The NCUA is working on making changes to the process by which it undertakes mergers and purchase and assumptions but will continue to not allow all potential partners review proposals, NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz said in a letter to NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker.
Matz said the agency's "uniform merger process" might include creating a national registry of potential merger partners.
She noted in the letter dated Feb. 22 and released recently by NAFCU that it is often feast or famine when it comes to attracting potential merger partners. In one case, after the agency invited 60 credit unions to make proposals, only two conducted due diligence and only one made a proposal. In other instances, the agency had "more interested parties than we can reasonably accommodate within limited time frames or space availability."
Matz said the agency needs to make concerted efforts to find appropriate merger or
P&A partners while being flexible enough to act quickly and minimize risk to the NCUSIF.
She didn't say when the agency will release the new pro-cedures, but promised that when its work is completed it will "disclose the processes to the credit union industry through all appropriate means."
Matz was responding to a Jan. 8 letter from Becker in which he complained that there is "considerable confusion and frustration" about the NCUA's process for finding merger partners.
