As a holiday present, the NCUA board gave all of us a new 701.4-General Authorities and Duties of Federal Credit Union Directors.

For my total tenure in credit unions, I have always been told that the job of the board of directors is to set the policy and direction of the credit union, with the daily operations and management delegated to the CEO. On my first read of the new 701.4, I thought that the NCUA board just threw all past practices out the window. However, after re-reading it a number of times, I now believe this is not the case.

Section (a) clearly states the above practice, what follows only reinforces the importance of the position of director and the responsibilities that come with the title. Section (b) (1) and (2) clearly state how a director should approach any decision in regard to the credit union. Can anyone really find any reason to fault good faith, best interest of membership as a whole, care, reasonable inquiry, impartiality and nondiscrimination? If you can, I would like to hear your reasoning as to why the above is bad to your membership.