ALEXANDRIA, Va.—NCUA on Tuesday unveiled the 10th round of its Deregulation Project, proposing to ease a series of long-standing disclosure, notice and procedural requirements tied to credit union mergers into banks—changes the agency said would eliminate outdated and duplicative rules and give boards more flexibility to exercise business judgment.
The proposal includes:
- Change 1: Remove the definition of “clear and conspicuous” from 12 CFR 708a.301
- Impact on credit unions: Removing this definition would enable credit unions the flexibility to design disclosures that are effective and clear for their members
- Change 2: Revise the newspaper publishing requirement in 12 CFR 708a.303(b)(1)
- Impact on credit unions: This proposal would eliminate an outdated and potentially costly requirement. It would also make pre-board-vote notices more accessible to members who can find that information directly on the homepage of the credit union’s website
- Change 3: Revise the due diligence reporting requirements in 12 CFR 708a.304(d)
- Impact on credit unions: This proposed change would streamline the reporting requirements, focusing on communicating the substantive outcome of the board’s decision-making process
- Change 4: Remove highly prescriptive formatting requirements in 12 CFR 708a.305(e)(2).
- Impact on credit unions: Eliminating these formatting rules would reduce administrative burden
- Change 5: Remove plain language determining factors in 12 CFR 708a.305(f).
- Impact on credit unions: Compliance would be simplified, and credit unions would have more flexibility in their merger communications
- Change 6: Remove “Voting guidelines” from 12 CFR 708a.312
- Impact on credit unions: This proposal would remove guidance from the regulation to clarify what is actually required