The National Credit Union Administration announced on April 21 its tenth set of proposed regulatory changes as part of the agency’s Deregulation Project. The NCUA is seeking public comments on a proposal to clarify guidance and remove what it describes as unduly burdensome and duplicative requirements related to bank conversions and mergers.
This announcement is part of an ongoing review intended to ensure that regulations support the safety, soundness, and resilience of credit unions. The agency said the changes are designed to give boards more flexibility in their fiduciary duties rather than following a rigid process defined by the agency.
The proposed changes include removing the definition of “clear and conspicuous” from regulation, revising newspaper publishing requirements so that pre-board-vote notices can be accessed directly on credit union websites, streamlining due diligence reporting, eliminating specific formatting rules, simplifying compliance with merger communications by removing plain language determining factors, and taking out voting guidelines from regulation. According to the NCUA’s statement: “These changes are intended to allow a credit union’s board of directors to exercise its fiduciary duties and business judgement rather than imposing a rigid, agency-defined process.”
The NCUA functions as a U.S. government agency according to the official website. It serves federally insured credit unions across the nation according to the official website and seeks to guarantee safe deposits while offering regulatory oversight for these institutions according to the official website. The agency also charters new credit unions and provides oversight for federally insured institutions according to the official website.
Kyle Hauptman has served as chairman of the National Credit Union Administration Board according to the official website. The NCUA offers tools such as Share Insurance Estimator for coverage details and CUOnline for financial submissions according to the official website.
Stakeholders are encouraged by NCUA officials: “Stakeholders Are Encouraged to Review Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Submit Comments.” More information about submitting comments or learning about these proposals can be found at https://ncua.gov/news/deregulation-project.
