Sept. 20, 2012 – The NCUA Board is poised to issue requests for comment on field-of-membership rules, investments, the definition of “small” credit union and more during today’s open meeting, which begins at 10 a.m. in Alexandria, Va.
Today’s agenda includes three proposed rules and an advance notice of proposed rulemaking. The proposals, if they follow the descriptions detailed by NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz this July, address the following:
- a proposed rule expanding the definition of rural district for field-of-membership purposes;
- a proposed rule allowing credit unions to purchase Treasury Inflation Protection Securities, or “TIPS”;
- a proposed rule allowing an increase the maximum application fee for short-term small loans, which credit unions may offer as alternatives to payday loans;
- an ANPR on increasing the maximum asset size of a defined “small” credit union, currently capped at $10 million in assets.
Matz discussed these and more during the NAFCU Annual Conference in Nashville, Tenn. One other change, approval of video teller machines as service facilities for employee-group expansion and underserved areas, was completed through an Aug. 6 legal opinion letter responding to NAFCU. The association has long urged the agency to consider technological capabilities
when setting rules for federal credit union chartering and expansion.
NAFCU has also consistently sought expansion of the definition of rural
district and removal the personal guarantee on member business loans in
cases where there are multiple owners of real estate. Until last year,
credit unions that qualified under the agency’s Regulatory Flexibility
program were not required to obtain a personal guarantee on MBLs.
The agency also plans to consider, in the future, removing the
requirement for personal guarantees on some member business loans, a
move NAFCU has pushed in recent years.
Today’s open meeting will be preceded by an 8:30 a.m. closed session.