WASHINGTON – NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz will tell attendees at CUNA Government Affairs Conference this morning that tough agency action to take over several big credit unions, including five failed corporates, was necessary to stem the spreading contagion that could have claimed hundreds of credit unions. Matz will also say that the growing spending levels at the agency, a 12% increase last year and a 14% rise this year, are necessary for NCUA to make new hires and enact programs that will prevent further erosion of the industry going forward, according to source familiar with her speech. Matz made similar claims while testifying before Congress last year, asserting that NCUA’s takeover of the five failed corporates may have saved as many as 1,000 credit unions. Matz is scheduled to speak this morning at 10:45.

WASHINGTON – At least one House member is expected to introduce a bill as early as this week that would delay enactment of interchange provisions of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill, as the clock ticks toward final implementation of the rules to limit debit fees for credit unions and banks. Credit unions and banks and the rest of their powerful Electronic Payments Coalition are hoping that hearings before the House Financial Services Committee this week and the Senate Banking Committee next week will convince Congress a quick fix is urgent before the April 21 final rule is enacted by the Federal Reserve. “Congress is going to have to intervene. The Fed can’t stop it,” CUNA President Bill Cheney told the Credit Union Journal yesterday at the opening of CUNA’s annual Government Affairs Conference. “This is a train wreck waiting to happen, but a train wreck that can be stopped,’ said Cheney. The stakes in the fight are huge–with an estimated $20 billion a year in debit fees being paid to credit unions and banks from merchants. For credit unions, the stakes are even higher than for banks, with credit unions earning $2.6 billion last year in debit interchange, more than half the industry’s $4.1 billion in next income, according to CUNA. CUNA, NAFCU and the banks–which have teamed again in this odd pairing of traditional rivals–believe that the best solution to the effort to drastically cut their debit interchange is to get Congress to agree to a two-year delay while they continue to lobby on the particulars of the Fed’s rule. In comment letters to the Fed CUNA has made the same basis request as JP Morgan Chase–for a two-year delay in implementation. (The credit unions and banks also teamed on the long-fought bankruptcy reform bill). While a delay has won some supporters in the House, the Senate, where the interchange provision originated is much more problematic. “Don’t forget the real determinate is the Senate,” said NAFCU President Fred Becker, who said NAFCU is working closely with the payments coalition to get a bill introduced in Congress. But most observers see an uphill fight in the Senate, where Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is the main champion of the interchange provisions. Durbin’s representative told the Credit Union Journal the Senator is adamant that the Fed move forward with implementation of a final rule and he sees no interest in the Senate for a delay.

IMGCAP(1)]

IMGCAP(1)]

IMGCAP(1)]

IMGCAP(1)]

WHEELING, W.Va. — Members of Center Valley FCU, brought down by CEO fraud that drained some $9 million from the institution, continue to pursue an accounting for losses on their share accounts and for missing loan payments, authorities said last week after the former CEO, Bernie Metz, was sentenced to nine years in prison.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA reported that during January it did not write off any of the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund's (NCUSIF) assets as insurance loss expense. NCUA had budgeted for as much as $54.2 million in insurance fund losses during the month.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA has approved updates to its chartering rules for corporate CUs, the first time it has done so in 30 years.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — At a time when many lenders are scaling back mortgage operations, Technology Credit Union has raised the limit on its jumbo mortgage loan to $3 million.

RED BANK, N.J. — Life is about to get a little bit easier for the 22,000 members of United Teletech Financial.

ALBANY, N.Y. — A task force of New York credit unions that helped create Members United Corporate FCU has moved to revive the failed corporate credit union, currently in the semi-liquidated state under NCUA conservatorship.

GLENDALE, Calif. — The increasing number of CU failures and Congressional attention on NCUA has some CEOs saying examiners are turning up the heat.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — As part of an indepth report on NCUA and whether it is up to the task of regulating credit unions and corporates, Credit Union Journal asked for recommendations on where the agency could make improvements.

TORRANCE, Calif.-If Western Bridge Corporate and Members United Bridge Corporate are to eventually merge, the biggest hurdle will be getting NCUA to approve the risk controls of the combined organizations.

In making an assessment of the agency, sources told Credit Union Journal, it is important to examine NCUA's performance over a long period of time, not just the last three years.

WASHINGTON – This week thousands of credit unions will descend on this city for CUNA's GAC to meet with their national representatives. But across the country, dozens of credit union CEOs and volunteers also hold local, elected office. In this issue, a dozen of them discuss life in politics.

NEW YORK — The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions said that despite significant cuts to community development programs in the Obama administration's recently released FY2012 budget, the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund has emerged relatively unscathed.

NEW YORK — The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions continues to be troubled over NCUA's regulation of small CUs.

WASHINGTON — In a comment letter to the Federal Reserve on implementing the Dodd-Frank Act, CUNA last week said Congress intended for small debit card issuers to be protected from the rate regulations in the interchange law.