WASHINGTON – NCUA’s new field of membership rule, approved today by a 2-0 vote from the agency’s board, received support from NAFCU and CUNA.
The rule will permit credit unions to submit a field of membership application to serve a well-defined local community exceeding 2.5 million people.
"NAFCU and our member credit unions thank Chairman [J. Mark] McWatters and Board Member [Rick] Metsger for recognizing the importance of modernizing FOM rules to give credit unions the opportunity to keep growing and serve even more Americans," said NAFCU president and CEO Dan Berger. "We support the provisions contained in this second FOM rule and will continue to support the agency's first rule that is still being challenged by the bankers. We believe these FOM reforms fall well within the agency's legal authority.”
“NCUA has once again acted within its statutory authority to modernize field-of-membership regulations, and we strongly support them in these efforts,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “We thank NCUA for continuing its work to ensure consumers have access to not-for-profit, member-owned financial institutions, despite bankers’ efforts to deprive them of that choice.”
The final rule will give credit unions the option to submit a narrative approach application, which the NCUA used prior to 2010, to serve a field of membership exceeding 2.5 million people. Under this new rule, credit unions can submit a narrative to explain the existence of a well-defined local community rather than limiting them to a statistical community.