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May 14, 2014

NAFCU thanks Fryzel for support of more RBC comment time

May 15, 2014 – NAFCU thanked NCUA Board Member Michael Fryzel for his response to the CEOs of NAFCU and CUNA this week lodging his support for extending the public comment period on the agency's proposed rule on risk-based capital.

"We appreciate Board Member Fryzel's support to extend the public comment period on this critical issue," said Carrie Hunt, NAFCU's senior vice president of government affairs and general counsel. "We continue to believe that given the magnitude of the potential negative impact of this proposal, it would be in the best interests of all stakeholders for the NCUA Board to officially address this matter and operate in a collaborative manner to extend the deadline for comment."

Fryzel, writing NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger and CUNA President and CEO Bill Cheney, said if the question of more comment time came before the board for action, he would vote in favor of it. Meanwhile, he said, "I am confident that, when the NCUA finalizes the risk-based capital rule, it will include significant changes from what has been proposed, and will incorporate the suggestions of your trade associations and credit unions across the country."

NAFCU and CUNA wrote the NCUA Board twice seeking a 90-day extension of the May 28 comment deadline. In a recent response, NCUA Board Member Rick Metsger said the proposed rule, released Jan. 23, has been out for comment longer than any other rule in the past 15 years.

NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz, also citing the proposal's release in January, has declined to extend the comment period, and NCUA General Counsel Mike McKenna also weighed in with a letter addressing NAFCU's request that the NCUA Board address this issue at an open meeting, a request available under NCUA's rules and regulations. McKenna noted Matz's decision not to put the matter before the full board for a vote.

As NAFCU continues to press for more time on the rule, more than 320 members of the House of Representatives – an overwhelming, bipartisan majority in that chamber – have signed onto a letter to Matz urging more comment time and raising other concerns about the proposed rule's impact on credit unions.