WASHINGTON -- NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz told the Senate Banking Committee today that the "profound and unprecedented threats" to the stability of the credit union industry were lessened by her agency's actions in dealing with corporate credit unions and in beefing up the examination process.
Matz, in testimony prepared for delivery, said that without the agency's intervention, the losses at several corporate credit unions would have "cascaded to consumer credit unions" and would have resulted in the failure of about 1,000 natural person credit unions.
She also asked lawmakers to make several changes to the Federal Credit Union Act, including changing the definition of net worth to allow certain loans and accounts established by the NCUA Board to count as net worth and clarifying that the equity ratio of the NCUSIF is based on NCUSIF only unconsolidated financial statements.
She also said the agency would like to have the authority to examine third-party vendors and would also like to change the law so that financially healthy, well-capitalized credit unions can accept supplemental capital.
In addition, she reiterated the agency's support for raising the cap on member business loans.
