NEW ORLEANS–Conversations between the NCUA and the trade group representing state regulators are not always the “most comfortable,” according to Lucy Ito.
Ito, president of NASCUS, said during the group’s State System Summit meeting here that despite tensions over the amount of funds NCUA moves from the National CU Share Insurance Fund to its own operating budget to cover what it says are the costs of examining state charters, it is important to nevertheless “be comfortable with discomfort.”
Ito said a healthy debate over the issue, which has long been a priority for NASCUS, is healthy, and noted that NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz has announced that in January the board will vote on subjecting what is better known as the Overhead Transfer Rate to public comment via the Federal Register.
In other comments, Ito said:
* NASCUS applauds the modernization of NCUA’s field of membership rules (now under consideration by the agency) as a “good thing for the credit union system and consumers,” and said the federal move could be a “wake-up call” for some states when it comes to modernizing their own FOM rules.
- Ito noted there have been 13 federal to state charter conversions in 2014-15 (compared to three state to federal conversions in the same period), and said those are symptoms of the need to review federal FOM rules.
- Ito said supplemental capital, which could be the subject of a proposed NCUA rule in the coming months, is something NASCUS looks forward to discussing with the agency.
Separately, in an op-ed this week in CUToday.info, Ito outlined NASCUS’ top five priorities here.