WASHINGTON—The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Thursday upheld two challenged portions of NCUA’s field of membership rule and struck down two provisions in a lawsuit filed against the agency by the American Bankers Association.
NAFCU, CUNA and CUNA Mutual Group, in a joint statement, disagreed with the court's decision and reiterated their intent to continue to work in support of the agency's authority to issue this rule.
The provisions declared to exceed the NCUA's statutory authority include those that automatically qualify a combined statistical area (CSA) with fewer than 2.5 million people to be a local community and the increase to one million people the population limit for rural districts.
In a joint statement the heads of the three organizations—NAFCU President/CEO Dan Berger, CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle and CUNA Mutual Group President/CEO Robert Trunzo—stated that they are pleased the court upheld components of the NCUA's field-of-membership rule. But they strongly disagree with the court's decision that aspects of the rule exceed the agency's legal authority.
The field-of-membership rule is not only entirely consistent with the Federal Credit Union Act, but also credit unions must have the ability to grow and serve more Americans, the leaders stated in the joint release, adding that as the parties consider their options going forward, they will continue to support the agency on this critical issue.
This lawsuit was filed Dec. 7, 2016, by the ABA. CUNA, NAFCU and CUNA Mutual Group jointly filed an amicus brief in June 2017 supporting the FOM rule and the NCUA's cross-motion for summary judgment.
When it filed its lawsuit, ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols stated that “NCUA’s rule ignores statutory requirements at the expense of taxpayers, small banks and the communities those banks serve. ABA has successfully sued NCUA three times on past occasions in which the agency exceeded its congressional authority, and we look forward to challenging their latest violation of the law in federal court.”