ARLINGTON, Va.–Shortly after the NCUA board voted 2-1 in favor of implementing its risk-based capital proposal, NAFCU CEO Dan Berger said the association will continue to work to “make a bad rule better.”
NAFCU has consistently opposed the risk-based capital proposal(s) from NCUA.
“NAFCU works continuously to secure good policy for credit unions, and we and our members are unwavering in our view that a legislative solution is required to create a true risk-based capital system for credit unions,” said Berger. “Given NCUA’s insistence on moving forward with this rule, NAFCU has worked steadfastly to make a bad rule better. We acknowledge NCUA’s heeding credit unions’ voices and incorporating some much-needed improvements. Specifically, the final rule recalibrates many risk weights to better align with banks’ requirements, removes interest-rate risk from the calculation of the risk-based capital ratio, and extends the implementation date. However, the rule still fails to create a true and fair risk-based capital regime for credit unions. To that end, we hope the agency will use the time before the rule’s implementation date to work with us and with Congress to achieve a legislative solution to capital reform.”
Separately, in response to the NCUA board’s approval of a plan to delegate community charter expansion requests to its Office of Consumer Protection.
“We welcome the agency’s effort to streamline the charter expansion process,” said Berger. “However, we continue to believe that credit unions would benefit from comprehensive field-of-membership reform. We hope as NCUA prepares its FOM proposal, it will incorporate the numerous recommendations we put forth in our May 2015 letter to the agency.”