenish the fund and to capitalize the newly created Corporate CU Stabilization Fund.
Last month, the NCUSIF spent $34.3 million to resolve some of the past credit union failures, and projected another $5.7 million in costs to resolve the two newest failures. The agency spent $124.4 million in 2009 to resolve 28 failed credit unions.
The $760 million set aside for reserves is based on losses experienced last year, Woodson said. "There's no way to predict that number (for 2010)," she explained. "That estimated is based on what happened last year.
