The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board voted to return to its former practice of conducting three-year rolling reviews of its regulations.
This change is based on recommendations made in a report by the agency’s Regulatory Reform Task Force. The report serves as the agency’s blueprint for future regulatory reform.
In August 2017, the task force made recommendations for amending or repealing regulations that were outdated, ineffective, or excessively burdensome. Since then, NCUA has completed 10 of its recommendations and either proposed rules or begun action on five others.
The board will conduct three-year rolling reviews of its regulations and post progress reports on its reform efforts on its website, NCUA.gov, every six months.
Also, the board lowered the normal operating level of the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund to 1.38 percent from 1.39 percent at its annual meeting this week.
The normal operating level is the equity ratio set by the NCUA Board each year. It can be set between 1.20 percent and 1.50 percent based on forecasted under the Federal Credit Union Act. Funds that are available beyond the established normal operating level may be distributed to credit unions.
Finally, the NCUA is seeking comments from stakeholders on the use of emerging financial technologies, such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Further, it is seeking feedback on NCUA’s role in safeguarding the credit union system. Credit unions may send their comments on new financial technologies to the NCUA’s Blockchain Working Group blockchain@ncua.gov.