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The NCUA Board next week during its open meeting will discuss two final rules on capital planning and stress testing, and advertising provisions. NAFCU has previously written in support of both of these efforts, as they would provide credit unions greater flexibility, but also recommended additional ways for the NCUA to further reduce the regulatory burden.

The NCUA Board's meeting is slated for 10 a.m. Eastern Thursday; the agenda is available here.

The NCUA's proposed rule on capital planning and supervisory stress testing would allow covered credit unions to conduct their own stress testing and incorporate those results into their capital plan submissions. The current process requires the NCUA to conduct a stress test even if a credit union conducts one of its own.

Commenting on the proposed rule in December, NAFCU agreed with the NCUA's efforts to increase flexibility in its capital planning process, but also recommended that the NCUA work to increase transparency and reconsider its proposed tiered regulatory approach to ensure standards are appropriately tailored to fit credit unions' business model, complexity and financial condition.

The NCUA's proposed advertising rule would revise outdated provisions and allow credit unions greater flexibility in their advertising requirements. Federally-insured credit unions are required to use the NCUA's "official advertisement statement" when advertising. The proposed rule offered a variant of the official advertising statement – "insured by NCUA" – and would expand a current exemption from the advertising statement requirement regarding radio and television advertisements. It would also eliminate the requirement to include the advertising statement on statements of condition that are legally required to be published.

NAFCU was supportive of the NCUA's proposed advertising changes in a December letter, but also recommended the NCUA do more to account for the rise of social media and mobile communications by exempting those types of communications from the requirement to display the official advertising statement.