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Board Action Bulletin

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (March 14, 2019) – The National Credit Union Administration Board held its third open meeting of 2019 at the agency’s headquarters today and unanimously approved one item:

• A final rule making regulations regarding loans and lines of credit to members clearer and easier to follow.

The Chief Financial Officer briefed the Board on the performance of the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.

Share Insurance Fund Continues Positive Trends

The Share Insurance Fund (opens new window) reported a net income of $226.5 million and a net position of $15.7 billion for 2018.

The fund’s assets declined to $15.8 billion at the end of the year from $16.7 billion at the end of 2017.

As of Dec. 31, 2018, the Share Insurance Fund’s calculated equity ratio was 1.39 percent. The equity ratio is calculated on an insured share base of $1.1 trillion. As the equity ratio was higher than the normal operating level of 1.38 percent, the Board, by notation vote March 6, approved a $160.1 million Share Insurance Fund distribution to eligible federally insured credit unions.

For the fourth quarter of 2018:

• The number of CAMEL codes 4 and 5 credit unions decreased to 193 from 203 in the third quarter of 2018. Assets for these credit unions increased 2.6 percent from the third quarter of 2018, to $11.8 billion from $11.5 billion.
• The number of CAMEL code 3 credit unions decreased to 940 from 1,001 in the third quarter of 2018. Assets for these credit unions decreased 5.7 percent from the third quarter of 2018, to $52.7 billion from $55.9 billion.

There were eight involuntary liquidations and assisted mergers during 2018, compared to 10 credit union failures in 2017. The total amount of losses associated with failures in 2018 was $792.5 million, compared to $24.4 million the previous year.

The Chief Financial Officer reported the agency’s four funds—the Share Insurance Fund, the Operating Fund, the Central Liquidity Facility and Community Development Revolving Loan funds—each received an unmodified, or “clean,” audit opinion with no reportable conditions for 2018 from the agency’s independent auditor, KPMG LLP.

Final Lending Rule Gives Clarity and Eases Compliance

Credit unions will find compliance with NCUA regulations covering loans and lines of credit to members easier following the Board’s approval of a final rule (opens new window) amending those regulations.

The final rule, part of the agency’s ongoing regulatory reform agenda, makes the regulation easier to follow in three ways:

• Putting all maturity limits applicable to federal credit union loans in one section;
• Clarifying that the maturity for a new loan under GAAP is calculated from the new date of origination; and
• Clearly describing the limits for loans to a single borrower or group of associated borrowers.

The final rule will become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

The NCUA tweets all open Board meetings live. Follow @TheNCUA (opens new window) on Twitter, and access Board Action Memorandums and NCUA rule changes at www.ncua.gov. The NCUA also live streams, archives and posts videos of open Board meetings online.