National Credit Union Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NCUA is amending its Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) Compliance and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulations involving the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) to make minor, non- substantive technical amendments. These technical amendments update citations in these NCUA regulations to conform to the reorganization of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Department of Treasury (FinCEN) BSA regulations.

NCUA proposes to amend its regulations to require Federally insured credit unions to have a written policy addressing interest rate risk (IRR) management and an effective IRR program as part of their asset liability management. NCUA also is proposing draft guidance in the form of an appendix to its regulations to assist credit unions in meeting the proposed regulatory requirement. NCUA believes a written IRR policy and an effective IRR program is key to maintaining safe and sound operations. NCUA believes credit unions will find the guidance helpful in addressing this important area of their operations.

In 2010, NCUA issued technical corrections to its corporate credit union rule, published in the Federal Register of October 20, 2010. NCUA is issuing this final rule adopting the technical corrections without alteration.

NCUA is proposing rules to implement certain statutory provisions in Title IX of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act). The proposed rules replace or remove references to credit ratings in NCUA regulations.

The NCUA intends to submit the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). This information collection is published to obtain comments from the public.

The OCC, Board, FDIC, OTS, FCA, and NCUA (collectively, the Agencies) are issuing a notice announcing that the initial registration period for Federal registrations required by the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (the S.A.F.E. Act) and the Agencies' implementing rules issued July 28, 2010, will run from January 31, 2011, through July 29, 2011. The S.A.F.E. Act and the Agencies' final rules require employees of banks, savings associations, credit unions, or Farm Credit System (FCS) institutions as well as certain of their subsidiaries that are regulated by a Federal banking agency or the FCA (collectively, Agency-regulated institutions) who act as a residential mortgage loan originator to register with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry (Registry), obtain a unique identifier from the Registry, and maintain this registration.

On July 22, 2009, NCUA published a final rule amending NCUA's Truth in Savings regulation and the accompanying official staff interpretations. The final rule addressed credit unions' disclosure practices related to overdraft services, including balances disclosed to members through automated systems. This final rule amends NCUA's Truth in Savings rule and official staff interpretations to address the application of the July 2009 final rule to retail sweep programs and the terminology for overdraft fee disclosures and to make amendments that conform to the Federal Reserve Board's (Federal Reserve) final Regulation E amendments addressing overdraft services, adopted in November 2009. This rule also makes final the minor technical corrections to sample form B-12 that were part of the interim final rule.

The NCUA Board proposes to revise certain provisions of NCUA's official advertising statement rule. Specifically, insured credit unions will be required to include the statement in all radio and television advertisements, annual reports, and statements of condition required to be published by law. The NCUA Board also proposes to define the term ``advertisement'' and clarify size requirements for the official advertising statement in print materials.

NCUA is issuing final amendments to revise the definition of the phrase ``Regional Director'' in NCUA's rule on credit union to mutual savings bank conversions and to add the same revised definition of that phrase to NCUA's rule on conversions to nonfederal deposit insurance.

The NCUA is proposing to permit federal credit unions (FCUs) that do not qualify for a low-income designation using the geo-coding software the NCUA has developed for that purpose to submit an analysis of a statistically valid sample of their member income data as evidence they qualify. The current rule requires, as an alternative to NCUA's geo-coding software, that member data drawn from loan applications or member surveys be used to show a majority of the members are low- income. Permitting FCUs to use a statistically valid sample of member incomes drawn from loan files or a survey will ease the burden on FCUs attempting to qualify for a low-income designation.

The Agencies are issuing final Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines (Guidelines) to provide further clarification of the Agencies' appraisal regulations and supervisory guidance to institutions and examiners about prudent appraisal and evaluation programs. The Guidelines, including their appendices, update and replace existing supervisory guidance documents to reflect developments concerning appraisals and evaluations, as well as changes in appraisal standards and advancements in regulated institutions' collateral valuation methods. The Guidelines clarify the Agencies' longstanding expectations for an institution's appraisal and evaluation program to conduct real estate lending in a safe and sound manner. Further, the Guidelines promote consistency in the application and enforcement of the Agencies' appraisal regulations and safe and sound banking practices. The Agencies recognize that revisions to the Guidelines may be necessary to address future regulations implementing the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

NCUA is issuing proposed amendments to its rule governing corporate credit unions (corporates). The amendments include internal control and reporting requirements for corporates similar to those required for banks under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The amendments require each corporate to establish an enterprise-wide risk management committee staffed with at least one risk management expert. The amendments provide for the equitable sharing of Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund (TCCUSF) expenses among all members of corporates, including both credit union and noncredit union members. The amendments increase the transparency of decision-making by requiring that corporates conduct all board of director votes as recorded votes and include the votes of individual directors in the meeting minutes. The amendments permit corporates to charge their members reasonable one-time or periodic membership fees as necessary to facilitate retained earnings growth. For senior corporate executives who are dual employees of corporate credit union service organizations (CUSOs), the amendments require disclosure of certain compensation received from the corporate CUSO. In addition, this proposal would amend our regulations to limit natural person credit unions (NPCUs) to membership in one corporate credit union at any particular time and provide that a natural person credit union may not make any investment in a corporate credit union of which the natural person credit union is not also a member. These proposed amendments will further strengthen individual corporates and the corporate system as a whole.

NCUA is issuing this Interim Final Rule to amend the definition of ``low-risk assets'' for regulatory capital purposes. Assets in this category receive a risk-weighting of zero, reflecting the absence of credit risk. The amendment will expand the definition of ``low-risk assets'' to include debt instruments on which the payment of principal and interest is unconditionally guaranteed by NCUA as an agency of the Executive Branch of the United States.

NCUA is issuing final amendments to its rule governing corporate credit unions. The major revisions involve corporate credit union capital, investments, asset-liability management, governance, and credit union service organization (CUSO) activities. The amendments establish a new capital scheme, including risk-based capital requirements; impose new prompt corrective action requirements; place various new limits on corporate investments; impose new asset-liability management controls; amend some corporate governance provisions; and limit a corporate CUSO to categories of services preapproved by NCUA. In addition, this rulemaking contains conforming amendments to rules governing Prompt Corrective Action (for natural person credit unions); Investments and Deposit Activities (for federal credit unions); Administrative Actions, Adjudicative Hearings, Rules of Practice and Procedure, and Investigations; and Involuntary Liquidation of Federal Credit Unions and Adjudication of Creditor Claims Involving Federally Insured Credit Unions. These amendments will strengthen individual corporates and the corporate credit union system as a whole.

The NCUA submitted the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35) (PRA). The original submission was made in connection with proposed amendments to the agency's rule governing corporate credit unions (12 CFR part 704), as approved by the NCUA Board in November, 2009 and published in the Federal Register on December 9, 2009 (74 FR 65210). In view of changes made in the final rule that affect (by reducing) the original burden estimates, as described below, OMB has requested that the agency provide another opportunity for public comment.

NCUA is amending its general lending rule to enable Federal credit unions (FCUs) to offer short-term, small amount loans (STS loans) as a viable alternative to predatory payday loans. The amendment permits FCUs to charge a higher interest rate for an STS loan than is permitted under the general lending rule, but imposes limitations on the permissible term, amount, and fees associated with an STS loan. This final rule also requires an FCU to set a cap on the total dollar amount of STS loans it will make and to set a length of membership requirement of at least one month. Also, any loan under this rule must be fully amortized. The STS loan alternative will assist FCUs in meeting their mission to promote thrift and meet their members' credit needs, particularly the provident needs of members of modest means. Permitting a higher interest rate for STS loans will allow FCUs to make loans cost effective while the limitations will appropriately constrain the product to meeting its purpose as an alternative to predatory credit products. This final rule also includes guidance in the form of ``best practices'' FCUs should consider incorporating into their individual STS programs.