Markets Wired

NCUA Board Vice Chairman Says Agency and Credit Unions Must Embrace Change

WASHINGTON (Feb. 23, 2016) – Saying credit unions and the National Credit Union Administration both must keep pace with a rapidly changing financial industry and economic environment, NCUA Board Vice Chairman Rick Metsger today pledged to take specific steps to do just that.

“As a regulator, a steward of the credit union system, it is incumbent on me not only to set safety parameters to protect your health, but also to ensure you have the flexibility to meet the evolving and diverse needs of your members,” Metsger said. “We have to provide effective supervision without impeding innovation. You should expect a regulator who listens, gives thoughtful analysis and then leads. We need to give you an opportunity to succeed, not set you up for failure.”

Metsger delivered his remarks to an audience of nearly 5,000 at the Credit Union National Association’s annual Governmental Affairs Conference. The text of his prepared remarks is available online here.

Metsger said NCUA has been “aggressively addressing the changing needs of consumers by putting greater control and responsibility into the hands of credit union boards of directors and management,” and he presented four “important and achievable goals” for 2016:

• • Deliver a final field-of-membership rule consistent with the Federal Credit Union Act that will allow credit unions to better serve their communities;
  • Work with NCUA’s Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives to offer, as an alternative to mergers, the Network Credit Union concept allowing credit unions to band together under one charter yet retain their identities;
  • Review key NCUA processes and develop recommendations for improvements; and
  • Continue to ensure credit unions’ ability to meet members’ needs.

“Let’s all be committed, as regulator and regulated, to embrace market evolution with flexibility where needed, restraint where prudent and the wisdom to know the difference,” Metsger said.