WASHINGTON – The Senate Banking Committee called on officials at NCUA and the banking regulators to conduct internal reviews on the application of their own standards during examinations.
Sen. Tim Johnson, chairman of the Senate panel, called on each agency’s Inspector General to conduct an audit reviewing examination timelines and how each agency ensures consistency in its examinations. “Please report on the ability of regulated institutions to question examination results, such as through an Ombudsman, an appeals process or informal channels, and the frequency and success of such appeals,” wrote Johnson, a North Dakota Democrat.
The Senate’s interest comes as counterparts in the House are debating a bill that would create a new examinations appeals process and a national Ombudsman where dissatisfied credit unions and banks could appeal their regulators’ examination findings. The Senate panel is said to be studying a similar proposal, but it has not yet been introduced in the Senate.
“Recently,” wrote Johnson, “I have heard numerous concerns from community banks and credit unions that the financial regulators’ examiners are conducting examinations with unclear standards or with inconsistent application of agency policies and procedures. Community banks and credit unions indicate that examination concerns create uncertainty in their business operations and hesitation to provide credit to their customers.”
Johnson sent his request to NCUA, the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
