Capital Requirements and Authority

Impact

During the financial crisis, everyone learned the importance of capital. However, credit unions have restrictions on sources of capital and can only count retained earnings toward mandated requirements.  

Where We Stand

CUNA supports the authority of credit unions to build additional capital, either from members or nonmembers, in a way that does not dilute the cooperative ownership and governance structure of credit unions, allowing sufficient flexibility such that any instrument or offering will be viable and cost-effective to encourage its use by credit unions.  

While the credit union system is well capitalized, allowing credit unions to access supplemental capital would act as a safety and soundness tool to absorb operating losses and potential write-downs during an economic downturn and reduce risk to the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.