ALEXANDRIA, Va.–The NCUA Board said it will vote on a final, revised member business lending rule during its open meeting Feb. 18.
The agency has proposed to remove the member business lending prescriptive underwriting criteria and personal guarantee requirements, eliminating the current waiver process. A credit union would then be able to set its commercial underwriting standards independently, commensurate with its own business model and risk appetite.
The rule was the subject of more comment letters than any other issue until being surpassed by letters around NCUA’s field of membership rule revisions. The agency is now wading through all those letters; no date has been set for the board to finalize that proposal.
“Given today’s current small business environment, NAFCU and our members appreciate NCUA heeding our call to move away from prescriptive regulatory requirements in favor of general principles that will provide credit unions with greater flexibility to better serve their small business members and communities at large,” said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger.
Both NAFCU and CUNA have expressed support for the MBL proposal, while also calling for additional changes.