Links in “NCUA”

At yesterday’s board meeting, NCUA approved proposed changes to its appraisal rules to eliminate redundancy between its rule and new CFPB rules regarding providing consumers with copies of appraisals. The proposed rule would also create an exemption to the appraisal requirement when a refinance does not involve new funds, other than closing costs, and there has been no obvious and material change to the market conditions or the physical condition of the collateral property. [6/20/14]

NCUA has issued a proposed rule that clarifies that federally chartered credit unions and state-chartered, federally insured credit unions (where state law allows) may securitize the loans they originate. The proposed rule that would provide credit unions with greater parity with banks establishes seven minimum safety and soundness conditions for asset securitization. [6/20/14]

The full Senate has voted to confirm the nomination of Mark McWatters to the NCUA Board. McWatters, a Republican, will fill the seat held by Michael Fryzel, whose term expired in August, 2013. [6/20/14]

NCUA issued one Cease and Desist Order in 2013, compared to five in 2012. Letters of Understanding and Agreement were up, with 224 being issued in 2013 compared to 206 in 2012. [6/19/14]

Following a meeting with NCUA Board member Rick Metsger, CUNA Deputy General Counsel Mary Dunn reported that she believes that Mr. Metsger has an open mind to changes to the proposed risk-based capital rule. CUNA will be meeting with NCUA Chair Debbie Matz later this week in an effort to promote revisions to the rule that would include lowering the RBC component for well-capitalized credit unions; revising the risk weightings for certain assets such as business loans, mortgages, mortgage servicing, and CUSO investments; and eliminating the provision that would allow examiners to set higher minimum capital requirements on an individual credit union basis. [6/19/14]

NCUA is hosting the second part of its free webinar series entitled “How to Be in Compliance with OFAC and FinCEN” on Wednesday, June 25^th at 2:00 pm EST. The webinar will feature senior staff members from both OFAC and FinCEN who will discuss real scenarios and case studies. [6/18/14]

The Supreme Court has instructed the 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals to re-examine a ruling that allowed NCUA to sue several banks over deceptive mortgage backed securities they sold to failed corporate credit unions. Under the Court of Appeals ruling, NCUA was allowed to proceed with the suits despite the fact that the suits exceeded the 3-year statute of limitations. A more recent case involving an environmental action has cast a new light on the prior ruling for NCUA. [6/17/14]

NCUA Chair Debbie Matz told the members of the House Financial Services Committee that concerns about reputation risk alone will not trigger enforcement action. However, she added that while the agency would not force a credit union to change its business practices solely due to a concern about reputation risk, the examiners would address any safety and soundness concerns that may be an underlying factor in causing the reputation risk. [6/16/14]

The NCUA Board will be considering one final rule and three proposed rules at its June 19^th board meeting. The final rule concerns voluntary liquidations, while the proposed rules focus on asset securitization, appraisals and the safe harbor provision under the involuntary liquidations rule. [6/13/14]

There has been confusion concerning which credit unions must revise their contracts with their CUSOs. NCUA has now issued a legal opinion letter that clarifies the issue by stating that only federally insured credit unions that have an investment in or a loan to a CUSO need to revise their agreements to state that the CUSO must submit an annual report to its regulator. Credit unions that simply contract with a CUSO for services are not required to revise those service agreements. [6/12/14]