Newsroom

January 09, 2013

Becker presses NCUA to freeze pay

NAFCU President and CEO Fred Becker pressed NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz anew Wednesday to better manage the agency's budget, specifically urging the adoption of an employee pay freeze for 2013 and reduced assessment levels for credit unions.

NAFCU has repeatedly urged NCUA to rein in its spending to address the agency's most urgent needs. In November, Becker cautioned that NCUA's 6.1 percent budget hike for 2013 would be too costly for credit unions, which fund the agency budget. In Wednesday's letter to Matz, Becker said NAFCU is "very concerned" about the budget's pay and benefits increase, which has yet to be approved by Congress.

On Jan. 1, the House passed a bill that would halt federal pay raises for 2013. If NCUA were to follow suit, Becker said, the agency would still see an increase in pay and benefits of more than $3.7 million due to full funding of positions approved in 2012 and net adjustments. "Should NCUA honor the freeze, we would ask that you adjust any operating assessments on credit unions accordingly," he wrote.

The FDIC recently cut its budget by more than 18 percent and reduced authorized staff by 7.9 percent, Becker pointed out. "We continue to seriously question why the NCUA sees fit to increase its budget year after year," the NAFCU president wrote.

NAFCU is also urging the NCUA to:

  • pull back on its increased spending related to examinations since the state of the industry has improved steadily over the past year and fewer credit unions pose safety and soundness concerns;
  • ensure that each penny it collects is administered with utmost diligence and respect given to credit unions, which fund the agency's operating expenses and administration;
  • find ways to make examinations less burdensome, for example, by limiting and prescribing the circumstances for examiners' use of documents of resolution and other formal actions.

NCUA's 2013 annual performance plan, which is one of the items the NCUA Board will act on today at its open board meeting, is a separate item apart from the agency's 2013 operating budget.