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Six federal regulators, including NCUA, issued a final interagency statement Tuesday establishing standards for financial institutions to follow in creating and maintaining diversity policies and practices, but they emphasized the standards are voluntary.

NCUA, CFPB, FDIC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Reserve Board issued the statement to comply with Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The voluntary standards are meant for financial institutions with more than 100 employees.

NAFCU Regulatory Affairs Counsel Alexander Monterrubio welcomed the voluntary nature of the guidance. "In implementing this Dodd-Frank obligation, we commend the agencies for emphasizing that no new legal obligations are being created by the policy statement, as the regulatory burden on credit unions is already far too great," Monterrubio said. "Credit unions support diversity and have long been, and will continue to be, at the forefront of community involvement and improvement."

The standards encourage financial institutions to use self-assessment evaluations to track their diversity practices. The agencies said institutions may disclose the evaluation results to the agencies and the public on a voluntary basis. The agencies hope to use the voluntary disclosures to monitor diversity trends in the industry.

NAFCU continues to oppose unnecessary and overly burdensome regulation, including voluntary guidance which runs the risk of being interpreted as creating regulatory obligations. NAFCU will be submitting a comment letter to Office of Management and Budget relative to any information collection burden the policy statement will impose on credit unions.