ALEXANDRIA, Va.–CUToday.info has obtained additional details on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed last week between NCUA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The MOU, obtained by CUToday.info via a Freedom of Information Act request, affects federally insured CUs of more than $10 billion in assets as those credit unions are also examined by the CFPB.
According to the MOU, the objective of the latest agreement is to “improve coordination, cooperation, and efficiency generally, and to reduce the burden to institutions and examination staff in connection with the supervision of covered Institutions.”
The agreement stipulates that it does not supersede the framework already in place under the existing coordination structure between the agencies and any state supervisory authority.
What the agencies have agreed to in the newest MOU include:
Document Sharing
“As memorialized in the 2012 Supervisory Coordination MOU, the Agencies have agreed to continue to share with each other certain relevant supervisory information concerning covered Institutions, including Covered Examination request letters, drafts of Covered Reports of Examination, certain material supervisory information relating to Covered Supervisory Activities or Covered Examinations of Covered Institutions, and certain final Reports of Examination.
“Effective immediately, the agencies will pursue opportunities to proactively share such documents with respect to Covered Institutions through electronic means.”
The MOU said plans are to form a working group on the issue.
Joint Strategy Planning
Under the agreement, the agencies said their respective headquarters staff will meet semiannually to discuss their respective supervision strategies and priorities for Covered Institutions.
“These meetings will be designed to identify and address areas of: 1) alignment and possible coordination; and 2) overlap and possible duplication resulting in unnecessary burden,” the agreement reads. “To the extent that such supervisory strategies are in alignment, the Agencies will coordinate their examinations, as appropriate. The staffs will document for Agency leadership the findings, conclusions and recommendations agreed to during these semiannual meetings.”
Coordination of Covered Examinations
“On an annual basis, the Agencies will provide each other their respective examination schedules for Covered Institutions,” the MOU sates. “This information will be shared at both the regional contact level and centrally via the Document Sharing agreement in Section 1.
Joint Training Program
To identify and take advantage of opportunities to collaborate on training, the MOU sates Agency staff will meet annually (or more frequently by mutual agreement) to, among other matters, exchange training catalogs and schedules, and “devise plans for sharing training content, except that in 2021, Agency staff will meet in March to exchange such materials and develop plans for sharing such training content,” the agreement states.
NCUA and the CFPB said they will endeavor to make available its virtual or live training to the other, to the extent possible. Starting in 2022, the agencies said they will coordinate, develop and hold formalized joint training sessions at least once a year in subject areas of mutual interest.
Supervisory and Enforcement Coordination
According to the agreement, the Enforcement and Supervision staff of the Agencies will meet at least semiannually to discuss current supervisory activities and enforcement actions involving Covered Institutions.
“The discussion shall include a level of specificity to enable both Agencies to identify, to the extent they exist, potential conflicts in interpretation of what constitutes compliance as well as divergent approaches in the appropriate remedy,” the MOU reads.
The agreement further states:
- Each agency wilt share, in its discretion, information (including non-public Information)…related to its enforcement activities to the extent that disclosure of the information is relevant to the exercise of the other agency's statutory or regulatory authority.
- When sharing information pursuant to this Section S, the providing agency will determine what information is appropriate to share. “However, where staff cannot resolve conflicts, staff shall ensure agency leadership awareness before finalizing the respective Agency's action,” the agreement states.
- Absent exigent circumstances, each Agency shall notify the other at least two business days prior to filing any action, suit, or proceeding to enforce the laws…including any rules thereunder, against a covered Institution.
OMWI, Diversity, and Inclusion
The agencies said they have agreed to meet to further discuss the sharing of self-assessment and diversity data from covered institutions.
Chief Data Officer Coordination
The agencies agreed as part of the MOU that their chief data officers will meet at least semiannually to coordinate regarding data sharing between the agencies and to collaborate on data management best practices.
The agreement was signed by NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood and then CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger, who has since resigned to allow President Bident to name a director.
A full copy of the agreement can be found in CUToday.info’s The Gov.