NCUA News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Realignment Plan Released

New Regional Office to Open By Year-End

July 28, 2003, Alexandria, Va. – The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) released a summary of its Realignment Transition Plan today, providing a timeline for the agency’s transition from six regional offices to five, and the relocation of the California office to Arizona. The realignment, announced in January, is part of NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar’s “Accountability in Management” (AIM) initiative, an effort to increase agency efficiency.

“The NCUA Board made the courageous, although never universally popular, decision to address the agency structure through AIM with a ‘no sacred cows’ approach which emphasized an overriding focus on efficiency and greater responsiveness even if it meant fundamental changes within the agency,” said Chairman Dollar. “I am proud of the agency’s professional leadership which conducted AIM’s extensive self-study and made these important recommendations to the Board which are now being implemented. I am especially pleased that we are implementing this realignment plan with a high priority of working closely with our affected staff and are successfully making transfers and accommodations wherever possible.”

“Our goal is to make the transition as smooth and timely as possible,” said NCUA Executive Director Len Skiles. “Credit union supervision will continue uninterrupted as we are closing and opening offices, transferring personnel and workload, and adjusting to the new regional configuration.”

A copy of the Realignment Transition Plan summary can be found on NCUA’s website, www.ncua.gov, along with a map of the new five-region configuration (effective Jan. 1, 2004).

Major dates of the Realignment Transition Plan include:

The National Credit Union Administration, governed by a three-member board appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, is the independent federal agency that regulates, charters and supervises federal credit unions. NCUA, with the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, also operates and manages the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, insuring the savings of more than 80 million account holders in all federal credit unions and the overwhelming majority of state-chartered credit unions.