ALEXANDRIA, Va.—In his final board meeting as NCUA chairman, Todd Harper looked back on his four years leading the agency, sharing some emotional remarks.
Harper was nominated by President Donald Trump in 2019 and was designated chairman by President Joe Biden on Jan. 20, 2021. In mid-2021, President Biden renominated, and the U.S. Senate reconfirmed, Harper for another term on the NCUA board expiring on April 10, 2027. President Donald Trump is expected to tap Vice Chair Kyle Hauptman to head the agency.
Harper has stated he plans to complete his term on the board.
“I want to express my deepest thanks to all the NCUA employees for all we achieved together during these last four years,” Harper said. “Serving as the 12th NCUA chairman has been one of the greatest honors of my life.”
Harper pointed to the challenges NCUA faced since 2001.
“Like the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 liquidity crisis…Together we made the credit union system safer and more resilient,” Harper said. “We increased fairness and protections for credit union members and we advanced equity to ensure the credit union system worked better for all Americans—especially for those of modest means.”
Harper noted the risk-based capital rule that has been implemented, creation of a simplified option to measure capital adequacy for complex credit unions, and adding the sensitivity component to the CAMEL rating system.
“We enhanced the capacity of the central liquidity facility. Made considerable strides in addressing cyber security vulnerabilities, finalized the cyber incident reporting rule—including the new web-based platform,” Harper said. “NCUA enhanced our consumer financial protection program to better ensure that consumers receive the same supervisory protections regardless of their financial services provider of choice. We grew our fair lending program by increasing the number of examiners by referring to the Justice Department instances of racial redlining, as well as age and marital discrimination.”
Overdraft Focus
Harper also addressed work the agency has conducted on overdrafts, saying NCUA has focused on “problematic” overdraft practices, such as authorize positive and settle negative.
“We mandated that federally insured credit unions with more than $1 billion in assets separately disclose income from overdraft and non-sufficient fund fees to better provide transparency for members and allow for better benchmarking by credit unions,” Harper said.
Harper stressed he is especially proud of the progress NCUA has made in advancing diversity, equity and economic inclusion within the credit union system.
“That's important work, because the statutory mission of the credit union system is to meet the credit and savings needs of members, especially those of modest means,” Harper said.
Harper concluded his remarks by recognizing all NCUA staff.
“None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the talented and dedicated NCUA team,” Harper said. “Every one of you has made an important and meaningful contribution to the agency's successes these last four years for which I cannot thank you enough.”