The NCUA should offer specific guidance to credit unions that want to merge with others and establish registries at each of its regional offices of interested credit unions "willing and able to merge."
Those are among the suggestions that NAFCU President Fred Becker made in a letter sent yesterday to NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz.
Becker made three other recommendations: have the agency list the charter types it prefers in different merger situations, have the agency provide a detailed timeline to credit unions when requesting merger offers, and have a public comment period before issuing final rules.
Yesterday's letter was a response to a request by Matz to Becker for suggestions on the procedures the agency uses when doing assisted mergers and purchases and assumptions. Becker had originally written Maz saying that the existing procedures are sometimes confusing to credit unions and don't give credit unions the opportunity to make their interest in merging with another institution known to the NCUA in time to be considered as a potential merger partner.
