NCUA News Release
OFFICE  OF  THE  CHAIRMAN

NCUA CHAIRMAN DOLLAR HIGHLIGHTS 2002 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
AND LOOKS FORWARD WITH 2003 AGENDA AND CHALLENGES

Chairman Dollar Calls 2002 “A Results-Oriented Year” And
Says He Is Ready To “Embark On The Challenge” of 2003 Priorities

• Credit union financial and management performance remained strong with assets growing above the half-trillion mark and significantly increased dollars of net worth;
• NCUA’s Access Across America initiative continued its record-setting performance with 23.5 million potential members being added to credit union fields of membership from underserved areas. Representing the strongest performance in the agency’s history, 223 federal credit unions adopted 424 underserved areas into their fields of membership. Additionally, the agency broadened and forged new public/private partnerships to provide resources to America’s credit unions that are creating economic empowerment for people from all walks of life. Partnerships were established or formalized in 2002 with the Corporation for National and Community Service, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, US Department of Agriculture, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the US Department of Treasury;
• The RegFlex earned regulatory flexibility initiative went into effect March 1, 2002. By third quarter 2002, 3,624 credit unions (60% of federal credit unions) have received the RegFlex designation which provides well-capitalized credit unions with top-tier CAMEL ratings greater autonomy to make certain specified decisions which were previously prohibited while not compromising safety and soundness;
• The three-member NCUA Board was brought to full strength with the presidential appointments and senatorial confirmation of Board Members JoAnn Johnson and Deborah Matz;
• NCUA hosted the first Access Across America workshop held in El Paso, Texas to present federal and state resources to credit unions in the Colonias region of the southwestern United States. A second Access Across America workshop was held in Westborough, Massachusetts later in the year;
• Chairman Dollar was a key presenter at the first-ever White House Conference of Minority Homeownership, highlighting the positive role credit unions can play in helping many Americans realize the American Dream of homeownership;
• In building on a commitment and continuing emphasis on greater openness regarding the formation of the agency’s budget, NCUA conducted its 2nd Annual Budget Briefing and Public Forum for stakeholders to have input into the NCUA budget process;
• Reversing a 15-year trend and meeting a goal stated by Chairman Dollar upon his becoming Chairman in 2001, the NCUA Board adopted a 2003 budget that is $887,000 less than the 2002 approved budget. Highlights of the approved budget include exceeding the Chairman’s stated goal of a minimum 4% reduction in NCUA staffing levels over a two-year period accomplished through attrition and without layoffs, the closing of one regional office and the relocation of another to a lower-cost area thus demonstrating the agency’s long-term commitment to enhanced efficiency, and the consolidation and re-structuring of several NCUA general office departments;
• Reduced the operating fee for federal credit unions by 2.13%;
• The NCUA Board approved a proposed rule for comment updating the Chartering and Field of Membership (FOM) rules for federal credit unions, consistent with the parameters of the Credit Union Membership Access Act of 1998.
• Fully implemented a flexible examination schedule recognizes that all federal credit unions should be evaluated based upon their risk and therefore not be subjected to the same examination cycle. This risk-based scheduling has resulted in more efficient use of agency resources and fewer agency FTE’s than NCUA had ten years ago in 1992;
• Expanding the new risk-based examination schedule into a structured risk-focused examination program with quarterly call reports providing an interim-monitoring program for all credit unions. Previously, only credit unions over $50 million in assets were required to report quarterly. A 5300 Short Form was introduced for credit unions under $10 million in assets.
• Finalized an updated corporate credit union regulation and issued for comment the first update to corporate credit union standard bylaws in over 20 years;
• As the agency prepares for the challenges and opportunities in 2003, Chairman Dollar said his commitment is to “continue to build on the successes of 2002,” by prioritizing the following issues for 2003:
• Finalize the update to NCUA’s field of membership rules to provide greater diversification options for federal credit unions consistent with the Credit Union Membership Access Act and recent court decisions.
• Maintain the recent strides in providing “better stewardship of NCUA’s resources” with further implementation of the Accountability In Management (AIM) recommendations for agency restructuring and greater NCUA efficiency, as well as long-term direction of the agency through NCUA’s strategic plan and its budget and funding processes;
• Finalize an updated investment regulation for federal credit unions;
• Evaluate and update member business lending rules and regulations;
• Finalize a regulation to allow overseas branching by credit unions with portions of their field of membership working internationally while still protecting the long term safety and soundness of the domestic credit union through a proper due diligence procedure;
• Continue to enhance the agency’s position as an effective resource that can be depended upon on Capitol Hill, as well as in the agency’s interface and coordination with other financial regulatory agencies at the federal and state levels;
• Continue to encourage credit unions in their individual outreach efforts to the underserved with an emphasis on streamlining of process and regulatory empowerment to extend credit union services as an alternative to predatory lenders in many underserved and low-income communities;
• Review and update where necessary the community development credit union rules, low-income designation regulations and other pertinent regulations designed to encourage the establishment and long-term financial viability of community development and low-income credit unions;
• Monitor success of RegFlex in credit union performance and enhanced member service and evaluate both existing and new regulations for others which could have the RegFlex standard applied;
• Continue to development Access Across America partnerships and initiatives for federal credit unions.