What CUs Think Of NCUA Exams

NCUA is reporting that the 397 credit unions responding to its survey on the agency's risk- focused examination program have given it high marks.

Implemented in the fall of 2002, the risk-focused exams were given an average score of 4.63 out of 5.00, with the highest marks for examiners' courteous and professional conduct, effective overall examination process and effective communication with management and officials throughout the examination, NCUA reported.

"Our review indicates that exam reports are focused on significant risk areas rather than cluttering the correspondence with documentation of minor infractions," said NCUA's Dave Marquis.

NCUA noted it developed the risk-focused examination to concentrate its examination resources on current and potential areas of risk to credit unions.

According to the agency, comments on the most useful aspects of the examination/examiner included:

* Examiner helped with issues related to ALLL (36 comments); Examiner helped credit union with the risk management process (9 comments); Examiner helped with IT and e-commerce concerns (5 comments).

Rated as least useful were:

* Issues related to difficult timing of exam, primarily January and December (8 comments); comments that ALLL is too complex and time-consuming for a small credit union with low delinquency (4 comments).