Summaries look at latest letters to CUs, alert from agency

(Jan. 29, 2021) NASCUS summaries of recent NCUA letters to credit unions – and a summary of a regulatory alert issued by the agency – are among the latest to be published by NASCUS. All three are available to members only.

The two letters summarized are on the agency’s outline of the issues affecting credit unions contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 adopted by Congress Dec. 27 (letter 21-CU-01, issued by the agency the week of Jan. 4), and about NCUA’s Supervisory priorities for 2021 (letter 21-CU-02, issued by the agency last week).

The first letter notes that that most of the provisions of the consolidated appropriations bill extend portions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law last March as the impact of the coronavirus crisis became apparent. Those provisions are extended to Dec. 31, 2021, the letter notes. It also touches on provisions affecting the agency’s Central Liquidity Facility (CLF), troubled debt restructurings (TDRs), compliance with the Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) accounting standard and more.

The second letter outlines the broad scope of the agency’s regulatory priorities for 2021, primarily focusing on challenges to credit unions posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and steps to enhance the agency’s offsite monitoring of credit unions’ conditions. Additionally, the letter states that examiners will not be assessing credit unions’ efforts to transition to the CECL standard “until further notice.”

The summary of the regulatory alert (21-RA-01), released by NCUA earlier this month, outlines the agency’s view of CFPB’s action late last year to issue two final rules amending the Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage Rule (ATR/QM Rule) in Regulation Z. The final rules would replace the 43% debt-to-income (DTI) ratio limit with price-based thresholds (under the bureau’s general QM final rule), and create a new category of qualified mortgage (known as the seasoned QM final rule).

LINKS:
NASCUS Summary: LTCU 21-CU-01, Summary of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (members only)

NASCUS Summary: LTCU 21-CU-02, NCUA’s Supervisory Priorities (members only)

NASCUS Summary: Regulatory Alert 21-RA-01: CFPB Amends Ability-to-Repay/QM Rule under TILA (members only)