NASHVILLE—Credit union stakeholders will have an opportunity to offer comments on the NCUA’s proposed 2017–2018 budget at a briefing in October, Board Chairman Rick Metsger announced today.
“As part of my commitment to implement Continual Quality Improvement across all aspects of NCUA’s operations, the agency will hold a briefing on the draft budget,” Metsger said. “This budget briefing will be more comprehensive than the briefings previously held by the agency. For example, we will release more details on the proposed budget before the briefing, so stakeholders can review and analyze the information before they participate.”
Metsger made his announcement during remarks to the National Association of Federal Credit Unions’ annual conference here. He said that, even without the briefing, stakeholders can, as always, offer comments about the agency’s budget at any time.
“I meet with people year-round, and I know Board Member McWatters does, too,” Metsger said. “We are always open to suggestions on how to improve operations. People don’t have to wait for a budget briefing if they have concerns or questions.”
Metsger said NCUA already makes a great deal of detailed budget information public, posted on the agency’s Budget and Supplementary Materials webpage. Preliminary information about NCUA’s 2017 budget is already available. At its November 2015 open meeting, the NCUA Board approved a rolling two-year agency budget. The agency will revise and supplement this material before the October budget briefing.
Everyone who participates in the budget briefing will be heard, Metsger said, but the NCUA Board still has the responsibility to make a final decision on expenditures to fulfill its mandate under the Federal Credit Union Act to protect the safety and soundness of the credit union system, the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, and the more than $1 trillion of members’ accounts.
Today’s announcement follows NCUA’s recent decision to conduct a comprehensive review of its examination and supervision process. Metsger created a working group to field stakeholder suggestions and report its recommendations to the Board in September.
Trades Respond
NAFCU and CUNA responded to NCUA's decision.
“NAFCU and its members greatly appreciate Chairman Metsger’s decision to not only hold this public briefing, but to allow the industry an early look at the agency’s budget plans – a move that provides all stakeholders to provide thoughtful input,” said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. “This promises to introduce a level of budget transparency we have not seen in many years.”
“NCUA’s new budget briefing is a big win for credit unions," said CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle. "Along with our partners at the state leagues, we’ve been working with the agency to host a forum for stakeholders to weigh in and present their views on the budget. We appreciate Chairman Metsger making this important change for which we have long advocated.”
Former NCUA Chariman Weighs In
Dennis Dollar, the former NCUA Chairman who initiated the public budget briefings in 2001 that continued until ended by Chairman Debbie Matz in 2009, commended Metsger on the decision to resume the briefings and also lauded Board Member Mark McWatters for his longtime support of a more transparent budget process at NCUA.
“The resumption of public budget briefings is a win for more transparent and accountable government,” said Dollar, principal at Dollar Associates, Birmingham, Ala. “It is another commendable example of Chairman Metsger’s emergence of a well-reasoned and responsive leadership approach in the weeks he has been at the NCUA helm, and it is also a testament to Board Member McWatters who has since his arrival on the board supported the need to have a NCUA budget process that is more open to consider the views of and impact on the agency’s stakeholders. They both deserve a ‘well done’ for their obvious willingness to find common ground on this matter that is simply an example of what a reasonable and responsible governmental agency should provide to those who pay its bills and are impacted by its decisions. There will always be a natural tension between the regulator and the regulated. Nothing out of the ordinary about that. But it can be a more healthy tension if it is founded on both sides by trust, transparency and accountability.”