Five months after being elevated to the position of acting chairman of the National Credit Union Administration by President Trump, J.Mark McWatters has been named chairman of the NCUA board.
“I thank President Trump for this honor and the trust he has placed in me,” McWatters said in a statement. “As chairman of the NCUA, I remain committed to providing regulatory relief for the credit union community in compliance with the Federal Credit Union Act and to streamlining the operations of NCUA as a prudential regulator.”
When McWatters was nominated to the NCUA board in 2014 by President Obama, he was the lone Republican on the board, serving with then-Chairman Debbie Matz and Vice Chairman Rick Metsger. He was later nominated to serve on the board of the Export-Import Bank, but that nomination never received serious Senate consideration, as it was made in the waning days of the Obama administration. President Trump named McWatters acting chairman just days after his inauguration.
“I am very pleased that Mr. McWatters has officially been designated as the chairman of the NCUA by the President,” Board Member Rick Metsger said. “This recognizes his hard work and dedication to the mission of the agency and I look forward to our continued work together to provide access and financial safety to the over 100 million Americans who are part of the nation’s credit union system.”
Credit union trade groups were quick to congratulate the new, permanent chairman.
"NAFCU congratulates Chairman McWatters on this appointment," Dan Berger, president and CEO of the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, said in a statement. "As always, we look forward to working with the chairman and the agency's board in seeking to ensure a positive regulatory environment where credit unions can thrive."
Now that the regulator has an official chairman, credit unions will likely be waiting for President Trump to nominate a third member to the board, which has had a vacant seat since Debbie Matz retired in April 2016.
