FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 9, 2012
NCUA APPROVES NAFCU's RECOMMENDATION FOR
VIRTUAL ATMs
Washington, DC- The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) hailed the National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) approval of the association's recommendation to certify virtual teller machines as qualified service facilities that satisfy the agency's requirement for charter expansions. The decision was posted online today in a letter to NAFCU.
"We are delighted that NCUA heeded NAFCU's recommendations regarding virtual tellers as qualified service facilities," said Carrie Hunt, NAFCU general counsel and vice president of regulatory affairs. "We hope this is a signal that credit unions can continue to innovate and promote new technologies that expand their cost-effective services to members with the knowledge that NCUA supports their efforts."
Hunt said NCUA's finding offers credit unions an efficient way to expand services to members and people who lack access to traditional financial institution services.
According to the legal opinion, a virtual teller machine is a qualified service facility if the following conditions are met:
• Provides real-time, face-to-face video access to live tellers at regularly scheduled weekly hours;
• Uses credit union employees or local shared branch employees as the tellers appearing on the screen;
• Allows a member to conduct all the transactions he/she could if visiting a service facility of another sort permitted by the FCU Act and Chartering Manual; and
• Is in a physical location within an underserved area or a physical location in reasonable proximity to the group being served for group additions.
NAFCU President and CEO Fred Becker first made the recommendation during his remarks at the NAFCU 2011 Annual Conference, saying this change would allow credit unions to use technology to better serve members and help reduce regulatory
burden. The association steadfastly championed the issue over the past year in meetings with NCUA. Most recently, in a June letter to NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz, Becker continued to urge the agency to allow video teller machines to be
accepted as service facilities.
NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz announced the agency would soon approve such a policy, as had been advocated by NAFCU, during her speech before NAFCU's 2012 Annual Conference in Nashville, Tenn.
"Going forward, NAFCU will continue to press NCUA to consider all new technologies in their rules to make it easier for credit unions to serve their members," said Hunt.
The National Association of Federal Credit Unions is the only national organization that focuses exclusively on federal issues affecting credit unions, representing its members before the federal government and the public.
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Contact: Patty Briotta | 703-200-4600 | pbriotta@nafcu.org