Letter repeats support for state regulator on NCUA Board
An NCUA board with five seats – one of which is designated for a person with state credit union regulatory experience – contained in financial regulation reform legislation in the House, and which is being readied for introduction, continues to have the support of the state credit union system, NASCUS has written.
In a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), 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.
However, Ito noted 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.”
However, Ito wrote, whether the agency’s board has five or three members, the association 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, she added, “will encourage broader, more robust discussion and will bolster NCUA’s accountability to all of its stakeholders including the state credit union system.”
The Financial CHOICE Act (which stands for “Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs”) was first introduced last summer (in the previous Congress). A new version of the bill for the current Congress is expected to be introduced soon.
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