Editor’s Note: Former NCUA Chairman Michael E. Fryzel was a member of the Transition Team for the Trump Administration. He was assigned the task of reviewing the National Credit Union Administration and preparing their Agency Action Plan, the tool that would be used to put forward the President’s agenda for the federal government. In a series of three articles, Fryzel discusses the preparation for the transition, the method used to evaluate NCUA and writing the Agency Action Plan. Below is the third of those three articles. Part one can be found here, part two here.
By Michael Fryzel
On Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016, the day after the presidential election, the Trump Transition Team was in high gear and moving forward.
Instructions were sent to the leaders of the designated landing teams for every federal government department, agency or commission. Lists of individuals with contact numbers were circulated and a schedule of daily and weekly conference calls was developed. Team members were given laptop computers, cell phones and a sophisticated method by which to access the instruments, enabling them to remain secure and unable to be penetrated. The time had come to move forward, enter each government office and begin the preparation of the Agency Action Plan (AAP).
In developing the AAP it was critical that the document contain as much information as necessary for the new administration, as well as the individual designated to head the agency, understand what needed to be accomplished. The AAP could not be so voluminous that anyone reading it would get lost in the details. It had to be concise, definitive and provide a step by step analysis to achieve the goals and objectives of the new president.
The NCUA AAP when finished was 17 pages in length with an additional 10 pages of reference material. It not only met the standards established but in itself, if fully implemented, would make NCUA the most efficient, effective and responsive federal government agency.
I approached my assignment as objectively as possible. I wanted to make sure that NCUA’s ability as a regulator of depository institutions and their responsibility to maintain a credit union system that was safe and sound was not in any way compromised by any recommendations designed to improve operations. The President was elected on a platform of a government that was less intrusive, a government that would allow businesses to better serve its customers with less regulation while still maintaining the integrity of the system and protecting the consumer.
A Challenge for NCUA
I also wanted the AAP to be a challenge for NCUA. With a new administration and a new chairman, the opportunity is available for significant change not only in the day to day operation of the agency but also to its core structure. It’s a new day. A bold approach and innovative steps are needed for significant change.
It was my belief that the AAP should be all inclusive and that every department of the agency, every task performed and every regulation already on the books or proposed should be reviewed for purpose, effectiveness and value. Nothing was to be left off the table. Improvement in all areas of the agency was the ultimate goal.
The documents requested and the discussions with staff were essential to drafting the AAP. That input, along with knowing how the Trump Administration envisioned the role of a financial regulator, enabled a report to be compiled that would provide a step by step approach to accomplish the envisioned goals.
As the process of the AAP evolved, there was continued contact amongst the members of the transition team and especially with those heading up the reviews of the financial regulatory agencies. Discussions were held with team leaders to review progress within each agency, share problems that were encountered and review the AAPs being prepared in order to make recommendations and improve their content. NCUA’s AAP was finalized on the eighth draft.
Positive Changes Coming
The AAP is a confidential document. Some of the information is highly sensitive. It was shared with the President’s staff, select Transition Team members and heads of agencies designated by President Trump.
I can however assure everyone that the NCUA AAP is one that if fully implemented will provide positive change in both the appearance and operation of the agency as well as provide regulatory relief to credit unions.
Moving forward, the changes will be clearly evident and the transfer of power will have successfully been accomplished.
Michael Fryzel is the former chairman of NCUA who is now in private practice in Chicago.