ALEXANDRIA, Va.–All three board members offered comment on the one-year anniversary of operating under the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions and economic slowdown, the effects it has had on NCUA and credit unions, and reasons to be optimistic looking forward.
“None of us could have anticipated the extraordinary circumstances. There has been tremendous resilience under the most trying of circumstances,” said NCUA Chairman Todd Harper, before pausing to remember those who were lost as the result of COVID, as well as those who have experienced violence and harassment as a result of COVID.
To NCUA staff, Harper said, “Thank you for your good work and for supporting your colleagues. I look forward to seeing you in person again only when it is safe to do so and not a moment sooner. And to those of you working at credit unions across the country, thank you for serving as financial first responders. Your work is helping your members handle countless pandemic induced economic challenges. I have always been incredibly proud of the CU movement, never more so than now.”
Harper also thanked credit unions for their works in processing stimulus payments and for protecting those payments from collections.
Hauptman: 2 Issues Worthy of Attention
"It’s remarkable, and sad, that we’re still here 1-year later. I admit that when my former boss (Tom Cotton) in the Senate said, that the coronavirus would become the biggest story in the world that year, I didn’t know if things would actually get that bad. But he was right," said Hauptman.
Hauptman offered comment on the anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic around two themes.
"First, I know everyone at NCUA is focused on helping middle-class people participate in the economic recovery, especially given that the recovery has been bifurcated," he said. "On the one hand, there’s those people whose stocks and real-estate have soared in value and are more likely to be able work from home and keeping getting a paycheck the whole time, because we’re part of what’s been called the 'Zoom class' of workers. Further up the financial scale, we know that since the pandemic started, places like the Hamptons and Nantucket have been packed, with the sort of people who use the word 'summer' as a verb. But on the other hand, cab drivers, factory workers and waitresses can’t work from home and they likely haven’t seen 6-figure jumps in their portfolios. Not to mention, it’s also not random regarding the who has been victims of both the virus and of the lockdowns: I’m referring to the awful news around the large spike in homicides, and in relapses and overdoses, especially for those who’ve relied for years on in-person meetings for groups like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous."
Hauptman also expressed concern over harm to the youngest and oldest Americans as a result of COVID.
The second theme touched on by Hauptman was more positive.
"Second, perhaps some good news. We’ve all experienced a 1-year experiment in new ways of doing things and some of those things will be useful going forward," he said. "In some ways the pandemic just hit fast-forward on trends that were happening anyway, like virtual meeting, shopping online, working from home. Thus, I’ve been pleased to see that NCUA is, just like most organizations, reviewing what we’ve learned from experiments, things like doing virtual-exams for credit unions. Maybe these new things work, and maybe they don’t. But I think we all agree that we certainly deserve some upside from this pandemic."
Hood: ‘Stood Strong as an Agency’
NCUA Board Member Rodney Hood, noting he was participating in the meeting from North Carolina, his home state, said that even as more than 1,000 people in the state remain hospitalized with coronavirus infections, there has also been good news in the trendlines.
Just a year ago, said Hood, “it’s easy to forget how much uncertainty and foreboding we were facing. Each day brought news of the virus, which was still little understood, spreading more rapidly and widely, and the forecasts of what was to come were, to say the least, anything but reassuring.
“Yet against that difficult backdrop, we stood strong as an agency,” he said. “ But more importantly, so did credit unions. As NCUA chairman last year, I was encouraged and inspired to see how effectively the agency’s workforce responded to the serial challenges we confronted. As we shifted to an off-site work posture, NCUA employees responded with purpose, resilience, and creativity while continuing to execute our regulatory mission. In a time of uncertainty, the agency moved forward with a sense of purpose and resolve to keep the credit union industry safe and sound.”
Hood praised CU employees for the work they have done, and said there is much to look forward to in addressing challenges. “
“…We should move forward with a sense of clarity and reality, recognizing that we still have much hard work and many challenges ahead. And we should recognize that credit unions are well positioned to respond to the needs at this important time in history,” said Hood.