The National Credit Union Administration on Monday said beginning with the Sept. 30 reporting cycle, the regulator will require less information from credit unions about credit union service organizations on Call Reports.
NCUA added it has extended the reporting deadline for third-quarter Call Reports to Oct. 24.
The announcement of the new reporting rule was hailed as a "victory for credit unions" by one CU trade association.
"NCUA is working to make reporting easier and Call Reports more informative," Rick Metsger, NCUA board chairman, said in a statement, "and this is another part of that important process. It's also part of my Continual Quality Improvement effort to find ways to streamline agency operations by looking at the nuts and bolts of agency operations and finding new ways, both large and small, to improve the NCUA's processes and programs."
Going forward, NCUA said credit unions only will be required to submit aggregate CUSO loan and investment information on the Call Report. All other required information is now being collected directly from CUSOs through the agency's CUSO Registry.
According to the regulator, direct reporting eliminates redundancy, increases data integrity and reduces credit unions' reporting burdens. It also improves data quality, NCUA asserted, as it said CUSOs are in the best position to provide accurate and timely information.
NCUA noted it has
Part of Comprehensive Review
In May, NCUA announced a comprehensive review of Call Report and Credit Union Profile content. An agency working group has been gathering information through a public comment-and-review process.
Andy Price, senior director of advocacy and counsel for the Credit Union National Association, said, "This regulatory relief is a victory for credit unions due to the advocacy efforts of the CUNA/League system. After CUNA conducted extensive outreach to our members to assist the NCUA in its reform efforts, we asked the NCUA to make this change and we are appreciative of the agency's actions today."
Michael Emancipator, senior regulatory affairs counsel for the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), said Monday's move was a start, but asked for more.
"NAFCU and our members believe the change announced by NCUA today is a good first step toward removing redundant information gathering on the call report, but the agency should examine and adopt NAFCU's full list of recommendations in order to provide additional relief," said Emancipator.
NAFCU said in August it wrote NCUA with an "extensive" list of "specific and actionable" recommendations from its members. NAFCU noted its recommendations for Call Report modernization include leveraging technology and software solutions to streamline data entry and submission, removing data fields that do not pertain to safety and soundness, hosting routine training and guidance on the Call Report for credit unions and updating the Call Report to integrate information that credit unions already produce to help facilitate the reporting process for credit unions.
NCUA said the announced changes to the Call Report came on the fifth anniversary of its Regulatory Modernization Initiative. The agency said this initiative aims to strengthen its regulations to address safety-and-soundness risks and streamline the agencies rules, where possible, to reduce burdens. Since its inception, the initiative has resulted in 24 actions to cut red tape and "provided lasting benefits to credit unions of all sizes," NCUA said.
