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A key change NAFCU is pursuing with NCUA – return to an 18-month examination cycle for well-run credit unions – got air time during Thursday's open board meeting: Chairman Debbie Matz said it could be considered in future years, while Board Member J. Mark McWatters said NCUA should review the matter now.

Matz, during discussion of the agency's 2016 annual performance plan, began by noting NCUA is not "locked into" an annual exam cycle every year. She said the agency may, in future years, consider going back to an 18-month exam cycle "for credit unions that pose less risk to the share insurance fund," though that will not happen in 2016.

McWatters, while the budget was on the table, reiterated his interest in seeing NCUA consider a return to an 18-momth examination cycle for certain "low-risk" credit unions, a move he said would allow the agency to focus more on outliers and strengthen the exam program.

"That the top-tier of credit unions require examination every 12 months at enormous cost to the community is worthy of challenge and rigorous debate," he said. McWatters noted that the "devil is in the details" on such a change and that his support for it "is not a foregone conclusion" and would depend upon how a "low-risk" credit union is defined. However, he stated his support for NCUA to move forward with a cost-benefit analysis on the subject.

NAFCU has been a staunch supporter of the agency returning to an 18-month exam cycle for low-risk credit unions. "NAFCU firmly believes the health of today's credit union industry necessitates NCUA's moving back to an 18-month exam cycle for well-run credit unions in 2016," NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger said. "While we appreciate Chairman Matz's positive comments about returning to this longer cycle in the future, we fundamentally believe the industry is ready for it and needs it today."

Regarding 2016, Matz said NCUA will rely more on state regulators for examinations of healthy state-chartered, federally insured credit unions with less than $250 million in assets but plans to examine all FISCUs with assets above that plus all federally chartered credit unions.