CUNA Regulatory Comment Call


July 14, 2005

Agency Review to Reduce the Burden of Regulations Regarding Directors/Officers/Employees and Rules of Procedure

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  • The NCUA Board has issued a fifth Request for Comments to identify outdated, unnecessary or burdensome regulatory requirements imposed on federally insured credit unions. NCUA and the other federal financial regulators are required by a 1996 paperwork reduction law (Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act or EGRPRA) to review their regulations at least once every 10 years.

  • The Act requires the regulators to categorize the regulations, publish the categories for comment, report to Congress on any significant issues raised by the comments and eliminate unnecessary regulations.

  • Because the credit union system is quite different that the banking system, NCUA publishes its notices separately but maintains comparability with the other regulators to the extent the issues are the same.

  • The EGRPRA review supplements and complements the rolling regulatory review that NCUA conducts under other laws and its internal policies.

  • In total, NCUA will seek comments on 10 categories of its regulations which impose burden on federally-insured credit unions between 2003 and the end of the cycle (2006). NCUA has already sought comments on the following categories: (1) applications and reporting and (2) powers and activities; (3) consumer protection; (4) money laundering; and safety and soundness.

  • The categories that are the subject of this latest request include the rules addressing directors, officers and employees, as well as the rules of procedure:

  • NCUA encourages all comments with regard to these rules. Specifically, comments are encouraged with regard to the following issues:
    • Whether statutory changes are needed.
    • Whether the rules contain requirements that are not needed to serve the purposes of the statutes they implement.
    • The extent to which the rules may adversely affect competition.
    • The cost of compliance with regard to reporting, recordkeeping, and disclosure requirements, particularly on small credit unions (those with less than $10 million in assets).
    • Whether any regulatory requirements are inconsistent or redundant.
    • Whether any of these rules are unclear.

  • In addition to comments on individual rules and requirements, NCUA also encourages comments that pertain to product lines. This should be helpful in exposing redundant and potentially inconsistent regulatory requirements and comments on such product lines may also include recommendations about rules that are not included in the current request for comments.

  • At the conclusion of the comment period, NCUA and the other regulators will review the comments received and will consider proposing amendments to these rules. Comments that may also require statutory changes are also encouraged. A report will be submitted to Congress discussing the issues raised in the comments and whether they must be addressed by legislative or regulatory changes.

  • Future categories to be published for comment will be: agency programs; capital; and corporate credit unions.

  • Comments are due to NCUA by October 5, 2005. Please send your comments to CUNA by September 21, 2005. Please feel free to fax your responses to CUNA at 202-638-7052; e-mail them to Associate General Counsel Mary Dunn at mdunn@cuna.com or to Senior Regulatory Counsel Catherine Orr at corr@cuna.com; or mail them to Mary or Catherine in c/o CUNA's Regulatory Advocacy Department, 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, 6th Floor - South Building, Washington, DC 20004. You may also contact us at 800-356-9655, ext. 6743, if you would like a copy of the Request for Comments, or you may access it on the Internet at:
    http://www.cuna.org/download/rcc_071405.pdf

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER REGARDING THE REQUEST FOR COMMENTS (NCUA specifically requests comment on the following issues)

  • Do any of the statutory requirements underlying these rules impose redundant, conflicting, or unduly burdensome requirements? Are there less burdensome alternatives?











  • Are these rules consistent with the purposes of the statutes that they implement? Have circumstances changed so that any of these rules are no longer necessary? Do changes in financial products and services offered to consumers suggest a need to revise certain rules or statutes? Do any of the rules impose compliance burdens not required by the statutes they implement?











  • Would a different general approach to regulating achieve statutory goals with fewer burdens? Do any of these rules, or the statutes they derive from, impose inflexible requirements unnecessarily?











  • Do any of these rules or statutes create competitive disadvantages for credit unions as compared to other sectors of the financial services industry?











  • Do any of these rules, or the statutes they derive from, impose particularly burdensome reporting, recordkeeping, or disclosure requirements? Are any of these requirements similar enough in purpose and use so that they could be consolidated? Which of these requirements could be fulfilled electronically in order to reduce burden? Are any of the reporting or recordkeeping requirements unnecessary to demonstrate compliance with the law?











  • Do any of these rules impose inconsistent or redundant regulatory requirements that are not warranted by the purposes of the rule?











  • Are the rules drafted in clear and easily understood language?











  • How can these rules be changed to minimize any significant economic impact on a substantial number of small credit unions (defined as those with less than $10 million in assets)?











  • Other comments?











Eric Richard • General Counsel • (202) 508-6742 • erichard@cuna.com
Mary Mitchell Dunn • SVP & Associate General Counsel • (202) 508-6736 • mdunn@cuna.com
Jeffrey Bloch • Assistant General Counsel • (202) 508-6732 • jbloch@cuna.com
Lilly Thomas • Assistant General Counsel • (202) 508-6733 • lthomas@cuna.com
Catherine Orr • Senior Regulatory Counsel • (202) 508-6743 • corr@cuna.com
Copyright © 2012 Credit Union National Association