WASHINGTON–CUNA’s Small Credit Union Committee has sent a letter to NCUA regarding merger trends and the current expected credit loss (CECL) standard.
The committee sent the letter following a meeting with Larry Fazio, director of NCUA’s Office of Examination and Insurance.
According to CUNA, a major topic of discussion during the meeting and in the letter is the fact 90% of credit union mergers are credit unions under $100 million in assets.
“Our top-line concern around this trend stems from what the impact of the loss of those credit unions will mean in their respective communities and membership groups,” wrote Teri Robinson, chair of CUNA’s Small Credit Union Committee and president/CEO of Ironworkers USA FCU, Portland, Ore.
The letter thanks NCUA for its efforts taken to provide relief for small credit unions regarding examinations, including through the small credit union exam, longer examination cycle and forgoing the ACET test for credit unions under $250 million in assets, while also reiterating concerns related to exams, including any potential changes brought by the agency’s examination modernization efforts.
Request for New Resource
The Small Credit Union Committee called on the agency to create a resource, whether webinar or white paper, to assuage small credit union fears that they will not have the capabilities to change to the CECL standard, and calls attention to the fact that even slight changes with how non-member deposits are regulated could yield “significant benefits for all sizes of credit unions.”