ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The NCUA was busy rearranging buckets in its budget, but overall it did not increase credit unions' expenses during last week's board meeting.
The agency will be spending $200,000 more than planned on public outreach and almost $300,000 more on salaries and benefits, the board decided.
The outreach funds will be used for town hall meetings on the agency's rescue of the corporate credit unions and webinars.
The personnel funds will finance seven positions, including two additional staff in the Office of the National Examination Team, which focuses on larger credit unions and has been especially busy in recent months because of the problems in the sand states.
The agency will spend approximately $800,000 less on travel and changes in the way training is done and fewer conferences are resulting in the Office of Hunan Resources spending $1.8 million less than anticipated.
The NCUA's budget is $184.17 million.
Also at last week's meeting, the board gave preliminary approval to rules that clarify how premiums and 1% deposits are calculated if a credit union leaves or enters the NCUSIF during the year.
Under the proposed rule, for which there is a 30-day comment period, if a credit union enters the system a day after an impairment takes effect it does not have to pay the impairment. When a premium is levied as of a specific date, a credit union that leaves the NCUSIF's premium would be pro rated to cover their entire time within the system.
In response to a question from Board Member Gigi Hyland, Staff Attorney Elizabeth Wirick said it has received inquiries about the issue from seven or eight credit unions.
Wirick said the changes would impact credit unions that convert to other forms of governance or convert to private insurance or change their status from privately insured to being part of the NCUSIF.
In another action, the board voted to keep 18% as the top interest rate that federal credit unions can charge on their loans and credit cards.
Senior Capital Markets Specialist Jeremy Taylor said if the board didn't keep the 18% cap-the top rate mandated by Congress is 15% and is subject to change by the NCUA-it would make it harder for credit unions to make loans to members who represent a credit risk. The 18% rate runs through March 10, 2011, at which time it would revert back to 15% unless the board takes additional action.
The board also gave final approval to rules on overdraft protection to align with rules issued by the Federal Reserve. The rules require credit unions to include monthly and year to date charges for overdrafts and returned checks. It also requires credit unions to provide account balances on ATMs that include the amount in the account without including funds available through an overdraft program.
The board also approved finalized rules that will govern its previously approved program to have credit unions file call reports electronically. The program takes effect with the 5300 Call Reports due to be filed for the quarter that ends on Sept. 30.
NCUA CFO Mary Ann Woodson told the board that the NCUSIF's reserve balance was $5.4 billion at the end of June and its net income was $395 million. This year, the fund's net income has been $137.7 million, compared to the projected amount of $205.4 million.
The fund had $19.7 billion in assets at the end of June, compared with $23.5 billion at the end of May, as a result of the agency shifting funds to the recently created Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund. The NCUSIF's equity ratio was unchanged at 1.3%.
--cmarx@cutimes.com
