ARLINGTON, Va.–Support for a five-seat NCUA board—with one seat designated for a person with state credit union regulatory experience, has been expressed in a letter by NASCUC to the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
A provision for such a change in the NCUA board is included in a bill being readied for introduction by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), who chairs the committee.
In the letter NASCUS President and CEO Lucy Ito reiterated the association’s support for provisions in last year’s Financial CHOICE Act that would increase the number of NCUA board members from its current three members to five.
But Ito also noted in the letter that a recent memo from the chairman to committee leaders, outlining a revised CHOICE Act for this year, recommends that the NCUA board consist of three members instead of five.
“In our July 2016 correspondence to your office, we noted that increasing the number of NCUA board members has been a long-championed goal of NASCUS,” Ito wrote. “From our perspective, such a fundamental change in the NCUA’s leadership structure would enhance the board’s deliberative process, expand its collective expertise and improve the efficient administration of NCUA’s business.”
Whether the agency’s board has five or three members, the association said it believes that having an individual on the board with state credit union regulatory experience ensures a diversity of voices and supervisory experience. That diversity and experience, Ito said, “will encourage broader, more robust discussion and will bolster NCUA’s accountability to all of its stakeholders including the state credit union system.”