Links in “Credit Unions”

A regulatory change in 2014 required CUSO’s to contractually agree to submit information on an annual basis to NCUA through an online registry once the registry was implemented. That day is now here and an open-enrollment period for NCUA’s new registry will begin on February 1^st. [1/12/16]

The NCUA has announced its exam priorities for 2016 and they include a continued focus on interest rate risk, the new CUSO registration, TRID compliance, and BSA compliance—particularly as it relates to money services businesses and incident response programs.  NCUA also indicated that it will be incorporating the new FFIEC cybersecurity self-assessment process into its examination priorities by the third quarter. [1/12/16]

President Obama has announced that he plans to nominate NCUA Board member Mark McWatters to the board of the Export-Import Bank. The nomination will have to be approved by the Senate. In the meantime, McWatters says the he plans to remain fully committed to his duties on the NCUA Board. [1/12/16]

The FBI is now investigating the circumstances under which Michael Anthony LaJoice, CFO of $68 million Clarkson Brandon Community Credit Union, embezzled $20 million over a period of 12 years. To explain how he could afford a $4.5 million home on his $65,000 salary, LaJoice told co-workers that he had received a large inheritance and told his wife that he had been lucky in the stock market. [1/12/16]

Michael Anthony LaJoice, CFO of $68 million Clarkson Brandon Community Credit Union in Clarkson, MI, confessed to local authorities that he had stolen $20 million from the credit union over a period of 12 years. In an interesting turn of events, LaJoice pleaded not guilty to embezzlement two days later. LaJoice is also the owner of a dance studio and a development company. [1/11/16]

Following a recent string of class action lawsuits against credit unions for their overdraft protection practices, two credit unions said “Enough is enough!” and have countersued the plaintiffs for breach of contract. Kern Schools FCU in Bakersfield, CA and Bethpage FCU in Bethpage, NY  claim that the plaintiffs repeatedly overdrew their checking accounts and now have unpaid negative balances, which means they have a personal interest that makes them improper persons to represent the class. [1/11/16]

In light of the expansion to HMDA, Regulation C, the CFPB has opened a 60-day comment period to obtain feedback on the rules for when financial institutions must resubmit HMDA data due to identified errors. In a separate letter, CUNA has blasted the agency for overreaching in its final rule that requires reporting on 48 data fields when the Dodd-Frank Act required reporting on only 17 fields. [1/11/16]

The House has passed the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act that would establish a review process for regulations and identify those that should be repealed or amended to make them less burdensome. The bill now awaits approval by the Senate. (No word on whether there has been any progress on the act to reduce tortured efforts to come up with catchy acronyms for acts.) [1/8/16]

The answer is “it depends.” Usage patterns differ based on the delivery channels. Internet users in a browser transfer 75% more money internally than mobile users. On the other hand, person-to-person transfers occur more frequently on mobile devices. Android and iPhone users login to their accounts at banks and credit unions almost twice as often as Internet users. [1/8/16]

Not everyone was happy with the latest operating budget approved by the NCUA Board that calls for a 4.1% increase for 2016 and another 4.1% increase for 2017. Now NCUA has posted an FAQ that addresses, among other items, the reasons for the budget increases and highlights NCUA Chair Debbie Matz’s pledge to have a vote at the January Board Meeting to publish the Agency’s overhead transfer rate and operating fee methodology in the Federal Register for public comment. [1/8/16]