(Feb. 4, 2022) NASCUS has endeavored, since its inception, toward the ideal that “we become a better version of ourselves when we come together,” NASCUS President and CEO Brian Knight said this week in honor of the opening of Black History Month throughout February.
“We join with our peers throughout the credit union movement in celebrating Black History Month and recognizing the immeasurable contributions of the African Diaspora to the credit union system and the nation at large,” Knight said in a statement.
He also indicated that more time should be dedicated for acknowledgements. “The need to understand the value and contributions of all communities should be a year-round, lifelong commitment to the inclusion of everyone’s stories into the fabric of our shared history,” he said.
LINK:
NASCUS’s Statement on Celebrating Black History Month
Ensuring the state charter remains competitive with not only the federal charter, but other depository charters and nondepository entities known as fintechs is a priority for new NASCUS President and CEO Brian Knight, he told trade newspaper American Banker this week.
In comments published Wednesday, Knight said restoring a healthy dual chartering system will lead to a balanced framework between state and federal credit unions. “All credit unions benefit from the healthy competition between charters to innovate and enhance the value of the charter,” he said.
He said NASCUS will advocate for regulation and supervision that enforces safety and soundness while also recognizing technological advancements in the financial services ecosystem.
Knight became NASCUS leader on Jan. 1, succeeding Lucy Ito who retired after seven years in the role. An attorney, Knight has served the state credit union system since 1998; he was most recently executive vice president and general counsel.
The NASCUS leader told the publication that a challenge for state-chartered credit unions is NCUA serves as both insurer and charterer for federal credit unions. He asserted that dual role can “muddy the distinction” between supervising safety and soundness and regulating a charter. That can lead to homogenization among the charters which, he said, weakens the overall credit union system.
That can be manifested, he told the publication, through federal examiners misapplying federal credit union rules to a state charter on an insurance review, which can lead to a form of unnecessary preemption of state authority, he said.
“A healthy dual chartering system is not possible when state innovation is overly constrained by federal preemption,” Knight said. “We need to carefully consider what NCUA rules applicable to state charters unduly preempt state authority and weaken the dual chartering system.”
In any event, the NASCUS leader said the state system’s relationship with NCUA has been on a “positive trajectory that has benefitted the entire system.” He said he anticipates that continuing in 2022.
LINK:
(Jan. 7, 2022) NASCUS will follow closely in 2022 its mission and purpose as adopted by association leadership in 2021, new NASCUS President and CEO Brian Knight said this week after assuming his role Jan. 1.
He succeeded Lucy Ito, who retired Dec. 31 after seven years of leading the association.
“Our leadership last July outlined the NASCUS mission as forming a vibrant dual charter system by promoting a relevant, growth-oriented and health state charter option,” Knight said. “It’s my intention that the association move in that direction with all deliberate speed, in the interests of the entire credit union system.”
Knight said the mission of the association would be advanced by adhering to the purpose of NASCUS, also adopted by the board last summer. That is: to advance credit union legislation, regulation and supervision and to promote a resilient state-chartered cooperative credit union system through regulator and credit union collaboration.
“NASCUS members will see these words repeated often in our presentations, on our website and in our other public-facing elements,” Knight said. “It’s my hope all of our members become intimately familiar with our mission and purpose – and hold us to it.”
(Dec. 23, 2021) Brian Knight is the next president and CEO of NASCUS, the association announced this week, effective Jan. 1. He succeeds Lucy Ito, who retires as of Dec. 31, after leading the association since 2014.
A 23-year staff member of the association, Knight’s most recent position is executive vice president and general counsel, a position he held since 2014. In 2007, he was named the association’s first internal general counsel; he joined the association in 1998 as director of regulatory affairs.
“NASCUS is a unique and vitally important thread in the fabric of the credit union system and the broader financial services sector,” Knight said. “I am honored and humbled to accept this position and build on the achievements of Lucy and those leaders that have come before me.”
Knight (right) said NASCUS helps to ensure that the credit union system is positioned to meet the challenges of the moment and of the future by supporting state regulatory agencies and working with dedicated credit union professionals to facilitate the cooperation and consultation essential for dynamic and viable credit union system.
“I know firsthand the commitment of our staff and members to our mission. I want to thank the NASCUS Regulator Board of Directors and Credit Union Advisory Council for this opportunity,” he added.
NASCUS Regulator Board of Directors Chair Rose Conner (who is administrator of the North Carolina Credit Union Division) said Knight is uniquely qualified to lead the organization. “The depth and breadth of his knowledge about the state and federal credit union systems, and his keen sense of emerging issues in the consumer financial services marketplace, has well-prepared him for this new role,” she said.
NASCUS Credit Union Advisory Council Chair Mike Williams (CEO of Colorado Credit Union in Denver) echoed Conner’s view. “I am confident that Brian’s leadership and vision are the combination we need to continue the organization’s success into 2022 and beyond,” he said.
Both Conner and Williams expressed their thanks to Ito for her leadership over the past seven years and wished her the best in her retirement.
Knight holds a B.A in history and political science from Hope College in Holland, Mich., and a J.D. from the Marshall Wythe School of Law of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
LINK:
NASCUS press release: Brian Knight Selected as NASCUS President and CEO
(Clockwise from upper left: NASCUS’ Lucy Ito joins NASCUS Executive Vice President and General Counsel Brian Knight, and NCUA Office of Examination and Insurance Director Myra Toeppe in a discussion of key issues)
(Aug. 20, 2021) The surging Delta variant of the coronavirus is putting a damper on NCUA’s plan to resume on-site operations, including exams, the agency’s top supervisor told the NASCUS S3 conference this week.
According to NCUA Office of Examination and Insurance Director Myra Toeppe, the continued phasing-in of on-site operations depends on the virus variant. She indicated a timetable still needs to be determined. However, the agency is ready (and willing) to go into a credit union whenever it sees a risk to the insurance fund, she said.
“We’ll go in where we need to go in if we see a risk to the insurance fund; we have been clear on that,” Toeppe said during a Tuesday session of the conference. (She was sitting in on the session in place of NCUA Board Chairman Todd Harper, who was unable to attend.) “We do have problem case officers that are doing things. Our regional offices, if we need to be on site, they will get with the (NCUA) executive director to determine from an insurance perspective if we need to go in. We’ve actually had to do some conservatorships during this time. Those are the exception, not the rule.”
But Toeppe emphasized that the agency would move with caution in any event. “People matter,” she said.
The agency’s top examiner also offered a strong defense for NCUA’s call for third-party vendor exam authority. “We do need it,” Toeppe, a former savings and loan regulator, said. “When I first came over to NCUA, I was stunned we didn’t have third-party vendor exam authority. I was used to always having it.” She said her former agency was never accused of abusing the authority, “and it was never a problem.”
Toeppe said NCUA sees reliance “more and more and more” by credit unions on the use of vendors and third parties to help them in a number of areas. She cited data processing and lending as examples.
The agency executive asserted that use of third-party vendors can become a source of risk to the share insurance fund. “And that’s always my focus,” she said. “We want to be sure we aren’t exposing the insurance fund to undue risk. And that’s really where it comes from; it’s a risk perspective for NCUA.”
She added that if the agency secures the authority (which will take an act of Congress to do so), NCUA would use it cautiously. She disputed some reports that the agency would be “ramping up” such as by hiring 500 additional examiners. “I think we’d use (the authority) prudently, where needed, just exactly like the state supervisors have done,” she said. “Where it’s needed, when it’s needed when we see a risk– just like the state supervisors, they’ve used it prudently. The banking regulators use it prudently. I don’t think there would be any difference.
She said that using the authority, when needed, is necessary to avoid a regulatory blind spot. “From (the perspective of) managing the share insurance fund, that makes us very nervous. That’s one thing that keeps me up at night,” she said.
In other comments, Toeppe said:
- Cybersecurity is a persistent threat; the one risk that just doesn’t go away. “We have ebbs and flows of other risks, but cybersecurity just keeps coming,” she said. “It just doesn’t stop, it’s in everything. It’s the constant ‘come at you’ thing. It’s high level, persistent.”
- NCUA is not discouraging mergers among credit unions (as opposed to banking regulators with banks, under an executive order from President Joe Biden). “We don’t tell (credit unions) no you can’t merge, but we want to make sure they are doing the right thing.”
- She has no problem with credit unions buying banks, as long as the transaction is done well and the credit union has done its homework. “Everyone thinks we rubber stamp them,” she said, adding the agency does not. She said the transaction must make sense, and that the agency has be sure of the risk that the insurance fund is taking on with the transaction.