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A report on the share insurance fund during Thursday's NCUA Board meeting paints a picture of an increasingly healthy credit union industry, which leaves NAFCU still questioning the need for the specific proposal NCUA has offered for implementing risk-based capital requirements.

The report on the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund looked at year-end 2013 financials. It was the first report since last October.

Mike Coleman

Mike Coleman, NAFCU's director of regulatory affairs, told members Thursday that given the fund's strength and the reduction last year in credit union failures and decline in the number of CAMEL code 4 and 5 credit unions, "we question the necessity of the risk-based proposed rule at this time, a rule whose main purpose is to minimize losses to the NCUSIF," he said. Again, he noted, "enough is enough."

According to Thursday's report, based on year-end 2013 data:

• Of the $220.7 million in loss reserves at year-end, just $12.5 million was for specific cases. Year-end 2012 loss reserves totaled $412.5 million.
• There were 307 insured credit unions with CAMEL codes of 4 or 5, down from 369 at year end 2012.
• Code 4 and 5 credit unions held 1.4 percent of all insured shares on Dec. 31, compared with 2.02 percent of insured shares the same time the year before.
• There were 17 credit union failures in all of 2013, compared with 22 in 2012.

The fund distributed $95.3 million – the amount that took the fund over 1.3 percent of insured shares, its statutory maximum – to the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Share Insurance Fund Dec. 31.