Links in “Credit Unions”

NCUA Chair Debbie Matz, speaking at the NAFCU Annual Conference, announced that in the coming months NCUA will be issuing three proposed rules that she believes will provide greater flexibility and guidance for credit unions. Specifically, she referred to plans to effectively eliminate the 5% cap on fixed assets, to provide greater flexibility to the member business lending rule and to update the NCUA advertising rule in order to address new technology, including social media. [7/24/14]

July’s issue of The NCUA Report describes the process that NCUA is using to determine when a credit union will be assessed a civil money penalty for filing a late 5300 Call Report and includes measures the agency will take to consider extenuating circumstances before penalties are imposed. The names of the credit unions that are assessed penalties will be made public and all penalties collected will go to the U.S. Treasury and not to NCUA. [7/23/14]

And because they feel safer with the their credit union, a higher percentage of members maintain their holdings with their credit union than bank customers do with their bank. Only 68% of the bank customers surveyed felt 100% safe with their banks, so there is no reason credit unions can’t capitalize on this high level of trust to grab more market share. [7/23/14]

Ed Templeton, President and CEO of SRP Federal Credit Union in North Augusta, SC, has been elected to fill the Chairman’s seat on the NAFCU Board for the 2014 – 2015 term. [7/23/14]

While the largest group (35%) of surveyed financial services firms report having fewer than 25 high-risk vendors, a majority reported having more than 25 high-risk vendors, including 12% reporting 200-250 high-risk vendors. [7/23/14]

The Supreme Court has ruled that funds held in an “inherited IRA” are not protected from creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding. The Court’s decision states that while other retirement funds are considered exempt funds, IRA funds that are inherited by a beneficiary do not meet the ordinary definition of retirement funds and the beneficiaries do not have to comply with the same requirements as the original IRA owner. [7/22/14]

400 participants attended the three NCUA Listening Sessions held in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Alexandria. Recordings of the sessions are to be available on the NCUA website in the near future. In a statement issued yesterday, NCUA Chair Debbie Matz hinted that interest rate risk may be better evaluated through the supervisory process than through risk weightings under the proposed risk-based capital rule. [7/22/14]

$209 million Monterey Credit Union has begun the process to convert to a mutual savings bank. The credit union, which has yet to have its membership vote on the charter conversion, says that its community is comprised of small businesses and the MBL cap on credit unions is preventing it from adequately serving that market. [7/22/14]

A bill has been introduced in the House that would exempt business loans to veterans from counting against a credit union's 12.25% of assets member business lending cap. [7/21/14]

A newly chartered credit union in South Carolina is receiving help in serving its low-income membership from an unlikely source….local banks! A president of one of the banks was quoted as saying that they can’t afford to make small loans, but want to support what CommunityWorks Federal Credit Union is doing. [7/21/14]