ALEXANDRIA, Va.–While the NCUA board has a 2-1 split between Democrats and Republicans, NCUA Chairman Todd Harper began the July board meeting by saying the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump is a reminder that disagreements will always exist, but cooperation is paramount in a democracy.
“Democracy benefits from a diversity of perspectives experiences and opinions on policy making and our discourse often improves the policy making process. It is unacceptable and heartbreaking that these differences may have led to bloodshed. Violence is never the answer,” Harper said. “Moreover all that unites us as a nation is far greater than our differences. That is why we will continue to work on the NCUA board to engage in a civil discourse that balances competing interests. We may not always agree on every point but we will work to understand and appreciate each other's views. Such comity, cooperation and consensus when possible is good for the agency good for the credit union system and good for America.”
Other Notes From Meeting
- Harper also noted that the agency CFO Eugene Schied, who would typically appear at the July board meeting to offer the midyear spending analysis to the board and to provide an update on the 2024 budget, was absent from the meeting, That’s because 2024 spending is largely in line with the budget approved by the board for the year and no adjustments needed to the budget at this time that require board consideration, Harper said.
The chairman added the next budget update will come during the September board meeting.
- Harper noted the board has approved several items by notation votes in recent months, including interagency guidance on reconsiderations of value of residential real estate valuations. The guidance on AVMs, Harper said, “is of great interest to me as I worked (while serving on congressional staff) to craft the statutory language requiring that rulemaking as part of the Dodd frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Under this final rule institutions that engage in certain credit decisions or securitization determinations must adopt policies practices procedures and control systems to ensure that any automated valuation models used in these transactions to determine the value of mortgage collateral adhere to quality control standards, are designed to ensure a high level of confidence and the estimates produced protect against manipulation of data and seek to avoid conflicts of interests.
- “I am very pleased that this rulemaking, which I first began working on more than two decades ago, is finally approved. It will work to ensure greater fairness and accountability and the determination of property values.”
Agencies Issue Guidance on ROVs
Separately, NCUA joined with five federal regulatory agencies in issuing final guidance addressing reconsiderations of value (ROVs) for residential real estate transactions. The guidance advises on policies and procedures that financial institutions may implement to allow consumers to provide financial institutions with information that may not have been considered during an appraisal or if deficiencies are identified in the original appraisal.
As the agencies noted, ROVs are requests from a financial institution to an appraiser or other preparer of a valuation report to reassess the value of residential real estate. Deficiencies identified in valuations, either through an institution’s valuation review processes or through consumer-provided information, may be a basis for financial institutions to question the credibility of the appraisal or valuation report, the agencies added.
According to the agenices, guidance offers examples of ROV policies and procedures that a financial institution may implement to help institutions identify, address, and mitigate discrimination risk; describes the risks of deficient residential real estate valuations; and explains how financial institutions may incorporate ROV processes into risk management functions.
The agencies finalized the guidance largely as proposed, with the addition of clarifying edits based on public comments received on the proposed guidance published in July 2023.