Newsroom

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington (June 24, 2016) --National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) Senior Regulatory Affairs Counsel Michael Emancipator issued the following statement regarding the National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) proposed occupancy rule, formerly known as the fixed-asset rule.

"NAFCU and our members have long advocated that this rule must be modernized to better meet the operational and business planning needs of federal credit unions," said Emancipator. "Thanks to the NCUA Board's leadership, this proposed rule will do much to provide federal credit unions with greater flexibility in management of their property and related business decisions. As the agency finalizes this rule, we encourage the Board to consider NAFCU's recommendations, such as extending the partial occupancy timeframe requirement from six years to 10 years."

In the association's comment letterto the agency, Emancipator expressed NAFCU's support for the proposed rule and also made several recommendations to improve the proposal.

Specifically, he wrote, "NAFCU urges NCUA to ensure that in the final rule, the definition of what constitutes a controlling interest in a credit union service organization is clear. While 51 percent is clearly a controlling interest, lesser percentages could be controlling interests as well. NAFCU supports credit unions having as much flexibility as possible in providing this relief."

Emancipator also recommended that NCUA allow facility common areas and other shared fixtures and utilities to count toward the rule's 50-percent partial occupancy requirement.

The proposed rule includes a NAFCU-sought change to modify the existing definition of "partially occupy" so any federal credit union, or a combination of the federal credit union and a CUSO in which it owns a controlling interest, uses at least 50 percent of the premises within six years of purchasing it.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions is the only national trade association focusing exclusively on federal issues affecting the nation's federally insured credit unions. NAFCU membership is direct and provides credit unions with the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance.www.nafcu.org.

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Patty Briotta
Director of Public Relations
Office:703-842-2820
pbriotta@nafcu.org